19 May

a tiger’s tale

Raise your hand if you had heard of Alexander Juday before this season. Anyone? Well, he should be a little more well-known today. The sophomore right-hander from Indiana tossed a pressure-packed complete game to lead Jackson State to a 6-2 win over Prairie View and give the Tigers their first SWAC championship in 13 years. Juday went 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA over 17 innings in the league tournament at Fort Worth, Texas, and earned MVP honors. After starting this season as a set-up reliever, Juday is now a front-line starter with a 7-4 record and six complete games. That’s making a name for yourself. What’s more, coach Omar Johnson’s Tigers (34-20) now own a much-coveted automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. P.S. Millsaps (38-12) will play Southern Maine in its NCAA Division III College World Series opener. The game is set for Friday at Appleton, Wisc. … Of the five finalists for the Ferriss Trophy, which will be awarded on Monday, Mississippi State’s Hunter Renfroe would appear most deserving of the annual honor. The junior outfielder, a potential first-round pick in the MLB draft, batted .362 with 15 homers, 51 RBIs, a .691 slugging percentage, 48 runs and nine stolen bases. All that for a 40-12 team that enters this week’s SEC Tournament as the 5-seed. The other candidates, all worthy nominees, to be sure, are Ole Miss catcher Stuart Turner, Rebels pitcher Bobby Wahl, Southern Miss hurler Andrew Pierce and Delta State pitcher Josh Branstetter.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

%d bloggers like this: