Monthly Archives: February 2022

05 Feb

and they’re off

In what might have been a good omen for the 2022 season, William Carey University rallied for four runs in the ninth inning to beat Lindsey Wilson 6-5 Friday in a frigid opener at Wheeler Field in Hattiesburg. Sophomore Caleb Laird got the walk-off knock, and Chris Williams, a transfer from Chipola Junior College in Florida, went 2-for-5 with a homer for the Crusaders, slated to play Lindsey Wilson again today in a doubleheader. Mississippi College launched its season with a 12-4 loss to North Greenville in the cold at Frierson Field in Clinton. The Choctaws were out-hit 15-4. The teams meet again today for a pair. Delta State’s slated opener was pushed back to today at Hot Springs, Ark., where the Statesmen will take on Harding in a three-day tournament. Millsaps, Blue Mountain and Tougaloo are scheduled to open today. P.S. Props to former Mississippi State star Will Clark, whose No. 22 will be retired by the San Francisco Giants on July 30 at Oracle Park, and to Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco, who has been named the head coach of USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team for this summer. … Congrats to Piney Woods; the school’s baseball field will be renovated through the Atlanta Braves Foundation’s Henry Louis Aaron Fund.

02 Feb

on the docket

It’s Groundhog Day. And National Signing Day. It’s also Opening Day. The new college season begins today for Magnolia State schools when a new head coach, John Bates, takes his Rust College Bearcats to Tuskegee University in Alabama. Rust (13-20 last season under Stanley Stubbs, now the new coach at Mississippi Valley State) will lift the lid on a busy opening week for the state’s small schools. Other openers on the docket:
Friday: William Carey launches coach Bobby Halford’s 37th season in a doubleheader against visiting Lindsey Wilson. The Crusaders went 36-12 in 2021, won the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament and made the NAIA playoffs. … At Clinton, Mississippi College, coming off a disappointing 16-20 campaign, hosts North Greenville for a twinbill. … Delta State, 28-20 and an NCAA Division II regional participant last year, travels to Hot Springs, Ark., to play Henderson State in a tournament.
Saturday: Blue Mountain, where former associate head coach Taylor Clark has taken the reins from program founder Curt Fowler, opens at home with a pair against Williams Baptist. … Millsaps is at LeTourneau (Texas) for a doubleheader to begin coach Jim Page’s 31st season with the Majors, an uncharacteristic 10-24 in 2021. (Millsaps will host an eight-team tournament Feb. 11-13 with games at both Twenty Field and Smith-Wills Stadium.) … Tougaloo (4-21 last year) opens at Xavier (La.).
P.S. Belhaven (20-18 last season) opens Feb. 11 on the road at East Texas Baptist, and MUW (23-11) will play that day vs. Rhodes College in the Millsaps tournament. The NCAA Division I schools start Feb. 18, with the exception of Alcorn State, slated to begin the Reggie Williams era on Feb. 25 at McNeese State.

01 Feb

fitting tribute

MLB Network did a nice tribute to former big leaguer Jeff Innis, who died Sunday at 59 from cancer. Old Jackson Mets fans will remember Innis, a skinny, sidearming right-hander who served two stints at Smith-Wills Stadium, in 1984 and again in ’86. He was humble and witty in those days — and an effective reliever for two good teams. MLBN’s Tom Verducci, who also wrote a piece for si.com about Innis, called him a “calm port in a busy storm” with the New York Mets of the late ’80s and hailed his “humility and kindness.” Other tributes from former teammates echoed those sentiments. Innis said in a 1986 interview that he was buried in the bullpen at Illinois when he decided to start throwing sidearm. Despite a low-80s fastball, he showed enough potential that the Mets drafted him in the 13th round in 1983. Innis put up a 4.25 ERA and eight saves for the Texas League champion JaxMets in 1984 and, after being bumped back to A-ball in 1985, became the closer (2.45 ERA, 25 saves) for the ’86 team that reached the TL title series. Innis was never a star during seven seasons with the big Mets, but he was a good pitcher: 3.05 ERA in 288 games. He was also a good guy who evidently touched a lot of lives.