Monthly Archives: May 2024

24 May

riding high again

A season that began with high expectations — a No. 4 national ranking — for William Carey University reached a low point on March 7, when the Crusaders were 11-9 and no longer ranked. Flash to May 24, and Carey is back on a high, riding an 11-game win streak and seeded seventh in the NAIA World Series at Lewiston, Idaho. The Crusaders (37-14) were slated to play Indiana Southeast on Friday night. The sluggish start this season wasn’t totally unexpected, as Carey lost some key players (Patrick Lee, Bobby Lada, A.J. Stinson, et al.) from last year’s World Series team. “We’ve got three new guys in there, and it’s a learning experience for them,” longtime coach Bobby Halford said in a school release after a loss in the season opener on Feb. 1. “And some of the older guys just didn’t play well tonight. But that’s baseball. It’s a long season and I think we’ll be fine.” They are just that. Led by third baseman R.J. Stinson, a Ferriss Trophy finalist, and closer John Snyder, Carey won the SSAC Tournament and its NAIA Opening Round tourney without dropping a game. Stinson, the leadoff batter, is batting .403 with eight homers, 50 RBIs and 71 runs. Bailee Hendon has 10 homers and 58 RBIs. Jake Lycette has driven in 60 runs; Bridley Thomas has scored 48; and Jerod Williams has 16 steals. On the mound, Luke Lycette is 7-1 with a 4.30 ERA. Last year’s ace, Andrew Shirah, is 8-4 despite a 5.15, and Dario Herrera is 6-1. At the back end is Snyder, who has 13 saves, a 1.23 ERA, 43 strikeouts and just seven walks in 29 1/3 innings. In the dugout is Halford, who has over 1,300 wins. It appears to be a team that can bring home a national title, a feat last accomplished in 1969.

24 May

comin’ on strong

In the Baltimore Orioles’ loaded minor league system, it ain’t easy to stand out, especially for a player not ranked among their top prospects. But there at High-Class A Aberdeen goes Matthew Etzel, putting up eye-catching numbers. The Southern Miss product, a 10th-round pick by the Orioles in 2023, is hitting .293 with four homers, 23 RBIs, 20 steals, six doubles, two triples, 26 runs and a .392 on-base percentage. The lefty-hitting outfielder — 6 feet 2, 211 pounds — ranks in the top 11 in five offensive categories in the South Atlantic League. You won’t find Etzel’s name on MLB Pipeline’s chart of the Top 30 Baltimore prospects, four of whom rank in the top 22 on the overall minor league prospect chart. But his star is rising. He typically bats cleanup and plays center field for the IronBirds. “He is super exciting, definitely under the radar,” Aberdeen hitting coach Zach Cole recently told Orioles Beat. “He’s a guy that could climb the system pretty quick.” Etzel batted .317 with seven homers, 51 RBIs and 23 steals for USM’s Sun Belt Conference championship team in 2023, his only year in Hattiesburg after transferring from a Texas juco. P.S. Etzel’s alma mater rallied to win, 6-5 over Troy, in the SBC Tournament on Thursday and gets today off in Montgomery, Ala. … Jackson State won big again — 11-6 over Bethune-Cookman — in the SWAC Tournament in Atlanta and plays again today against the BCU-Texas Southern winner. … Mississippi State, afer losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC tourney, tackles top-seeded Tennessee in an elimination game today at Hoover, Ala. … Congrats to MHSAA state champions Brandon (Class 7A) and East Webster (3A), both of which completed sweeps on Thursday at Trustmark Park in Pearl.

23 May

bubbles up

Jackson State, which won 33 games in the regular season, did not have a single player named first-team All-SWAC. As if to make a statement, the Tigers — the No. 4 seed from the East Division — demolished the 1-seed from the West, Texas Southern, by a 17-4 count on Wednesday in the SWAC Tournament. JSU put up 11 runs in the seventh inning of the run-rule victory in Atlanta. Myles White, a second-team all-league pick, drove in four runs for the Tigers, and Arjun Huerta homered and picked up five RBIs. Three Tigers had three hits, including Joseph Eichelberger (.366, .931 OPS). JSU gets Bethune-Cookman today in a winners bracket game. … Another day, another big knock for Connor Hujsak. The Mississippi State senior drove in the tying and go-ahead runs in the ninth inning of Wednesday night’s 5-3 win against 4-seed Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament. Hujsak, batting .347 this season, hit a walk-off homer against Ole Miss on Tuesday. Fifth-seeded MSU meets 8-seed Vanderbilt tonight in a winners bracket game at Hoover, Ala. The top four seeds in the tourney all lost on Wednesday. … Southern Miss’ late-season surge continued in its Sun Belt Tournament opener on Wednesday. Billy Oldham and Colby Allen combined on a five-hit shutout and hot-hitting Slade Wilks drove in two runs and Nick Monistere hit a three-run homer in a five-run eighth as the Golden Eagles beat Coastal Carolina 5-0 at Montgomery, Ala. USM has won 11 of its last 12. Next up is Troy in a winners bracket game today.

23 May

early returns

Two games in, it appears that Jacob Gonzalez was ready for the challenge of Double-A baseball. The former Ole Miss standout is off to a 6-for-10 start for Birmingham. On Wednesday at Biloxi, the lefty-hitting shortstop doubled, homered, drove in two runs and scored twice in the Barons’ 8-4 win at MGM Park. Gonzalez’s homer came as part of a five-run 10th inning in which his former Rebels teammate Tim Elko also went yard, his fourth of the season. Gonzalez was the 15th overall pick by the Chicago White Sox in 2023 following a decorated career in Oxford, where he won a national title. He hit just .211 with four extra-base hits in rookie ball and Low-Class A last season, but that surely was an anomaly for the ChiSox’s No. 7 prospect. The California native, who goes 6 feet 2, 200 pounds, was batting .273 with three homers and 15 RBIs at High-A Winston-Salem this year before his promotion. P.S. Spencer Schwellenbach delivered another sparkling performance for the Mississippi Braves on Wednesday, throwing seven shutout innings to beat host Chattanooga. In two Double-A outings, the 23-year-old right-hander has yet to allow a run over 13 innings, yielding five hits, two walks and striking out 17. He is Atlanta’s No. 3 prospect. … Ole Miss alum Ryan Rolison — the 22nd overall pick by Colorado in 2018 — made a rehab appearance in rookie ball on Tuesday, throwing a scoreless inning. The oft-injured left-hander, once a highly rated prospect on the cusp of making the majors, made just four appearances in 2023 and none in 2022. He is currently on the Triple-Albuquerque roster. … Demarcus Evans, the onetime big leaguer from Petal, was released by Charleston of the independent Atlantic League after four appearances (12.46 ERA). He had signed with a Mexican League club in February but never pitched there. The big right-hander, 27, didn’t pitch at all in 2023 while in the New York Yankees’ organization. He has a 2.76 career ERA in the minors, a 4.75 in the majors.

22 May

instant classic

Two names will endure in the lore of the Mississippi State-Ole Miss rivalry after the instant classic the teams staged late Tuesday in the SEC Tournament. Hujsak and Auger. Connor Hujsak won it for the Bulldogs 2-1 with a two-out, ninth-inning, two-run walk-off missile over the left-field fence at a packed Hoover Met, salvaging a brilliant pitching performance by the unsung Brooks Auger, who threw eight innings, yielded one run and punched out 13 batters. MSU, virtually assured of hosting an NCAA regional, advances to a showdown today with Texas A&M in the next phase of the tournament. “It’s huge,” State coach Chris Lemonis said in a postgame presser. “It’s huge for (our) resume, but it’s huge for us. We need to play postseason baseball. These guys haven’t played in the postseason. For us to be in this environment and play in what feels like a regional, our guys need to enjoy it and be a part of it.” For Ole Miss, a wonky season ended with a gut punch from its rival. Riley Maddox, former Jackson Prep star, worked seven-plus shutout innings for the Rebels, who got their lone run on a fifth-inning homer by Will Furniss that bounced out of the glove of Hujsak and over the center-field wall. It went to the ninth. Liam Doyle, after retiring Dakota Jordan (strikeout) and Hunter Hines (great play by Furniss at first base) with the tying run on base, was one out away from saving it for the Rebels. Then Hujsak — making his return to the lineup after a lingering back injury — stepped up and made a name for himself. P.S. Southern Miss begins defense of its Sun Belt Conference Tournament title today against Coastal Carolina at Montgomery, Ala. … In Atlanta, Jackson State opens SWAC Tournament play today against Texas Southern. … East Central Community College received one of the two at-large bids to the NJCAA Division II World Series in Enid, Okla., and is seeded third in the event that starts Saturday. ECCC, ranked No. 1 in the latest poll, lost in the Region 23 Tournament won by LSU-Eunice, the top seed in the World Series. ECCC is in the World Series for the second straight year.

21 May

touching the bases

The decision by the Chicago White Sox to move Garrett Crochet from the bullpen to the rotation this season is beginning to look like a stroke of brilliance. The 6-foot-6 left-hander from Ocean Springs, who’ll face Toronto today, has allowed one earned in 17 innings with 23 strikeouts in three May starts. For the year, he is 4-4 with a 4.18 ERA, 70 punchouts, a 1.01 WHIP and a .207 batting average against. And he is pitching for a team that is 14-34. Crochet was the 11th overall pick out of Tennessee in 2020 and made the big leagues that season, throwing 100 mph gas. Arm surgery shelved him in 2022 and limited him to 13 games last season. Moved to the rotation this spring, he seems to have found his calling. Writes the Chicago Sun-Times: “Great fastball, four-pitch mix, plenty of moxie and the intangibles all baked into a prototypical staff ace.” … The jury is out on Philadelphia’s decision to move former Madison Central High standout Spencer Turnbull from the rotation to the bullpen. Turnbull, in his first season with the Phillies, was 2-0, 1.67, in six starts this season. As a reliever — a new role for the veteran right-hander — he has a 6.43 in four appearances. … Colt Keith, Biloxi High alum, is heating up for Detroit in his rookie campaign. The 22-year-old Keith is 9-for-22 over his last seven games and 14-for-44 the last 15, boosting his average to .214. He has yet to homer. … Austin Riley, the ex-DeSoto Central star, hasn’t played for Atlanta since May 12 (side inflammation) but remains on the active roster. It’s unclear when he might return to the lineup. Her is batting a sub-par .245 with three homers. … Former big leaguer Anthony Alford, the Petal High product, is playing in the Mexican League for Campeche after being released by Cincinnati. He was hitting .222 at Double-A Chattanooga. … The New York Yankees DFA’d Colby White, the former Mississippi State pitcher they claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay earlier this month. The injury-plagued White, yet to appear in the majors, presumably will stay in the Yankees’ system. … Ex-Ole Miss star Jacob Gonzalez has been promoted to Double-A Birmingham, where he’ll join former Rebels teammate Tim Elko on the Barons’ roster. Gonzalez, a first-round pick last summer by the White Sox, was hitting .273 with three homers, 15 RBIs and seven steals at the High-Class A level. Birmingham starts a series at Biloxi today. … Dalton Moats, former Delta State left-hander, recently signed with the Chicago Cubs and threw three innings for Double-A Tennessee on Sunday. The minor league vet pitched in independent ball in 2023.

20 May

honor society

Dakota Jordan, who has had a bunch of good days swinging the bat for Mississippi State this season, had a good day Monday without ever touching one. The former Jackson Academy star from Canton won the state’s Ferriss Trophy, was named one of the 25 semifinalists for the national Golden Spikes Award and also earned second-team All-SEC recognition. Jordan is batting .363 with 17 home runs, 63 RBIs and 51 runs through 55 games for the nationally ranked Bulldogs, who play Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament at Hoover, Ala., on Tuesday night. … MSU shortstop David Mershon and pitcher Khal Stephen made first-team All-SEC, and Ole Miss outfielder Andrew Fischer was a second-team pick. … Former Madison Central High standout Braden Montgomery, now at Texas A&M, was named first-team All-SEC and also a Golden Spikes semifinalist. … Southern Miss pitcher Billy Oldham and DH Slade Wilks earned first-team All-Sun Belt honors, and pitcher Niko Mazza, shortstop Ozzie Pratt and outfielder Dalton McIntyre — a Ferriss finalist — were pegged on the second team. Banks Tolley, an Ole Miss transfer from Madison, was named the Sun Belt’s newcomer of the year and ex-Pearl River Community College star Luke Lyon, now at Troy, was a second-team All-SBC pick. … Pearl River CC’s Michael Avalon was named the MACCC coach of the year and the Wildcats’ Hollis Porter, an MSU transfer, earned player of the year honors. PRCC won the regular season title in the conference. … In the MHSAA State Championships that begin Tuesday at Pearl’s Trustmark Park, two of the seven classification Mr. Baseball winners will take part: Ty Long of Class 4A Ripley and Landon Harmon of 2A East Union. Long is a USM signee, Harmon an MSU commit. Tupelo’s Lake Reed was the 7A winner, West Jones’ Camden Clark in 6A, South Jones’ Cole Richardson in 5A, Mooreville’s Mason McMillin in 3A and Pine Grove’s Gehrig Shinall in 1A.

20 May

trophy time

The Ferriss Trophy has been around since 2004, and it’s become kind of a big deal to be named the best college player in a state where baseball is quite a big deal. The list of winners is impressive. Nine of them are still active in the pro game, four of them currently playing in the big leagues, two of them owning World Series rings. The 2024 award — honoring former Delta State coach Boo Ferriss and presented by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum — will be given out today at a ceremony at the Pearl River Resort in Philadelphia. The finalists are Brett Sanchez (Belhaven), Dakota Jordan (Mississippi State), Ethan Lege (Ole Miss), Dalton McIntyre (Southern Miss) and R.J. Stinson (William Carey). The oldest active winner is Drew Pomeranz, the 2010 recipient from Ole Miss. Currently pitching in Triple-A with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the big left-hander was the fifth overall pick in the 2010 draft and has made 289 MLB appearances, winning a World Series with Boston in 2018. Nick Sandlin (Cleveland), Brent Rooker (Oakland), Hunter Renfroe (Kansas City) and Chris Stratton (KC) are in The Show. Stratton won a ring with Texas last year; Rooker was an All-Star in 2023; Renfroe has 180 career home runs; and Sandlin has a career ERA of 2.99 over four seasons. Two-time Ferriss winner Jake Mangum, the former MSU star, probably should have been in the big leagues by now; he is batting .329 in Triple-A for Tampa Bay and has a .290 career average. Last year’s winner, Kemp Alderman of Ole Miss, a second-round draft pick last July, is currently on the injured list in A-ball in Miami’s system. Tanner Hall, the 2022 winner from USM, has spent most of this season on the shelf, having made just three appearances in Minnesota’s system. Tanner Allen, the 2021 winner at MSU, is in Double-A in Miami’s chain and batting .250 as a regular outfielder. Among the 2024 finalists, Jordan is the highest rated MLB draft prospect, checking in at No. 24 on the latest mlb.com list. Each of the five is well-credentialed.

19 May

tournament time

The dust has settled — on the regular season, at least — and the conference tournament brackets are set for the state’s NCAA Division I schools. Dust will fly again on Tuesday in Hoover, Ala. As fate would have it, Mississippi State and Ole Miss will meet Tuesday in the one-game elimination round of the SEC tourney. Game time is 9 p.m. State (36-19) is the 5-seed, Ole Miss (27-28) the 12th. Texas A&M awaits the winner in the double-elimination phase. The SEC Tournament means a lot more to the Rebels, who’ll need to win the whole thing to get an NCAA bid. But rest assured, the Bulldogs would love to send the Rebels home. … Surging Southern Miss (37-18) is the No. 2 seed and will open Sun Belt Conference Tournament play Wednesday against an as yet undetermined winner from the single-elimination games on Tuesday. The tournament is in Montgomery, Ala. … Jackson State (33-18) is the No. 4 seed in the SWAC East and will begin tournament play Wednesday in Atlanta against the No. 1 team from the West, apparently either Texas Southern or Grambling State. … There’s more: In the NAIA World Series, William Carey is the seventh seed and will open Friday against 10-seed Indiana Southeast at Lewiston, Idaho. No. 2 Georgia Gwinnett awaits the winner. … The MHSAA State Championships schedule features four Game 1’s on Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl and three on Wednesday. On Tuesday, starting at 10 a.m., it’s Class 2A St. Andrew’s-East Union; followed by Class 3A West Marion-East Webster; Class 4A Sumrall-Ripley; and Class 7A Brandon-Hernando. On Wednesday, starting at 1 p.m., it’s Class 1A Taylorsville-Pine Grove; followed by Class 6A George County-Warren Central; and Class 5A Vancleave-Lafayette. Game 2’s are Thursday and Friday (in the same order), with any Game 3’s on May 25. … Delta State’s season ended on Saturday with a 17-6 loss to West Florida in the NCAA D-II South Region at St. Leo, Fla. The Statesmen finish 33-24.

18 May

out of the blue

Former Ole Miss catcher Nick Fortes hangs his hat on his work behind home plate. A game like he had at the plate on Friday night for the Miami Marlins was an unexpected but welcome bonus. Fortes went 3-for-3 with a walk, a home run and three RBIs as the Marlins routed the New York Mets 8-0 at loanDepot Park. The fourth-year big leaguer, who shares catching duties with Christian Bethancourt, entered the game with just 10 hits and one homer all season. Miami, the worst team in the National League at 14-32, has won three in a row, all by shutout, all with Fortes behind the plate. “Definitely most proud of the shutouts,” he told mlb.com. “(It’s) the No. 1 priority of my job.” Fortes was a .319 hitter — and a Johnny Bench Award semifinalist — at Ole Miss in 2018, when Miami drafted him in the fourth round. He reached the big leagues in 2021, singled in his first at-bat and homered in his second. He has hit just .212 since, but his defense has kept him in The Show. … Colt Keith’s first trip as a big leaguer to his old stomping grounds seemed to do something to perk up his bat. The former Biloxi High star, who lived in Arizona for several years as a kid, went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs as Detroit whipped Arizona 13-0 at Chase Field. A large group of family and friends reportedly were there to see it. Keith, who signed a huge contract in the off-season before playing a single MLB game, entered Friday’s contest batting .171 with just 20 hits but playing regularly at second base. The Mississippi Gatorade player of the year in 2019, Keith was drafted in the fifth round by the Tigers in 2020. He hit .306 with 27 homers as one of their top prospects in 2023. … Ian Mejia is not among the highly rated pitching prospects on the Mississippi Braves’ staff, but the right-hander is certainly gaining his share of attention. He threw the fifth no-hitter in Trustmark Park history on Friday night, beating Biloxi 2-0 in a seven-inning nightcap to a doubleheader. Mejia, 24, was drafted out of New Mexico State in 2022 and is in his first Double-A campaign. After Friday’s gem, which included 11 strikeouts, he is 4-0 with 1.69 ERA and 54 punchouts, leading the Southern League in the latter two categories. His no-no was the first solo job for the M-Braves since Tommy Hanson’s in 2008.