May 17, 2024 - All Mississippi Baseball

catching up

LSU-Eunice, a seven-time national champion, completed a 4-0 run through the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament by beating Jones College 7-2 Friday in the title game at Poplarville. The third-ranked Bengals get an automatic bid to the D-II World Series in Enid, Okla. There are two at-large bids available in the 12-team field, leaving the door open for an MACCC team to get a call. East Central Community College is 51-7 and ranked No. 1 in the most recent D-II poll; Pearl River is 49-10 and ranked second; and Jones is 41-16 and ranked eighth. Jones eliminated ECCC in the regional on Thursday, and LSU-E put out Pearl River. … Drake Fontenot, Noah Magee and Braiden Jones combined on a six-hitter and Blayke Dendy and Brendan McCauley hit home runs as Delta State stayed alive in the NCAA D-II South Region tourney with an 8-0 win over host St. Leo (Fla.). The Statesmen (33-23) will be back at it on Saturday.

championship mettle

Among the most impressive aspects of James “Cool Papa” Bell’s career is the number of championship teams he played for during his Hall of Fame career. Bell, born on this date in Starkville in 1903, was a member of 11 teams that won — or claimed — league championships during his 25-year pro career. Known as one of the fastest players ever to suit up, Bell batted .325 for his career and is credited by baseball-reference.com with 285 steals in official Negro League games. Including exhibition games, winter league games and foreign leagues, his career steals total is likely double that and more. An eight-time All-Star, he was a leadoff batter and center fielder for three of the greatest franchises in the old Negro Leagues, winning nine pennants with the St. Louis Stars, Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays between 1922 and ’46. The Grays won two World Series titles with Bell. Bell also was on a championship team in the Dominican Republic in 1937 and the pennant-winning team in Mexican League in 1940. Bell, at age 37, won the league’s Triple Crown that year, batting .437 with 12 homers and 79 RBIs; he also stole 28 bases. He was elected to Cooperstown in 1974 and passed away in 1991. … On the subject of championship teams, Jackson Prep — led by the dynamic pro prospect Konnor Griffin — won its seventh straight title in MAIS, beating Presbyterian Christian for the 6A crown on Thursday night. P.S. On this date in 2010, at Yankee Stadium, former East Central Community College star Marcus Thames hit a walk-off two-run homer against ex-Mississippi State star Jonathan Papelbon, giving New York an 11-9 win over Boston. It was the only walk-off bomb Thames hit among his 115 career homers, according to Baseball Almanac.