Rodney Batts Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

home at last

It might feel a little like homecoming at Delta State this weekend. A month into the season, the Statesmen will play their first home games, hosting West Alabama in a three-game Gulf South Conference series at Ferriss Field. Coach Rodney Batts’ second edition of Statesmen is 4-5, overall and in the GSC. They are coming off a series win against West Georgia, a series that was moved from Cleveland to Carrollton because of weather concerns. Anticipation is no doubt building among DSU fans. Batts’ first season as the replacement for the ultra-successful Mike Kinnison was halted after 23 games because of the pandemic. The club was a lackluster 13-10 and 6-6 in the conference. The 2021 team was picked to finish third in the 13-team league by GSC coaches, so perhaps the slow start is an aberration. Led by Hayden White and Jake Barlow – the reigning GSC player of the week – the Statesmen have shown some power, with 16 home runs. White, from MRA by way of Copiah-Lincoln Community College, has four bombs and 10 RBIs. Patrick Hodges (.450) and Chad Ragland (.368) also have been hot at the plate. Hunter Riggins, All-GSC in 2019, is a legit ace on the bump. He is 1-1, 3.32 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 19 innings. Otherwise, the pitching has been inconsistent (5.14 ERA). UWA is 6-4, 4-3, but the Statesmen have dominated this series over the years and have beaten the Tigers eight straight times. The circumstances appear ripe for a launch. P.S. There are two Mississippi high schools ranked in the latest Collegiate Baseball prep Top 30, and they are located just a few miles apart. Madison-Ridgeland Academy (MRA) is No. 23 and its Madison County neighbor Madison Central is No. 27. And, no, they aren’t scheduled to play each other this season.

all in the family

At an emotional press conference in Cleveland on Monday, new Delta State coach Rodney Batts made a resounding statement about his plans for the team: “It’s gonna be no different. I am a product of this program.” Batts played at DSU for Bill Marchant, who played for Boo Ferriss, the patriarch of the proud program. Batts coached at DSU under Mike Kinnison, who played for Ferriss. Batts is just the fourth coach at DSU in the last 57 years. “That kind of stability has really benefitted our program,” Kinnison said while introducing Batts, who spent the previous five years as head coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Kinnison, now the DSU athletic director, said he wanted if at all possible to stay within the DSU coaching tree in hiring his replacement. He said Batts is “the right choice at the right time” as he symbolically turned over the keys to program. “I’m here because of you,” Batts said with a nod to Kinnison. Batts spent 19 years at DSU as a player, grad assistant, volunteer assistant and full-time assistant. He said through tears Monday that the DSU campus was home, and he knew he had made the right decision to come back when scores of former Statesmen players began texting him after the news broke last week. DSU, one of the strongest NCAA Division II programs in the country, owns a national championship – Batts was an assistant under Kinnison during that 2004 season – and expects to contend for another every year. Said Batts: “I understand the challenge. I understand what it takes.”