Monthly Archives: June 2017

While so much attention was given to who wasn’t starting for Mississippi State on Friday night, maybe a little more should have gone to the guy who did start for South Alabama. Randy Bell, a senior right-hander from Woodville, threw a six-hitter to take down the Bulldogs 6-3 in the first round of the Hattiesburg Regional. Handed an early lead – former D’Iberville High star Dylan Hardy led off the game with a home run to spark a three-run first inning — Bell threw 123 pitches, fanned three and walked two. He limited the top three hitters in State’s lineup – Ryan Gridley, SEC player of the year and Ferriss Trophy winner Brent Rooker and Jake Mangum – to two hits in 11 at-bats. “You say the story of tonight was Randy Bell,’’ USA coach Mark Calvi said in a school release. State coach Andy Cannizaro said Bell was “outstanding.” Bell improved to 7-3 on the year, winning an NCAA regional game for the second straight season. He won a lot of big games at Hinds Community College, as well, nine for the NJCAA Division II runner-up squad in 2014 and 12 more (with no losses) in 2015, earning national pitcher of the year honors. His 21 wins at HCC tied Pat Rapp, the former Southern Miss and MLB standout, for the most in school history. Bell also pitched for two state championship teams at Centreville Academy. State, meanwhile, which opted not to throw ace Konnor Pilkington on Friday, used five pitchers all told. The Bulldogs now face an elimination game today at Taylor Park against Illinois-Chicago, the 4-seed that put a major scare in USM before falling 8-7.

Curious decision by Mississippi State coach Andy Cannizaro to hold out ace Konnor Pilkington from the team’s Hattiesburg Regional opener tonight against South Alabama. Left-hander Pilkington is 7-5, 3.13 ERA and shackled USA back in March, throwing 7 2/3 shutout innings with 13 strikeouts. Pilkington told the Biloxi Sun-Herald he is “fine with it.” But for a team that lacks pitching depth, winning the opener behind a starter who can go deep would seem to be paramount. Cole Gordon (2-2, 4.59) will get the ball. … South Alabama trots out a very potent lineup, including Mississippians Wells Davis and Dylan Hardy. Don’t sleep on the Jaguars, a 39-win club that has made 27 NCAA appearances. Mississippi State has 36. … Even against a tough field, Southern Miss, with 14 regional appearances, is the heavy favorite at Taylor Park, where the Golden Eagles went 24-6. Baseball America calls this USM’s “best and most complete team in years.” … If there are college baseball fans out there who aren’t yet familiar with USM’s Matt Wallner, that could end this weekend. The left-handed hitting freshman has been a force in a stacked lineup with a .345 average and 19 homers. The coach who recruited him to North Dakota – where he never played because the program was shut down – has compared Wallner’s swing to Will Clark’s. Now that’s a familiar name. … USM’s Scott Berry will throw his ace, Kirk McCarty (10-2, 2.96), against 4-seed Illinois-Chicago in today’s first game. … Berry also has a first-rate weapon to throw at the end of games: second-team All-America Nick Sandlin, who notched 10 wins, seven saves, a 2.16 ERA and 72 punchouts in 50 innings for the 48-win Eagles. … UIC was pegged to finish in the middle of the pack in the Horizon League this season, but fueled by some strong pitching and excellent defense, the Flames won 39 games and the conference title. They also beat Vanderbilt two out of three in Nashville this season. So there’s that. … With the postseason runs of Delta State and William Carey having ended, we’re down to two Magnolia State schools still playing. We’ll have one at most after the anticipated dust storm settles in Hattiesburg.

The Minnesota Twins turned their first triple play in 11 years on Thursday, a sweet around-the-horn job with second baseman Brian Dozier in the middle of it. The former Southern Miss standout also made a diving stop to his left to save a run in the first inning of the first-place Twins’ 4-2 victory against the Los Angeles Angels. Dozier’s hitting exploits of the last couple of years have overshadowed the fact that he is a pretty good defensive second baseman. He has just two errors in 46 games this season – good for a .991 fielding percentage — and has been involved in 29 double plays, plus the one TP. After an 0-for-5 on Thursday, Dozier’s batting average dipped to .242. He has eight homers, 22 RBIs and eight steals, but as he demonstrated against the Angels, he makes major contributions on the glove side, as well. For the record, he had a better fielding percentage, fewer errors and more DPs in 2016 than American League Gold Glove winner Ian Kinsler.

There were 1,060 home runs in the big leagues in the month of May, mlb.com reports. Sounds like a lot – and it is, in fact, the second-most ever hit in a single month, surpassed only by the 1,069 sent into the seats in 2000, back in the Muscle Up Era. Mississippians did their part to provide those coveted souvenirs last month. Corey Dickerson, the former Meridian Community College standout who has 12 bombs on the year, hit six in May. His Tampa Bay team led the majors with 52. Brian Dozier, the Southern Miss product, also hit six, four of them at Minnesota’s Target Field, where an MLB-leading 66 long balls were launched in May. Ole Miss alum Zack Cozart, who had only one homer in March/April, smacked six in May. Ex-Mississippi State star Hunter Renfroe hit five of his 10 homers in May, and State alum Mitch Moreland and East Central CC product Tim Anderson chipped in with four apiece. They both have six for the season. Clearly, the race is on in the All-Mississippi Home Run Derby, and if the remaining months are anything like May, it could get wild.