Monthly Archives: February 2011

Delta State, a team on a mission in 2011, is off to a 3-0 start. And there’s more good news for the Statesmen, who have missed the NCAA Division II postseason the last two years: Kellen Bozeman appears to be back in form. Bozeman is hitting .364 with eight RBIs in the three games to date. The DSU first baseman missed last season with an injury after hitting .350 with 11 homers and 57 RBIs in 2009. The Statesmen went 34-16-1 last season, a more-than-respectable mark. But they went 2-and-out at home in the Gulf South Conference Tournament and didn’t get a regional invitation. It was a bitter end for this proud program. You can bet the Statesmen are aching to get back on the postseason track this spring. With Bozeman, preseason All-GSC pick Michael Niemann (.310, 26 stolen bases in 2010) and Michael Vinson (.363, 48 RBIs as a freshman last year) leading the way, they certainly have that potential.
P.S. Former DSU pitcher Dusty Hughes goes on the list of Mississippians changing pro clubs this year. The left-handed reliever, who posted a 3.83 ERA with Kansas City in 2010, was claimed on waivers by Minnesota late last month. That’s a move up for Hughes. The Twins will contend again in the American League Central; the Royals don’t figure to do so.

Mycal Jones, penciled in as the Mississippi Braves’ second baseman for 2011, might be playing a new position when he arrives in Pearl in April. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Jones, who is going to big league camp this month, will get a “look-see” in center field, Atlanta farm director Kurt Kemp said in an interview this week. Kemp said Jones played outfield as an amateur and has the speed and instincts scouts look for in a center fielder. Other candidates for the 2011 M-Braves outfield include Antoan Richardson, L.V. Ware and Cory Harrilchak, all natural center fielders. “That would be a real jackrabbit outfield,” Kemp said. At spacious Trustmark Park, where several top prospects will be pitching this season, that’s the kind of outfield you’d want. Jones also showed good power last season, belting 15 homers during his tour of three levels of the Atlanta system. The ultra-swift Richardson, a standout for the 2010 M-Braves, may well stick with Triple-A Gwinnett this season, but Ware and Harrilchak figure to be with the Double-A club. Ware made a cameo with Mississippi last season, while Harrilchak played at Class A Rome (.306) and Myrtle Beach (.269) and then had a strong stint in the Arizona Fall League. Kemp said Harrilchak, a lefty, can play right field or left. The crowd of outfielders contending for jobs at Gwinnett might push off-season signee Beau Torbert, an independent league star in 2010, to the Mississippi roster. Torbert, who’ll be 27 in May, hit .394 with 24 homers in the American Association.
P.S. Curious to see where Jordan Schafer lands this season. The talented but star-crossed outfielder reportedly is healthy and will get a shot with the big league Braves this spring. But he hit just .201 in Triple-A last season and a miserable .175 in 18 games with the M-Braves before his wrist ailments sidelined him. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Schafer, also a center fielder by trade, back in Double-A trying to restore his swing and his confidence.

The first scheduled Maloney Trophy Series game has lost out to the weather. The approaching winter storm forced the cancellation of today’s Millsaps-Belhaven game at Smith-Wills Stadium; no word yet on whether the game might be rescheduled. It would have been a good opener to the popular small college series. Belhaven, nationally ranked in NAIA, is off to a 3-0 start. NCAA Division III Millsaps won its first two games on Sunday. The Majors’ Will Hawkins was named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference player of the week after getting five hits (including a home run) and seven RBIs in those two games. Hawkins, a senior from Nettleton, was a D-III All-America pick in football last fall and rates attention as a Ferriss Trophy candidate this season. He hit .353 with four homers and 40 RBIs in 2010.
P.S. Pulled from a pack of 2010 Bowman cards: a Drew Pomeranz first-year card. Could be worth something someday. The former Ole Miss star was the Cleveland Indians’ first-round pick back in June.

Today’s subject: Marshall Bridges. The Jackson native, nicknamed “Sheriff,” had one truly outstanding season in the majors. In 1962, the left-hander won eight games and saved 18 for the pennant-winning New York Yankees; he got a World Series ring, too, though he allowed a grand slam in one of his two brief appearances against San Francisco. His career began in the waning days of the Negro Leagues, and he made it to the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959. He pitched parts of seven years (206 appearances) with four clubs in The Show, posting a career ERA of 3.75. There’s an interesting footnote — isn’t there always? — to Bridges’ career. In the winter of 1963, after his brilliant season with the Yankees, he was shot in the leg, reportedly during a dispute with a woman in a Florida bar. He recovered, but his career took a downturn. Bridges worked maintenance at the State Capitol Building in Jackson before his death in 1990.

Belhaven got its season off to a nice start on a cold Saturday, sweeping newbie Blue Mountain 9-0 and 10-0 at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Blazers got good pitching from starters Brett Blaise and Allen Johnson, but perhaps the most notable performance was delivered by Anthony Doss. The Southern Miss transfer, making his Blazers debut, went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI in each game. Doss, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound outfielder who played high school ball at Northwest Rankin, may help the Blazers replace some of the thump they lost with the departure of Craig Dean and Timmy Foster from last year’s NAIA World Series club. … For the record, Dustin Lunn got the historic first hit (in the first inning) for Blue Mountain.

College baseball will change this season, probably for the better — though there are those who disagree. New bats are in play. The bats are still metal but they’ll perform more like wood than before. It’s a major change, from all accounts. “It’ll be a different ball game,” said Mississippi College coach Brian Owens. What you’re likely to see are fewer home runs and cheap hits. Owens said you’ll also see fewer runners scoring from first base on hits in the gaps, because the ball isn’t going to carry off the new bats like it did off the old ones. The first major change in bat standards occurred in 1999, and it made the college game better. Safety, of course, was the prime motivation behind both changes, but the by-product of this latest one, especially, is that more of a premium will be placed on pitching, defense and strategy. That’s a good thing, even if scoring is down. It’s not just offense that makes baseball so much fun to watch.

In recognition of Black History Month, and in honor of the many Mississippians who played in pro ball’s pre-integration era, here’s an All-Negro Leagues team of Magnolia State natives: Rufus Lewis (Hattiesburg), pitcher; Sam Hairston (Crawford), catcher; Bob Boyd (Potts Camp), first base; Sherwood Brewer (Clarksdale), second base; Howard Easterling (Mount Olive), third base; Buddy Armour (Jackson), shortstop; Bill Hoskins (Charleston), left field; Cool Papa Bell (Starkville) center field; and Luke Easter (Jonestown), right field. In reserve, there’s outfielder Bubba Hyde (Pontotoc), pitcher/outfielder Dave Hoskins (Greenwood), outfielder Lacey Thomas (Meridian) and first baseman Henry McCall (Hattiesburg). This is a darn good bunch. Bell is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, of course, as a special electee. (William Foster, one of the greatest Negro Leagues pitchers, is there also and rates special mention here. He wasn’t born in Mississippi but grew up in the Lorman area and later coached and served as a dean at Alcorn State.) Easter — a legendary home run hitter — Boyd, Hairston and Dave Hoskins all got to the major leagues. Easterling was a perennial Negro Leagues All-Star, and Lewis was the ace of the Newark Eagles’ championship club in 1946.