Monthly Archives: February 2010

Noticed while looking up other things: Jermaine Van Buren recently signed a minor league contract with the Florida Marlins. Boy, he had really slipped off the radar. Actually, he had slipped over to the Chinese Professional Baseball League, where he pitched the last two seasons. The former Hattiesburg High ace, a second-round draft pick by Colorado back in 1998, hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2006 with Boston. Wonder if he’s got anything left in what used to be an electric right arm? We’ll know soon enough. Camps open very soon. Can feel it in the air.

Millsaps, current holder of the Maloney Trophy, plays its first game in the small college series Wednesday at Twenty Field against Mississippi College. Belhaven beat MC 4-3 at Smith-Wills Stadium last week in the first game of the three-team round robin that pits each against the other three times over the course of the season. This series, which has been around for nine years now, was a great idea and only gets better with time. All three of these programs are strong almost every year. It’s worth checking out a game or two. Here’s the remaining schedule:

Mississippi native Slim Love, a 6-foot-7 left-handed pitcher from a bygone era, was named to mlb.com’s All-Valentine’s Day team, along with the likes of Ellis Valentine, Pete Rose, Ron Darling, Sandy Amoros, et. al. Love, given name Edward, played parts of six years in the big leagues, hitting a peak in 1918, when he went 13-12 with a 3.07 ERA for the New York Yankees. Love hailed from the town of Love, which no longer shows up on most maps but apparently is or was located along I-55 between Coldwater and Hernando. Never seen a sign. It’s a good thing we have Valentine’s Day to remind us of both the man and his roots.
P.S. Peyton Gardner of Meridian Community College threw a no-hitter today in the Eagles’ 15-1 win over Southeastern Illinois JC. MCC is hosting its annual Rush Tournament at Scaggs Field.

Notre Dame. Mississippi Valley State. Not exactly a baseball rivalry. Well, maybe not yet. The Fighting Irish, who hosted the Delta Devils for a couple of games — and won both — two years ago, come south next weekend to return the favor with a three-game series. They play Feb. 19 in Itta Bena, then Feb. 20 and 21 in Greenville. Could be interesting. Doug Shanks has pumped life into Valley’s program. The Devils are a SWAC contender every year now; they won’t be embarrassed against the Irish. Notre Dame baseball isn’t on the level of Irish football or basketball, but there’s some tradition there. The Irish have made 21 NCAA Tournament appearances, though the last was in 2006. They went 36-23 in 2009. Next week’s series is worth keeping an eye on. Maybe a rivalry will begin to brew. Just hope it doesn’t snow.

The wheels are in motion in the state Legislature to name Alcorn State’s baseball stadium and field for former coaches Willie “Rat” McGowan and Bill Foster. This is a good move. McGowan, who retired following last season with over 700 victories, has been synonymous with Braves baseball for years, consistently fielding competitive teams in a difficult environment. Foster is one of the truly unsung heroes of Mississippi baseball history. Though he was selected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996, 18 years after his death, Foster isn’t widely known in his adopted state. Born in Texas, he grew up in the Lorman area, went to school at Alcorn and played baseball there before going on to a stellar career in the Negro Leagues of the 1930s. He played in several Negro League All-Star games and on two World Series winners. He later coached at Alcorn and served as the school’s dean of men. Naming the Alcorn field in his honor would bring Foster some much-deserved recognition locally.

If you were to make a watch list for the 2010 Ferriss Trophy, Ole Miss left-hander Drew Pomeranz’s name would have to be near the top. Pomeranz, a junior, already has made a couple of preseason All-America teams and was rated the No. 3 college prospect for the June draft by Lindy’s baseball magazine. Pomeranz wasn’t a finalist for Mississippi’s top college player award a year ago despite going 8-4 with a 3.40 ERA and 124 strikeouts for an NCAA Tournament team. He was a bit overshadowed on his own club by pitcher Scott Bittle, the 2008 Ferriss winner. Ultimately, Belhaven’s two-way star Craig Westcott won the 2009 award. Ole Miss has had three winners in the six years the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum has given out the award. With the preseason attention he already has received — and the scouts who vote notice such things — Pomeranz stands a good chance of joining Stephen Head, Brian Pettway and Bittle in the winner’s circle. He’s just got to go out and produce.

His big league career began with a bang for the New York Yankees in 2002. So maybe Marcus Thames can recharge the batteries with his original club this spring. The Yankees have signed the former East Central Community College star to a minor league contract, which will give Thames an opportunity to win a major league spot in spring training. The right-handed slugger fell off to 13 homers for Detroit in 2009, when he missed almost two months of the season with a rib cage injury. The Tigers released Thames, who hit 26 homers for their World Series club in 2006, following the season. Thames has 101 career homers, including one in his first big league at-bat, against Randy Johnson at Yankee Stadium on June 10, 2002. No matter what else happens in his career, Thames will always have that story to tell.

If there is a target on Bo Bell’s back, the Mississippi College senior wears it well. A first-team All-America pick by d3baseball.com last season, Bell opened the 2010 campaign today by blasting a key, eighth-inning home run in the Choctaws’ 5-2 win over Huntingdon at Montgomery. Bell, from Gulfport by way of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, hit .425 with 13 homers and 73 RBIs for the Choctaws last season. If he has another big year, so will MC.

Tim Dillard cleared waivers today and was assigned to Triple-A Nashville by the Milwaukee Brewers. Don’t be surprised if the former Itawamba Community College star gets back to The Show this season.
P.S. Millsaps, preseason favorite in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, opened its season in good form today, beating Ozarks (Ark.) 16-2 at Twenty Field. Josh Ordeneaux scored three runs and drove in two for the Majors. Wes Perkins and Jake Mills also had two RBIs. Aaron Williams went five innings for the W, and three relievers combined for four scoreless innings.

Jones County Junior College won’t have a home this season. Construction of the $2.8 million Community Bank Park, a baseball and softball complex going up on the Ellisville campus, will put the Bobcats on the road for all of their scheduled 50 games. The odyssey begins next Tuesday at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium, where JCJC will play two (noon start) against Bishop State of Alabama. The Bobcats will play designated home games at various locations around the state, including Southern Miss’ Taylor Park in Hattiesburg and William Carey’s Wheeler Field in the Hub City. … Itawamba CC, which went 43-13 and won the state title last season, is ranked No. 9 in the preseason NJCAA Division II poll, the only Mississippi school in the Top 15. The Indians open Saturday at home against Southwest Tennessee.
P.S. Jackson native and former big leaguer Stu Cliburn is the pitching coach for the Puerto Rican Winter League championship club currently playing in the Caribbean World Series. Might catch a glipse of him on MLB Network’s broadcasts of the series this week.