2012

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Wednesday, January 11 , ZO1Z 10 • MSU Assistant Coach to address EeCC .

Mississippi State Uni– versity assistant base– ball coach Lane Burroughs will serve as guest speaker when East Central Commu– nity College holds its an– nual First Pitch Dinner on Saturday, Feb. 4. Ac– tivities begin at 6:30 p.m. in MabryMemorial Cafeteria on t he De– catur campus. Neal Holliman, who is in his sixth year leading the ECCC baseball pro– gram, said he is "very appreciative" to Coach Burroughs for taking t he time to help East Central kick off the 2012 baseball campaign. Holliman added, 'We are very excited and honored to have Lane Burroughs as our guest speaker. I have gotten to know Coach Burroughs over the last 10 years and can honestly say I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for him as a person and coach." Burroughs, a former

Meridian Community College and Mississippi College baseball stand– out, is in his fourth year on John Cohen's Bulldog staff. The Meridian, Miss., native joined t he MSU staff in J une 2008 after having served as an as– sistant coach in t he Big 12 Conference for the Kansas State Wildcats in 2008. He helped lead the 2011 Diamond Dawgs to the Regional Champi– onship and t he Super Regional finals en route to a 38-25 record. Burroughs is in his 17th season as a base– ball coach and is well– schooled in Magnolia State baseball. In addi– tion to playing the sport on the high school and college levels in the state, Bunoughs spent all but t hree of his first 14 years in the coaching profession in Missis– sippi, including a highly successful nine-year stint as an assistant

coach at Southern Miss. At USM, Burroughs served as recruiting co– ordinator, infield coach and handled in-game duties as third base coach. He was also suc– cessful in his role as hit– ting coach and in the development of South– ern Miss' sluggers. He coached sevenAll-Amer– icans and nine freshman All-Americans. In addi– tion, 10 of his position players signed profes– sional baseball con– tracts, five of whom were top 10 selections in the Major League base– ball draft. During his nine-year tenure at USM, Bur– roughs helped lead the Golden Eagles to six straight NCAA post-sea– son regional tournament appearances and the program's first Confer– ence USA title. Burroughs launched his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater Mississippi College,

serving one year before joining Bill Baldner's staff at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba in 1997. He began his coaching association with John Cohen a year later as an assistant coach at Northwestern (La.) State, and helped direct the Demons to a 40-20 mark and the 1998 Southland Conference Championship. Following the 2007 season at USM, Bur– roughs moved from Conference USA to the Big 12 Conference and accepted an assistant coaching position on Brad Hill's staff at Kansas State Univer– sity. That season the Wildcats advanced to the championship game of the Big 12 Confer– ence Tournament Burroughs played high school baseball at West Lauderdale in Collinsville, where he was coached by Jerry Boatner, one of the all-

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NESHOBA DEMOCRAT----– SCOTT COUNTY TIMES ----r– WINSTON COUNTY JOURNAL .j' CLARION-LEDGER------

CARTHAGINIAN-- - ---- NEWTON COUNTY APPEAL _ _ _ SPIRIT OF MORTON----- --– MERIDIAN STAR - ------