Monthly Archives: March 2018

23 Mar

buckle up

There are several big series on tap this weekend in college baseball (see Ole Miss at Texas A&M in the SEC; Southern Miss at Florida Atlantic in C-USA; Jackson State at Alcorn State in the SWAC; first-place Millsaps at Birmingham-Southern in SAA play; and first-place Blue Mountain at NAIA No. 1 Faulkner (Ala.) in the SSAC). If the recent past is prologue, we could be in for a wild weekend. To wit: On Thursday night, Ole Miss rallied for three eighth-inning runs to upend Texas A&M 5-4 in a battle of nationally ranked SEC foes in their series opener at College Station. Rebels ace Ryan Rolison wobbled, but relievers Will Ethridge (three innings, six strikeouts) and Parker Caracci (two innings, five K’s) picked him up. … On Wednesday, Mississippi Valley State beat Delta State for just the 16th time in 103 meetings, getting a 10th-inning, tie-breaking double from Aaron Barkley – who also pitched two shutout innings – at Itta Bena. Division I Valley is 5-16, D-II No. 1-ranked Delta State 19-4. In Jackson, Tougaloo spanked Alcorn State 9-1 as Lige Mims threw a complete game and drove in two runs. The NAIA Bulldogs, who visit MUW on Saturday, are 12-11; D-I Alcorn, which might have been looking ahead to its series with JSU, is 6-14. In the juco ranks, unranked Hinds Community College went to Ellisville and handed third-ranked Jones County Junior College its first home defeats of the season. Staton Todd (homer, double) and Andrew Beasley fueled the 6-5 Game 1 win with their bats, and the Eagles (14-3, 3-1 MACJC) rode the arms of Caleb Morgan and Josh Banes to a 4-1 victory in Game 2. Jones slipped to 15-5 (10-2 at home) and 2-2 MACJC. Meanwhile, East Central, ranked 13th, moved to 4-0 in the league with a sweep of Southwest behind the hitting of Wyatt Ball, who cycled over the two games. Pearl River, at 2-0, is the only other team still unbeaten in league play.

22 Mar

a door opens?

The injury to Steven Souza may create an opportunity for McComb’s Jarrod Dyson to start in Arizona’s outfield. Souza hurt his shoulder on Wednesday; details about the extent of the injury, which appeared significant, could be announced today. Dyson, a free agent signee this off-season, was projected as the Diamondbacks’ fourth outfielder. The 33-year-old Southwest Mississippi Community College star, an excellent defender, can play any of the three positions. He has been used sparingly in the field this spring – batting .238 in eight games — but reportedly is fully recovered from hernia surgery last September. Despite missing most of the final month with Seattle, the lefty-hitting Dyson set career-bests for stolen bases (30), runs (56), homers (five) and RBIs (30) in 111 games. Over eight MLB seasons, the first seven in Kansas City, Dyson is batting .258 with 204 steals. P.S. Former Pearl River CC standout Zach Clark got an infield hit in his first MLB spring training at-bat on Wednesday. Clark, a 19th-round pick by Milwaukee in 2016, was brought over from the minor league camp and entered the game vs. Oakland in the seventh inning. He hit .225 with seven homers in A-ball in 2017.

21 Mar

high-lights

Gulfport High, which has been getting a lot of attention in the national polls, moved up to No. 9 in Baseball America’s new rankings released on Tuesday. Jamie McMahon’s Admirals (12-1 when the BA poll was released, 13-1 now) are also ranked 22nd in MaxPreps’ most recent Xcellent 25 and No. 24 in Collegiate Baseball’s latest prep poll. After reaching the MHSAA Class 6A finals in 2017, the Admirals are looking to chart a championship course, which would be the school’s first since 1985. Gabe Lacy is batting .386 with five homers and is 4-0 with an 0.64 ERA on the mound. Blake Johnson is at .410 and 2-0, 3.00. … At No. 16 in the BA poll is West Lauderdale, the Jerry Boatner-built dynasty that is off to an 11-1 start as the defending state 4A champ. The Knights are led by Hunter Eldridge (.464, five homers, 22 RBIs) and sophomore Braden Luke (.471). … Hattiesburg, featuring the highly touted Joe Gray, was ranked 11th in Collegiate Baseball’s preseason poll but, at 10-3, has dropped out of the top 30. However, the Tigers will get a chance to make some noise in next week’s National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C.

20 Mar

down but not out

Miami has optioned Braxton Lee to the minors, which shouldn’t have come as a big surprise to the 24-year-old outfielder who hasn’t played above Double-A. At one stage in the off-season, when the Marlins were in the process of purging their 2017 roster, Ole Miss product Lee was the only center fielder on the depth chart. The club has since added Cameron Maybin and Lewis Brinson. Lee, a lefty hitter with outstanding speed, likely will start 2018 at Triple-A New Orleans. The Picayune native is coming off a breakthrough year in which he hit .309 to win the Southern League batting crown and raked at a .347 clip in the Arizona Fall League. Drafted in the 12th round in 2014 by Tampa Bay, Lee was traded last summer, moving from Montgomery to Jacksonville in the SL without missing a beat. He hit .219 with four steals in 20 MLB spring training games. Rated Miami’s No. 17 prospect by MLB Pipeline, he’ll be heard from again.

20 Mar

campus clips

The conversion from closer to starter has been a smooth one for Southern Miss’ Nick Sandlin, who was named national pitcher of the week by Collegiate Baseball on Monday. The junior right-hander had a 14-strikeout game against Texas-San Antonio over the weekend and is 3-0 with a 1.32 ERA in his five starts. He had 10 wins and eight saves out of the pen in 2017, earning several All-America honors. … Thomas Dillard has been a welcome power source for surging Ole Miss (19-2), having already set a season-high with five home runs. The sophomore from Oxford, batting .333 this year, hit .206 with four homers in 48 games in 2017. … Mississippi State’s weekend rotation of Konnor Pilkington (1.55 ERA), Ethan Small (3.04) and Jacob Billingsley (3.52) has been excellent but is just 4-5 combined for the 10-10 Bulldogs. State, last in the SEC in scoring with 89 runs, could find a rhythm tonight when Alcorn State, staff ERA 7.24, comes to Starkville. … Jackson State leads the SWAC in hitting with a .302 average, and Raul Hernandez is second in the individual stats at .403. … Dalton Minton, a transfer from Northwest Mississippi Community College, has emerged as an ace at Delta State. The left-hander is 4-0, 3.90 and has the 19-2 team’s lone complete game. … Mississippi College leads the Division II Gulf South Conference in batting at .334, led by East Central CC transfer Billy Cameron at .397. … Blue Mountain (18-6) is in first place at 5-1 in the Southern States Athletic Conference standings. NAIA nationally ranked William Carey (19-8) is tied for third at 4-2. BMC travels to Columbus today to take on MUW, 10-7 in its inaugural season. … Millsaps (17-6) tops the D-III Southern Athletic Association standings at 7-2. Transfer Jimmy Johnstone is hitting .449 for the Majors.

19 Mar

be very afraid

Arkansas-Monticello is next on Delta State’s schedule. Boll Weevils pitchers don’t need to pore over the Statesmen’s stat sheet too long to identify what should be their biggest concern, if not their biggest fear, in Tuesday’s game. Zack Shannon’s numbers are scary good. The DSU senior, an Ohio native, is batting .494 with 17 home runs and 48 RBIs for a 19-2 team. He has a 1.229 slugging percentage. He has struck out just 10 times in 83 at-bats. And pitchers have been challenging him: He has walked only 11 times and been hit by a pitch just four times. “He has the ability to look for a pitch, sit on it and get it,” DSU coach Mike Kinnison told The Bolivar Commercial. Shannon, 6 feet 3, 230 pounds, has been on a fearsome power trip of late, with homers in seven straight games and nine of 10. With 36 career bombs in one-plus years in Cleveland, he has equaled Barry Lyons’ total for fifth place on the team’s all-time list. Dee Haynes’ 69 is probably out of reach, but Jud Thigpen (41), Craig Newton (40) and Devin Goodwin (37) should prepare to be taken down a peg. Shannon reaped all kinds of honors last season, including the Tino Martinez Award as NCAA Division II’s most outstanding player, and he has been even better in 2018.

19 Mar

and they’re off

Brooms were in fashion in the opening round of league play in the MACJC over the weekend. Six of the seven doubleheaders resulted in sweeps, including the only matchup between two nationally ranked teams. Itawamba Community College (16-2), ranked eighth in last week’s NJCAA Division II poll, beat No. 16 Mississippi Gulf Coast CC 7-4 and 11-9 in Fulton. Labryant Siddell, a freshman out of Tupelo High, went 4-for-6 in the twinbill with two homers and four RBIs. Kyle Crigger homered and drove in three runs in Game 1, and Houston Harding pitched 6 2/3 innings to improve to 4-0. Cullen O’Shea went deep in both games for Gulf Coast (16-4). No. 2-ranked Jones County JC (15-3) took two from East Mississippi in Scooba. The Bobcats rode the bats of Stephen Matthews (homer), Brandon Hale (homer) and Luther Woullard (two doubles, two RBIs) in the opener, a 12-6 win, and the arm of Jay Simpson in Game 2, a 7-1 victory. Fifth-ranked East Central (13-4) bounced back from three midweek losses to sweep Coahoma, and No. 19 Pearl River (15-3) won a pair from Northwest. No. 13 Hinds (12-3) split with Northeast, Southwest swept Holmes and Meridian swept Copiah-Lincoln.

18 Mar

made in mississippi

Fans in Goodyear, Ariz., were treated to a noteworthy Mississippi matchup in the Cactus League on Saturday. Cody Reed, the former Northwest Mississippi Community College star from Horn Lake, opposed Chris Stratton, the ex-Mississippi State standout from Tupelo, as Cincinnati took on San Francisco. Both pitchers are trying to nail down a job on the big league roster. Reed, a left-hander, had the better day in a 5-4 Reds win, going four innings and allowing two runs – on solo homers in his final inning – with three strikeouts and no walks. “Throwing strikes – that was big for me,” Reed said in a video posted on mlb.com. “I got a lot of swing-and-misses today. … I feel good.” He has a 5.11 ERA this spring and a 6.75 in 22 big league games with the Reds over the last two seasons. Right-hander Stratton threw four shutout innings for the Giants before giving up four runs in the fifth. He allowed six hits with four punchouts and no walks as his spring ERA rose to 3.86. Stratton has appeared in 20 MLB games the last two years and has a 3.67 ERA. Reed-Stratton is a matchup we might be seeing again during the 2018 season, when as many as six Magnolia State products may be starting games in The Show. The others: Lance Lynn, Drew Pomeranz, Kendall Graveman and Brandon Woodruff.

17 Mar

big league chew

Great quote from Buck Showalter, the former Mississippi State star now managing the Baltimore Orioles: “We’re lying in the weeds,” he told Mike Lupica of mlb.com. “I just don’t know how deep the weeds are.” Showalter might just find a way through – even in the same division as the great and powerful New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. In eight seasons with the O’s, he has a 622-569 record and only twice had a losing campaign.  … Bad luck with injuries has struck Anthony Alford again. The ex-Petal High standout, who had performed well in Toronto’s big league camp, has a hamstring strain that will sideline him for up to six weeks. Alford, a highly rated prospect, missed time last season and in 2016 with injuries. … Ole Miss alum Drew Pomeranz, who has been limited by a mild flexor strain in his left forearm, threw a bullpen session in Florida on Thursday but is still not expected to be ready by opening day for Boston. … UM product Mike Mayers reportedly has pitched his way into contention for a spot in the St. Louis bullpen. In nine innings this spring, he has a 0.00 ERA with 10 strikeouts and just five hits allowed. He also pitched well in winter ball. … Former Southern Miss star Cody Carroll called his first big league camp with the Yankees an “awesome” experience. In an interview with MLB Pipeline, Carroll said he has been working on a splitter to go with his fastball/slider repertoire. He reached Double-A in 2017 and was outstanding in the Arizona Fall League. … Just wondering: Whatever happened to Rafael Palmeiro’s comeback?

16 Mar

going strong

There are hurdles ahead for Chuckie Robinson, but the former Southern Miss star certainly has built a head of steam. After one full season in pro ball, the 23-year-old Robinson is the second-highest rated catcher in Houston’s system and the No. 27 prospect overall in the world champion’s organization. He has made a couple of appearances in big league spring training games and has earned a great reputation. “He’s one of our most-liked players by staff just because he’s such a hard worker,” Astros director of player development Pete Putila told milb.com in a recent feature on Robinson. “Physically, he’s an explosive player. It shows up in his arm strength and bat speed.” Robinson threw out 40.9 percent of baserunners attempting to steal last season at Class A Quad Cities while also batting .274 and mashing 15 homers with 77 RBIs. He was a driving force behind the River Bandits’ run to the Midwest League pennant, belting four postseason bombs, and was named an MWL All-Star. Robinson, an Illinois native, was a 21st-round selection by the Astros in 2016 and, though he had a big junior year at USM, didn’t enter pro ball with a lot of hype. “I know good ballplayers. I think I’m a good ballplayer. I know what I’m capable of and, honestly, I just wanted to get an opportunity,” Robinson said in the milb.com article. He is making the most of it.