Monthly Archives: May 2010

The winner of the Ferriss Trophy, recognizing the state’s top college player, will be announced May 24. The list of candidates is long and impressive. Ole Miss left-hander Drew Pomeranz is the state’s top draft prospect and has posted a 6-1 record, 2.17 ERA and 112 strikeouts for an NCAA-bound club. But where would the Rebels be without Matt Smith’s bat? He’s hitting .367 with 12 bombs. At resurgent Southern Miss, closer Collin Cargill has eight saves and a 1.57 ERA and young shortstop B.A. Vollmuth is hitting .363 with 8 homers, 16 doubles, 46 RBIs and 54 runs. Mississippi State has scuffled but Connor Powers has not disappointed in his senior year with 14 homers, 63 RBIs and a .367 average. Willie Wesley is a weapon at red-hot Jackson State, hitting .359 with 45 steals and 61 runs. And Tigers ace Quintavious Drains is 11-2. Belhaven pitcher Brandt Hinton went 11-0 in the regular season and was named the GCAC player of the year. The NAIA tourney-bound Blazers’ most feared hitter is Timmy Foster (.394, 7 homers, 27 doubles, 61 RBIs). At Mississippi College, which is going to the NCAA D-III postseason, Tyler Seaman and Bo Bell were named ASC East pitcher and player of the year. Delta State had a disappointing finish to its season, but Josh Gordon, who hit .431 with 10 homers in the regular season yet somehow didn’t make All-GSC, deserves some Ferriss consideration.

The Mississippi Braves had a new center fielder and leadoff batter in their 5-0 win at Chattanooga tonight. Yes, Jordan Schafer is back with the Double-A club — but only through Friday. The former Atlanta top prospect, who played for the M-Braves’ 2008 Southern League title team, is scheduled to move to Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday for the next phase of his rehab assignment. The M-Braves return home on Saturday. Schafer, coming back from a wrist injury that curtailed his meteoric 2009 season, went 2-for-5, scored a run and fanned twice tonight, helping Mike Minor get his first Double-A win. The M-Braves could certainly use Schafer, but with the way Nate McLouth is scuffling in Atlanta, the big club may need him more. … Infielder Juan Gonzalez also returned to active duty with the M-Braves, though no announcement was made regarding roster moves.

When he was drafted in the second round in 2005, it seemed only a matter of time when Stephen Head would make the major leagues. Now it seems to be a matter of if. And the odds aren’t good. Head, the former Hillcrest Christian star and Ole Miss All-American, was cut loose by the Cleveland Indians after hitting .246 with six homers at the Triple-A level in 2009. He has landed with the Southern Illinois Miners of the independent Frontier League. Players have made it to the majors after detouring through indy ball, but it’s a short list. Head starts on his new road on May 20, when the Miners open their season. Wish him luck.

The Mississippi Braves’ bullpen, so brilliantly effective through the season’s first month (10-3 record, 8 of 10 saves converted, sub-2.00 ERA), suddenly has a very different look. Stephen Marek, the closer, has gone to Triple-A, probably for good. Jacob Thompson has moved into the rotation, and Michael Broadway has gone on the disabled list. Right-hander Jon Huber, a former big leaguer, joined the M-Braves’ pen last Thursday. Jaye Chapman, a young and unproven right-hander, came up from Class A Myrtle Beach on Saturday, and Juan Abreu, a prized righty plucked from Kansas City’s system in the Rule 5 draft last December, moved up on Sunday. The M-Braves start a five-game road trip in Chattanooga tonight, and it’ll be interesting to see how the pen holds up. Will the chemistry be the same? Manager Phillip Wellman said Lee Hyde and Brett Butts would likely share the closer duties in Marek’s absence. Both converted in their first chances after his departure. Huber made his second appearance on Sunday and allowed a run in the 5-4 loss to Birmingham. Chapman and Abreu made their debuts Sunday and worked a scoreless inning each. … On a side note, don’t expect former Terry High and Meridian Community College star Van Pope to be joining the M-Braves’ bullpen anytime soon. The converted third baseman has made six appearances as a reliever at Myrtle Beach and has some ugly numbers: 0-2, 8.31 ERA, 8 hits (3 homers) and 11 walks allowed in 8 2/3 innings, plus 2 hit batsmen and 2 balks.
P.S. Through 15 games (roughly a fifth of the home slate), the M-Braves are drawing an average of 2,690 per game. Last year’s average was 2,997. Attendance at Trustmark Park has dipped every year since the club drew an announced 3,847 in 2005, the inaugural year.

Few may remember this — few may want to remember, actually — but today is the 10th anniversary of the first home game played by the Jackson Diamond Kats. That was the one-and-done independent league club that rushed into Smith-Wills Stadium the year after the Generals left. A crowd announced at 2,389 (not that many were there) heard the team introduced as “your Jackson Bandits” when they ran on the field for the first time. Oops. The crowd then saw the D-Kats commit four errors and get out-hit 10-7 but beat the Alexandria Aces 5-4. The D-Kats scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth on a base hit by Willie Gardner (who would be kicked off the team a short time later). Tupelo native Gardner was one of 18 players with Mississippi connections on the D-Kats’ initial roster. Mississippi State alum Brian Compton started that first home game. Southern Miss alum Danny Shupe got the save and William Carey product Mark Davis the win. Former Delta State standout Casey Myrick had a hit, scored a run, drove in a run and put down a key sac bunt in the eighth. Ole Miss alum and ex-big leaguer Steve Dillard was the manager, and he would endure a horrible year. The team was bad, setting all kinds of Texas-Louisiana League records for losing in finishing 38-74. Things were also rough off the field under first-time general manager Tim Bennett. The club, owned by the league, drew about 700 per game (if that) for the 2000 season and ultimately folded after falling behind on their lease payments. So … if a toast is in order for the 10th anniversary of the D-Kats’ home opener, do it with a flat beer.

It’s all relative, really. Tougaloo’s season ended Wednesday with a loss in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The Bulldogs went 2-47. And yet, they made progress. They won a GCAC game for the first time ever and were competitive in more games. They’ve upgraded their talent. There’s cause for optimism. Then there’s Delta State, which is nationally ranked and has won 34 games, including two of three from the No. 1-ranked team in NCAA Division II just a few days ago. But all is not well in Cleveland. The Statesmen went 0-2 in the Gulf South Conference Tournament — at Ferriss Field — by blowing late leads both times. They may miss the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. Not good. DSU fans have high expectations. Which brings us to Mississippi State, another proud program. The Bulldogs have had a disastrous week already. They got bombed by Ole Miss in Starkville on Sunday, completing a sweep by the Rebels. They were humbled by Jackson State on Tuesday, getting just three hits in a 3-1 loss. Stuff happens in baseball, but an SEC school losing to a SWAC school in that fashion should expect fan backlash, which State has received in abundance. Another humbling loss to Southern Miss on Wednesday fueled the fire. State is 20-25 and has won just five SEC games. Bulldogs coach John Cohen keeps saying that this is a rebuilding year, or the second of two rebuilding years, which may be true. But fans don’t care. They want wins. And they’re not getting them, which makes them angry. That’s the only reality here. Don’t forget that Cohen wasn’t former coach Ron Polk’s choice as his replacement. So for some fans, he had a strike against him before he ever got to the plate. So what’s the count now?
P.S. Former Mississippi Brave Brandon Hicks made his big league debut — he’s No. 44 on the alumni list — and scored the game-winning run for Atlanta on Wednesday. Relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel, another ex-M-Brave, is with the big club now, eager to become No. 45 on the alumni list. … Lest there be any lingering doubt about how tough it is to hit home runs at Trustmark park, consider this: Current M-Brave Cody Johnson hit five home runs on a 10-game road trip that ended Monday. He has one homer in 11 home games, and that came on opening day. This from a guy who hit 32 bombs in A-ball in 2009. … Give it up for Fred Lewis, who had three hits on Wednesday to raise his average with the Toronto Blue Jays to .273. Unwanted in San Francisco, the former Mississippi Gulf Coast CC star from Wiggins has been rejuvenated with the Jays, who are hitting him leadoff.

Heartbreaking. Gut-wrenching. Morale-crushing. Take your pick. Delta State’s loss to Valdosta State late Monday night in the Gulf South Conference Tournament may have been all of those. And the worst part is, they’ve seen this type of thing so many times before during this uneven season. In case you missed it, here’s the recap: Bottom of the ninth. Two-run lead. Unbeaten pitcher on the mound. Playing in front of the home crowd. Valdosta gets a leadoff hit. Then an out. Then an error. Yikes. An RBI double. One-run lead. Intentional walk. A force out at the plate. Maybe … no, a wild pitch. Tie score. A base hit. Game over. DSU, which really needs a good showing in the tourney to make a Division II regional, faces an elimination game at 1 p.m. today against Alabama-Huntsville. Can the Statesmen get up for it?
P.S. Catching up: Pearl River Community College whipped Mississippi Gulf Coast CC 14-6 Monday to earn the 4-seed in the MACJC South and a trip to Itawamba on Friday in the best-of-3 round of the postseason. … Former Mississippi Brave Brandon Jones, who cleared waivers, went 0-for-2 Monday in his first game back with Pittsburgh’s Triple-A Indianapolis club. … The current M-Braves lost shortstop Luis Bolivar to Triple-A Gwinnett — which may send Brandon Hicks to the big leagues today — and added journeyman shortstop Amadeo Zazueta, a .190 hitter at Class A Myrtle Beach who played independent ball last year. … The Boston Red Sox hit four home runs in a breakout game Monday; included was Nettleton native Bill Hall’s first of the year. He’s up to .250. … Former Jackson General Billy Wagner, now with Atlanta, announced he’ll retire after this season. That news might put a bounce in the step of the closer-in-waiting, Craig Kimbrel, the ex-M-Brave now at Gwinnett.

If Atlanta places former Mississippi Braves shortstop Yunel Escobar on the disabled list, ex-M-Brave Brandon Hicks may get the call to The Show, according to a report on mlb.com. Hicks would become the 44th M-Braves alum to make the big leagues since the club arrived in Pearl in 2005. Hicks hasn’t hit much at Triple-A Gwinnett, but he has demonstrated the last two springs that he can play big-league defense. He’d likely back up Omar Infante until Escobar can play again. What Hicks’ promotion might mean for the M-Braves’ roster, who knows? Luis Bolivar, a Triple-A vet, could go up, but who would replace him? … Another interesting note: Ex-M-Braves center fielder Jordan Schafer is supposed to begin a rehab assignment with Class A Rome today. When he’s ready to play full-time, it’s possible he could come to Mississippi rather than Gwinnett. The G-Braves have Gregor Blanco, and the M-Braves need a center fielder. It wouldn’t hurt Shafer to retool his game at the Double-A level. After all, he has missed a ton of time the previous two years because of suspension and injury.

The state junior college playoffs are set — almost. Pearl River Community College and Mississippi Gulf Coast CC meet today in a one-game playoff to determine the 4-seed from the MACJC South Division. The winner earns a trip to Fulton to face North No. 1 Itawamba in the best-of-3 playoff round. The other matchups: South No. 1 Jones County will host Northwest; South No. 2 Hinds greets Northeast; and North No. 2 Holmes welcomes East Central. The first game in each series is Friday, Games 2 and 3 on Saturday. The winners advance to the state tournament next weekend; the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament follows a week later. The survivor of all that is a worthy champion.
P.S. Delta State, just a 3-seed in the Gulf South Conference Tournament, might be considered the favorite now that the event has been moved to Ferriss Field. The bad weather in Millington, Tenn., necessitated a move, and DSU was happy to accommodate. The Statesmen might need to win the tournament, for the 12th time, to make the NCAA Division II tourney field and having their fans behind them will be a big lift.

What do Dewon Day, Bryan Dumesnil, John Halama, Kenny Rayborn and Kody Kirkland have in common? Well, apart from playing for a Mississippi school or pro team in the recent past, they are currently teammates on the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the independent Atlantic League. The APBL is generally considered the best of the unaffiliated minor leagues, and its ranks include a large number of Mississippi-connected players in addition to many other familiar names. Among the others in the league this spring are former Mississippi Braves Jerome Gamble, Matt Esquivel, Macay McBride, Jason Perry and Michael Nix. Ex-Jackson Generals Daryle Ward and Bryant Nelson, former Copiah-Lincoln CC star Nook Logan and Hattiesburg native Dustan Mohr are also still hanging on, hoping for another shot at affiliated ball.
P.S. On the subject of indy leagues, heard from former Jackson Senators manager Dan Shwam the other day. He is going to manage a college summer league team in Elmira, N.Y., this year. Shwam confirmed a second source’s information that Jackson was very close to having another independent team (in the Continental League) at Smith-Wills Stadium this season, but some things fell through. Don’t be surprised if the idea resurfaces.