Monthly Archives: April 2017

07 Apr

here they come

It started on March 12 in an unlikely place against an unlikely opponent. Mississippi College limped into Union University’s Fesmire Field in Jackson, Tenn., with a 2-17 record and seven straight losses. The host Bulldogs were 17-3, leading the Gulf South Conference with a 7-2 record and freshly ranked 24th in NCAA Division II. But just when it seemed as if “Taps” had become the anthem for their season, the Choctaws changed the tune. In the opener of a twinbill played on a chilly Sunday, MC’s Hunter Lacefield, a Northwest Mississippi Community College transfer, and Zack Ingram, a true freshman, combined to hold Union to three hits. Clutch knocks by Hunter Wilson and Casey Echols put the Choctaws up 4-2 in the fifth inning, and they rolled on to win 7-2. Union’s Game 2 starter was Teddy Christie, who sported a 5-0 record. Cue up the “Rocky” music. MC beat Christie 5-4. The Choctaws capitalized on four Union errors and the stout pitching of Hunter Mullis and Tommy Taborda. MC has lost only one game since; the 12-inning win against nationally ranked Southern Arkansas on Wednesday was the team’s ninth straight. At 10-10 in the GSC, they’ve climbed to seventh (of 12) in the standings. They’re fourth in the league in hitting, and the staff ERA, so bad early on, is trending in the right direction, a hair above 4.00 over the last nine games. North Alabama, 13-8 in the league, comes to Frierson Field this weekend for a series that could be very big for the Choctaws in their charge to make the GSC Tournament. Is that “Reveille” playing in the background? P.S. William Carey has dominated its series against Blue Mountain, beating the Toppers 15 times in 16 meetings. They meet again this weekend in an SSAC series at the new BMC SportsPlex, and it could get interesting. Nationally ranked Carey is 25-10, 11-4 in the league. BMC is 25-15, 6-6. James Land and Tyler Graves carry the big bats for the Crusaders, and the Toppers’ Caleb Leach has emerged as one of the SSAC’s best hitters. Three of the conference’s top base stealers also will be on hand: Carey’s Tyler James and Adrian Brown and BMC’s Miciah Heard. … As part of Hinds Community College’s centennial celebration, the school is hosting a tribute to the baseball program tonight in Raymond. Hinds was the first Mississippi school to reach the Juco World Series back in 1989, the year the program was merged with Utica’s. The 2014 Eagles were one win away from claiming the NJCAA Division II national title, which also would have been a first for the state. Jones County JC pulled off that feat last summer.

05 Apr

first of many

The first big league bomb by a Mississippian in 2017 was launched Tuesday by Richton High product JaCoby Jones. Jones, a lightly seasoned rookie who won Detroit’s center field job in spring training, hit a three-run homer off the Chicago White Sox’s Jose Quintana, propelling the Tigers to a 6-3 win at Guaranteed Rate Field. Jones reacted to his first MLB homer by flashing a No. 1 sign as he left the batter’s box. Jones, who goes 6 feet 2, 205 pounds, has pop. He hit 23 homers in a minor league campaign in 2014, when he was in Pittsburgh’s system. He also stole a base on Tuesday, showing off another tool. He swiped 25 bags in the minors in 2015. Jones brings youth and athleticism to a Tigers’ team that needs just such an injection.

04 Apr

peaks and valleys

There could be a gold rush at Trustmark Park tonight, when Southern Miss plays Ole Miss in the second installment of the three-game College Series. It’s certainly a good time to be a Southern Miss fan. The Golden Eagles are ranked in all the major polls. They’re 24-5 with a six-game win streak. They’re hitting. They’re pitching. Taylor Braley is doing a lot of both. He is batting .343 with eight home runs and is 3-0 with a 4.05 ERA on the bump. He’s scheduled to start tonight. Scott Berry’s club also has seen star turns taken by Nick Sandlin (0.00 ERA in 24 innings), Matt Wallner (nine homers), Dylan Burdeaux (30 RBIs), Mason Irby (30 runs), Kirk McCarty and Hayden Roberts (four wins each) and on and on. Ole Miss fans will surely turn out tonight, too, but these are troubling times for the Hotty Toddy crowd. The Rebels have fallen out of the polls. They’re 16-12 and coming off three tough losses at home to Mississippi State. They’ve pitched well, but they can’t hit: .241 as a team. Colby Bortles (.278, four homers, 18 RBIs) looks like the only threat in the lineup. And then there’s this: USM leads the TeePee series 7-4 and has beaten Ole Miss 10 of the last 12 times they’ve played. It’s always a big deal when USM and UM get together for any kind of game. But tonight’s has a special feel.

04 Apr

(very) young guns

The Atlanta Braves have chosen the fast track for three of their prized young pitchers. Kolby Allard, Mike Soroka and Max Fried are jumping the high Class A level to start 2017 with the Double-A Mississippi Braves, who released their official roster today. They are rated the Nos. 3, 4 and 8 prospects in the system by MLB Pipeline. Fried, whose career was slowed by injury, is 23 and has been in pro ball for six years. Allard and Soroka are just 19, very young for Double-A. “The good ones get there early and these are two really good ones,” Braves GM John Coppolella told Baseball America. Both were first-round picks in 2015 and are among the six first-rounders on the M-Braves’ roster. Soroka is a big right-hander, Allard a slender lefty. Soroka, featuring a hard sinker, went 9-9 with a 3.02 ERA for low-A Rome’s 2016 championship club. “He goes right after hitters, throws a ton of strikes and makes outstanding adjustments on the mound,” according to the MLB Pipeline scouting report. Allard, blessed with a superb breaking ball, was 8-3, 2.98 for Rome and threw 12 scoreless innings in the South Atlantic League playoffs. “His stuff plays up even more because of deception in his delivery and his outstanding command,” MLB Pipeline notes. Are the young guns ready for Double-A? M-Braves fans will have a front row seat as this question is answered. The opener is Thursday at Trustmark Park. P.S. Among several returnees from last year’s M-Braves team, which reached the Southern League finals, is Kade Scivicque, the former Southwest Mississippi Community College (and LSU) star. The 24-year-old catcher is a .273 hitter over two minor league seasons and had eight hits in four games in the SL postseason last year after coming to the Braves in a trade with Detroit.

03 Apr

weekend roll call

Corey Dickerson: The Meridian Community College product from McComb notched the first hit and first run of the MLB season in Tampa Bay’s win against the New York Yankees on Sunday.
Kendall Graveman: The ex-Mississippi State standout will start the opener tonight for Oakland against the visiting Los Angeles Angels; he was 10-11, 4.11 in 2016.
Zack Ingram: The freshman from Alabama threw a no-hitter for Mississippi College as the Choctaws completed a GSC series sweep at Valdosta State; Ingram is 2-4, 4.25 for MC, now 13-18, 10-10.
Spencer Price: Mississippi State’s closer got the save in all three games as the Bulldogs (19-10, 6-3 SEC) took down nationally ranked Ole Miss (16-12, 3-6) in Oxford; MCC transfer Price has nine saves all told for State, now ranked No. 22 by Baseball America.
J.C. Keys: The Southern Miss senior out of Oak Grove tossed a one-hitter as the Golden Eagles finished off a C-USA series sweep at Western Kentucky; Keys is 2-1, 3.46 for nationally ranked USM, now 24-5 (8-1 C-USA) heading into Tuesday’s clash with Ole Miss at Trustmark Park in Pearl.
Zack Shannon: The Delta State junior went 7-for-10 with 10 RBIs as the Statesmen swept a GSC series from Christian Brothers, a team they’ve beaten 47 straight times; juco transfer Shannon is batting .450 with nine homers for NCAA Division II nationally ranked DSU (25-8, 16-5).
Miguel Yrigoyen: The Jackson State senior tossed a seven-hitter as the Tigers finished off a SWAC sweep of Alabama A&M; Yrigoyen (4-2) walked one and fanned seven for the Tigers (22-11, 9-3).
Larson Barkurn: The senior from Petal delivered a walk-off hit that snapped a four-game skid and propelled William Carey to a doubleheader sweep and series victory over SSAC foe Bethel; the NAIA nationally ranked Crusaders are 25-10, 11-4.
Tanner Huddleston and Erick Hoard: The Jones County Junior College teammates notched back-to-back four-RBI games as the Bobcats beat Northeast 13-1 and 15-2; NJCAA D-II No. 1-ranked Jones (27-1, 9-1) is back atop the MACJC standings thanks to Itawamba’s sweep of Pearl River.

02 Apr

let’s get it started

It’s here. Opening Day. New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays. Tropicana Field. OK, there’s no mystique and aura – or even sunshine — at The Trop, but it’s still Opening Day. And the first game of the 2017 season (noon, ESPN) could give us a matchup of Mississippi natives. McComb’s Corey Dickerson is expected to be in the Rays’ lineup as the DH batting leadoff. Gulfport’s Jonathan Holder is working out of the Yankees’ bullpen. Dickerson, a lefty hitter, is a veteran of 413 big league games and has a .279 career average. In his first season in Tampa in 2016, the Meridian Community College alum batted .245 with 24 homers. Holder, a right-hander, pitched in eight games (5.40 ERA) for the Yankees last summer and is still classified as a rookie. Drafted out of Mississippi State in 2014, he posted a 2.50 ERA (and a bunch of strikeouts) as he rose through the Yankees’ system. He pitched in Atlanta in the soft opening of SunTrust Park on Friday night; he wasn’t sharp. P.S. Ex-Ole Miss standout Chris Coghlan signed a minor league deal with Toronto and, according to reports, will start the season with Triple-A Buffalo. He had been released by Philadelphia. … Itawamba Community College product Desmond Jennings was given his release by Cincinnati.

01 Apr

happy anniversary

Making the cut for the Hall of Fame is tough, as it should be. Some have suggested – in jest – that there should be a Hall of Very Good. There is an abundance of players who would fit very well in such a shrine. One of them is Vicksburg native Ellis Burks, who will celebrate the 30th anniversary of his big league debut this month. Burks registered over 2,000 career hits, 350 homers and 1,200 RBIs. He was a two-time All-Star, and in 1996, as one of Colorado’s Blake Street Bombers, batted .344 with 40 homers and 128 RBIs, earning third place in the National League MVP voting. Burks broke in in ’87 with Boston, which had made him a first-round pick in 1983 out of a Texas junior college. He played 18 years in the big leagues. He was Very Good. … Other debut anniversaries of note this year include the 100th for Batesville’s Sammy Vick, the 90th for Tupelo’s Andy Reese, the 80th for Ellisville’s Harry Craft, the 60th for Longwood’s Frank Barnes, the 20th for McComb’s Adrian Brown and Vicksburg’s John Thomson and the 10th for Jackson’s Seth Smith. Vick, a Millsaps alum, is the answer to a great trivia question: Who was the New York Yankees’ right fielder before they acquired Babe Ruth? Craft, a Mississippi College alum who earned two distinctive nicknames during his career (Popeye and Wildfire), played and managed in the majors and was the first skipper of the Houston Colt .45s. Brown was a 48th-round draft pick by Pittsburgh out of McComb High in 1992. He defied the odds to become the Pirates’ regular center fielder eight years later, batting .315 in 104 games that year (2000). His son, also named Adrian Brown, now plays for William Carey University. Smith, an Ole Miss product, debuted 10 years ago with Colorado as a September call-up and then made the team’s postseason roster. He made the final out of the ’07 World Series, fanning against Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon, the ex-Mississippi State star.