Monthly Archives: May 2012

Former Mississippi Braves center fielder Gorkys Hernandez made his big league debut for Pittsburgh on Monday night. Hernandez, becoming No. 61 on the list of M-Braves alums to reach the majors, struck out in a pinch-hit appearance against the New York Mets. He was batting .266 with seven steals for the Pirates’ Triple-A Indianapolis club. P.S. With Neftali Feliz out for several weeks with an elbow injury, Texas might be the leader to sign Roy Oswalt. The free agent pitcher from Weir and Holmes Community College threw for the Rangers last week and reportedly is ready to sign with someone. … Former Jackson Generals star Lance Berkman will be out at least 6-8 weeks with his latest knee injury, but at least there is a chance he’ll play again. It’d be a shame to see him go out so abruptly. He has 1,836 career hits. The “Big Puma” can still rake if his legs hold up.

Delta State won two more elimination games today in Tampa, Fla. — making it five do-or-die W’s in a row — to snag the NCAA Division II South Region championship and earn a trip to the College World Series. Heroes from the 10-7 clincher over Stillman were many. Brent Langston went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, Josh Crowdus 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Sam Kidd 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Aaron Newcomb worked three innings of effective relief to notch the win, his 10th, and Josh Branstetter, another weekend starter, threw 2 2/3 shutout innings to close it out for his first save. DSU also won the Gulf South Conference Tournament out of the loser’s bracket.

Former Ole Miss standout Bobby Kielty has signed with the York Revolution, the two-time defending champion of the country’s top independent loop, the Atlantic League. Kielty, who spent parts of seven seasons in the majors and hit .254 with 53 homers, made a comeback last season, playing in Triple-A in San Diego’s system. There are a number of familiar names in the Atlantic League, which started play in late April. Hattiesburg native and former big leaguer Joey Gathright is with Bridgeport, and ex-Jackson Generals lefty John Halama, another major league vet, is with Lancaster. Former Mississippi Braves Matt Esquivel, Reid Gorecki, Mike Daniel, Jeff Bennett, Kody Kirkland, Will Startup, Matt Wright and Chris Cody are also in the league.

Mauro Gomez, who last week became the 60th Mississippi Braves alumnus to advance to The Show, has been sent down by Boston. He was 0-for-2 with the Red Sox but was batting .294 with 10 home runs at Triple-A Pawtucket before his call-up. Other former M-Braves of note: Cody Johnson, in Double-A with the New York Yankees, has 10 homers and a .277 average. Matt Young (Detroit, Triple-A) is hitting .283 with four triples and 10 steals. Antoan Richardson (Baltimore, Triple-A) hit .313 in Double-A to earn a promotion and is batting .160 at Norfolk. Brandon Hicks (Oakland, Triple-A) is at .280 with three homers and 14 doubles. Paul Clemens (Houston, Triple-A) is 4-3 despite a 5.67 ERA. Donell Linares (Mexican League) has five homers and a .283 average. Ernesto Mejia (Atlanta, Triple-A) is batting .306 with six bombs for Gwinnett. P.S. Brandon Jones, who finished last season in an independent league, is not back in affiliated ball this season.

If seedings mean anything, this is David vs. Goliath. Delta State, the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Division II South Regional, meets 8-seed Stillman College today in the championship round. The Statesmen, who have won three straight stay-alive games in Tampa, Fla., must beat Stillman twice to claim the title. DSU is 44-13 and seeking an 11th College World Series trip. Stillman (32-16) doesn’t have that kind of tradition, but don’t sell the Tigers short. They are 3-0 in the regional, including a monumental upset of No. 1-ranked Tampa in their opener. DSU showed some remarkable spunk on Sunday, rallying for five runs in the last three innings to beat Nova Southeastern 8-5, and then scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie and three in the 10th to win 7-6 over Alabama-Huntsville. Michael Vinson was 5-for-10 with four runs and three RBIs on the day. It’ll be interesting to see what the Statesmen have left in the tank today.

And then there were three. With Mississippi Valley State bowing out today, only the state’s Big 3 Division I schools still have games to play. And their postseason fates may rest on their conference tournament showings. In one legit-looking Internet power rating, Ole Miss is No. 31 in the nation, Mississippi State No. 35 and Southern Miss No. 51. The NCAA takes 64 teams, but a flameout in tournament play by any of the three could jeopardize their chances of getting in. Ole Miss enters SEC Tournament play in a freefall, having been swept by Vanderbilt last week to fall to the No. 9 seed in the 10-team field. The Rebels, known for late-season fades, scored five runs in the 27 innings at Vandy. This is a team that hit .301 for the year, so a bounce-back could certainly happen in Hoover, Ala. Key player for UM, however, might be pitcher Bobby Wahl (6-2, 2.20), who figures to start the Tuesday opener against 4-seed Kentucky. State is smoking hot, having won 11 of its last 15 league games, including the sweep at Kentucky last week. The Bulldogs hit just .253 as a club (despite Adam Frazier’s .360 mark) but they can pitch (2.64 ERA). It’s rather confounding that coach John Cohen reportedly won’t start ace Chris Stratton against Arkansas on Tuesday. The opener in a double-elimination event is all-important. USM gets to play the Conference USA Tournament in the friendly confines of Trustmark Park in Pearl, where the fourth-seeded Golden Eagles have a home-crowd edge. They open with Memphis on Wednesday. USM, in the same four-team pod as regular season champion Rice, really cannot afford an 0-3 or even 1-2 showing in pod play. If Mason Robbins (.332) isn’t the key player for the Eagles, it’s gotta be fellow freshman Bradley Roney (11 saves).

Mississippi Valley State and Delta State play on today, but the season is over for Hinds Community College and Itawamba CC. Valley meets Prairie View (1 p.m.; TV broadcast at 7 p.m. Monday on ESPNU) in the SWAC Tournament title game. DSU plays Nova Southeastern in a stay-alive game in the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament. Win that one and the Statesmen get Alabama-Huntsville in another elimination game. Win that one and they’ll play Stillman (the tourney’s 8-seed) in the championship round on Monday. In the NJCAA Division II Region 23 tourney, Hinds eliminated ICC but then was KO’d by top-ranked LSU-Eunice in the championship round. Hinds ran out of steam against the host Bengals, managing just four hits and not much pitching in a 17-0 loss. Sam Temple’s Eagles, who won the MACJC crown, finish 36-18. P.S. Former Ole Miss standout Chris Coghlan has been recalled by Miami to take the roster spot of demoted first baseman Gaby Sanchez and possibly play center field in place of injured Emilio Bonifacio. Coghlan hit .118 with the Marlins to start this season but was up to .275 with a recent hot streak at Triple-A New Orleans. … It looks like former Jackson Generals star Lance Berkman, recently activated from the DL by St. Louis, might be going back on after injuring his knee late Saturday. … Compelling matchup of the day in MLB: Meridian CC alum Cliff Lee (0-1, 1.95) goes for Philadelphia against Boston and Josh Beckett (3-4, 4.97). Or, perhaps, Mississippi State product Paul Maholm (4-2, 4.35) starting for the Cubs against the White Sox’s Jake Peavy (4-1, 2.65) in the battle of Chicago.

At Tampa, Fla., Delta State faces elimination today in the NCAA Division II South Regional when it plays West Florida, the defending national champion. At Eunice, La., Hinds Community College and Itawamba CC face off today in an NJCAA Division II Region 23 loser’s bracket game. The winner gets a crack — or two, if necessary — at No. 1-ranked LSU-Eunice for a berth in the juco D-II nationals at Enid, Okla. “We still have a pulse,” ICC coach Rick Collier said in a school release. That’s all you need.

For evidence of why tournament baseball is so compelling, look no further than the SWAC event ongoing in Baton Rouge, La. Jackson State, the best team in the league all season, is finished. So is Southern University, which won the other division and was hosting the eight-team tournament. Mississippi Valley State, a 4-seed that entered the tournament in the throes of a nine-game losing streak, is on a three-game roll and in the championship game, which will be played Sunday on ESPNU. A berth in an NCAA regional will be at stake. Valley (now 17-38) beat Southern twice in the tourney, including a grinding 2-1 victory on Friday at Lee Hines Field. Joseph Germaine knocked in a run in the first inning and Edmund Cheatham scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to put the Delta Devils up 2-0. Trey Lacy and Christopher Broadway made the lead stand up, allowing just three hits against a powerful Jaguars lineup. Lacy went seven innings to notch just his second win of the season. “I’m very emotional right now,” Valley coach Doug Shanks told the Baton Rouge Advocate after the game. We can only imagine. Meanwhile, the emotion is very different for Jackson State. The Tigers won 21 of 24 SWAC games this season to run away with the Eastern Division title. But after winning their tourney opener, the Tigers’ bats went silent in the next two games, producing just one run. Things fell completely apart in Friday’s elimination game, when they committed seven errors and were 10-run ruled (11-1) in seven innings by Texas Southern. It’s highly unlikely JSU (35-16) will receive an at-large bid to the NCAAs. Tigers coach Omar Johnson knew this going in. “You don’t get rewarded for your body of work in our conference,” he said a few weeks ago. “It’s a shame. That one week (of the tournament) means everything.”

Top-ranked and top-seeded Tampa, which is hosting the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament, is done, which clears the path a bit for Delta State to reach the College World Series. The host Spartans, shocked in their tourney opener by 8-seed Stillman on Thursday, lost today to West Florida. No. 2 seed Delta State, which won its opener late Thursday (2-0 over North Alabama behind Josh Branstetter’s brilliant pitching) plays Alabama-Huntsville tonight (scheduled 6:45 CDT first pitch) in a winner’s bracket game. DSU is seeking an 11th CWS appearance.