April 16, 2019 - All Mississippi Baseball

riding a wave

Trent Giambrone is in a groove. Again. Or still. At any rate, the former Delta State star has homered in three straight games and four of his last five at Triple-A Iowa. He has lifted his average to .302 through 10 games in his first hack at this new level. Giambrone spent most of spring training in the Chicago Cubs’ big league camp as a non-roster invitee and batted .324 with two homers in 34 at-bats. That came after a .327 showing in the Arizona Fall League, which came on the heels of a 17-homer season at Double-A Tennessee. The 5-foot-8, 178-pound infielder, 25, isn’t rated among the Cubs’ best prospects but surely is on the big club’s radar. (Though it isn’t currently lacking infield talent, the big club is 6-9.) “I’m just trying to hone in on my approach, take it day by day and not really think about the big picture of anything else and just be myself, mainly,” Giambrone recently told the Des Moines Register.

spotlight on …

If you’re a Mississippi baseball aficionado, Roy Cresap Field in Fulton is the place you oughta be today. The top two teams in the MACJC standings will clash in a doubleheader that should be worth the price of admission and then some. Host Itawamba Community College is ranked No. 4 in the latest NJCAA Division II poll, sporting a 28-5 overall record and 13-3 mark in the conference. Northwest Mississippi CC, ranked 15th, is 25-7, 14-4. ICC’s Houston Harding, a lefty from Walls and a Mississippi State commit, is one of the top pitchers in the country; he is 8-0 with a 1.72 ERA. The staff’s other ace is Austin King, 5-1, 3.22. Two-way standout Justin Medlin is 4-0, 2.05 as a pitcher and is batting .355 with seven homers and 31 RBIs. Northwest trots out a powerful lineup that features five hitters with five or more homers, led by Hammer Franks with seven. Franks is batting .316 with 32 RBIs. Brayland Skinner leads the Rangers regulars with a .359 average and 12 steals. The Rangers’ best pitchers have been the Stinnett brothers – sophomore Carson is 6-0, 3.22, freshman Parker 4-2, 1.80 – and lefty Dalton Fowler (5-1, 2.32).