Monthly Archives: February 2025

27 Feb

heat check

Something’s burning in Cleveland. And in Hattiesburg. And Goodman, too. Red-hot Delta State has racked up 11 straight wins, boosting its record to 12-3 and its ranking to No. 19 in the NCBWA’s NCAA Division II poll. William Carey University (13-6) has reeled off six straight victories, and Holmes Community College (12-3) is on a five-game tear. DSU’s Statesmen take a 6-0 Gulf South Conference record into this weekend’s league series at West Florida. Drake Fontenot is the BMOC in Cleveland at the moment, having won back-to-back GSC pitcher of the week honors. The senior right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.09 ERA in four starts. Josh Hill has chipped in with six saves in seven appearances. At the plate, Brett Burrell is batting .500 with four home runs and 18 RBIs. Jacob Hill is batting .367 with 18 runs, and Dylan Coleman is at .309 with three homers and 18 RBIs. In the Hub City, Carey is 5-1 in SSAC heading into a league series at Tennessee Southern. On Tuesday, Cory Cook (1-0) fired a seven-inning no-hitter against John Melvin U. in Game 2 of a twinbill after the Crusaders torched the visitors for 17 runs in the opener. Bridley Thomas has been hot stuff in Carey’s attack with a .404 average and 21 steals. Preston Ratliff has provided power with four homers and 20 RBIs, and Josh Alexander has four homers among his 10 hits. On the bump, Matthew Davis is 3-0 with a 1.85. In Goodman, Holmes CC’s hot start has been fueled by Hunter Azemar (four homers, 17 RBIs), Amari Conley (.394) and John Paul Buckner (2-0, 2.08, 22 K’s in 13 innings).

26 Feb

moments in the sun

A week into MLB spring training games, a bunch of Mississippi products have enjoyed noteworthy moments. To wit: Cooper Pratt (Milwaukee) has had the best day so far, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs in a Cactus League game on Tuesday. … Konnor Griffin (Pittsburgh) got an RBI knock last week in his first at-bat as a pro player. … Tim Elko (Chicago White Sox) homered in his first AB, repeating his feat from 2024. … Will Warren (New York Yankees) threw two shutout innings. … Tyler Stuart (Washington) notched a win in his spring debut. … Braden Montgomery (White Sox) got a hit in his first pro game. … Dakota Jordan (San Francisco), another rookie, doubled in his first spring appearance. … Matt Wallner (Minnesota) hit a two-run, game-tying bomb. … Drew Pomeranz (Seattle), on the comeback trail, picked up a hold in his second scoreless outing. … Hurston Waldrep (Atlanta) threw a scoreless inning in his first outing but, alas, was sent to the minor league camp shortly thereafter.

23 Feb

gatorade gang

Fun fact, No. 1: Ten Gatorade prep players of the year from Mississippi have reached the big leagues since the award was first handed out in 1986. Pontotoc’s Steve Pegues, the winner in 1987, was the first to make The Show, debuting with Cincinnati on July 6, 1994. Also on that list are Nate Rolison, Donnie Bridges, Jermaine Van Buren, Craig Tatum, Ed Easley, Anthony Alford, Austin Riley, J.T. Ginn and Colt Keith. Riley (Atlanta), Ginn (A’s) and Keith (Detroit) are currently on MLB rosters and will be prominent players in 2025. Fun fact, No. 2: The last five winners of the award are highly rated prospects in their respective organizations, each standing a good chance of joining the ranks of major league players someday soon. The 2024 winner, Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin — also the national player of the year — has been invited to Pittsburgh’s major league spring camp and will make his pro debut this spring in the Pirates’ system. The ninth overall pick in last year’s draft, he is ranked the No. 43 prospect in all of the minors, with an MLB ETA of 2028, according to MLB Pipeline. Cooper Pratt, the ’23 winner from Magnolia Heights, played in A-ball for Milwaukee last season and is rated No. 57 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 for 2025. He is expected to play for Double-A Biloxi this season. Dakota Jordan, the ’22 winner at Jackson Academy, was rated San Francisco’s No. 4 prospect after being drafted out of Mississippi State as a sophomore last summer. He went 0-for-7 in A-ball in an abbreviated pro debut. Braden Montgomery won the Gatorade award in 2021 at Madison Central, played three years of college ball and was drafted 12th overall by Boston last summer. Ranked No. 55 in the Top 100, he recently was traded from the Red Sox to the Chicago White Sox. Former DeSoto Central standout Blaze Jordan, a storied power hitter in high school, was the 2020 winner and has put up good numbers in Boston’s chain the past four seasons. At age 21, he batted .261 with seven homers and 61 RBIs in Double-A last year, when he had two stints on the injured list, once after being hit in the face by a pitch. Jordan was rated the Red Sox’s No. 22 prospect last summer with a big league ETA of 2025. That might be optimistic, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if he is the next state Gatorade winner to make The Show.

21 Feb

travelin’ band

Jackson State is in the spotlight this weekend, heading out on the road again to play in another black college showcase event, the Andre Dawson Classic at Vero Beach, Fla. The Tigers, coming off a 2-1 finish in the Cactus Jack HBCU Classic in Houston, meet Southern University today, Prairie View A&M on Saturday and Alabama State on Sunday, all at Jackie Robinson Training Complex. Seven SWAC schools are in the field along with Missouri, coached by Kerrick Jackson, who became last year the first African-American head coach in SEC baseball. The Tigers had seven players named to the Cactus Jack All-Tournament team, including Pierre Cabral, a junior from the Dominican Republic who batted .556 with five RBIs, and Nkosi Didder, a native of Aruba who posted a 0.00 ERA with six strikeouts in four innings. Coach Omar Johnson’s roster also includes players from Curacao, Ecuador, Canada and Puerto Rico. The lineup features SWAC preseason player of the year Jordan McCladdie, from good ol’ Augusta, Ga. Off to a 3-for-14 start, he is no doubt eager to get back in the box in Florida. A good sign for the Tigers: Nine pitchers worked in Houston and registered a collective 3.54 ERA. Baseball America has pegged the Tigers as an NCAA Tournament team. They haven’t made the field since 2014, suffering a lot of heartbreak in the SWAC Tournament over the years. … JSU’s home opener is set for Wednesday vs. Lane College at Braddy Field, then the Tigers will bounce over to Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium to play rival Alcorn State in a non-conference series next weekend.

20 Feb

just wondering …

Here are nine questions regarding Mississippians in MLB spring training camps:
Will Jake Mangum — a .296 career hitter in the minors — earn a spot on Tampa Bay’s roster and make his long-awaited big league debut?
Can Brandon Woodruff — 46-26, 3.10 career — reclaim his pre-injury form for Milwaukee after missing the ’24 season?
How will Colt Keith handle the sophomore jinx and the move from second base to first in Detroit?
Can Hunter Renfroe — .229 and 15 homers in 2024 — be a productive power bat for Kansas City?
What will 2024 All-Star Garrett Crochet — 3.58 ERA, 209 strikeouts — do for an encore after moving from lowly Chicago to Boston?
Can Hurston Waldrep, after a disappointing 2024 trial in Atlanta, be an impact arm for the Braves this season?
Does Brent Rooker, now armed with a fat contract, have another 30-homer season in him for the (Sacramento) A’s?
Is Doug Nikhazy — 7-4, 2.98 in the high minors in 2024 — ready to break through in Cleveland?
Can Tim Anderson, the fallen All-Star, carve out a role at shortstop or the outfield for the Los Angeles Angels?
P.S. Justin Steele, the ex-George County High standout from Lucedale, reportedly will be the Chicago Cubs’ starter in the second game of next month’s Tokyo Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Steele, a 2023 All-Star, went 5-5 with a 3.07 ERA in 24 starts last season. The season-opening Japan series is set for March 18-19. … Samil De La Rosa, a 5-foot-8 Dominican infielder, has signed with the Mississippi Mud Monsters, the new independent club. De La Rosa, 21, played four years in the rookie-level minors in the St. Louis and Atlanta systems from 2021-24. … Delta State, 8-3 with seven straight wins, is ranked No. 20 in the new NCBWA Division II poll, the first time the Statesmen have cracked the Top 25 in that poll in almost three years, per a school release. DSU swept three from then-nationally ranked Lee last weekend and beat Arkansas-Monticello on Tuesday.

19 Feb

juco snapshot

And then there were none. East Central Community College, the last unbeaten team in the state juco ranks, lost to Northeast CC 10-8 in a round-robin event Tuesday at Decatur. ECCC, No. 2 in the NJCAA Division II poll, is now 8-1, including a 13-5 win over No. 12 Jones College earlier Tuesday. Jayden Adcox hit a big home run for ECCC against Jones, and Langston Cotten went yard against Northeast. But the visiting Tigers prevailed as Drake Douglas and Carter Wells combined for five RBIs and Wells notched the save. Fifth-ranked Pearl River (10-2) beat Holmes and East Miss in a three-way at Poplarville. Jackson Hood homered in both games for PRCC, and Carson Fair closed out the win against Holmes for his fifth save, which leads the nation. Meridian, ranked 20th, moved to 10-3 with a sweep of Gulf Coast and Southwest on Monday at Summit. Chris Fox got a walk-off hit in a 1-0 win against Gulf Coast and Hampton Ross drove in four runs vs. Southwest. At Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium on Tuesday, Northwest (9-3) beat Hinds and Coahoma. … Gulf Coast’s Samuel Marsh was named the MACCC pitcher of the week after throwing a 13-strikeout complete game last week vs. Northwest Florida State. East Miss’ Hugh LeMasters (Bay Springs) took hitter of the week honors; he batted .429 (6-for-14) with eight RBIs and four runs in a 4-0 week for the Lions. P.S. Have a day, Judd Utermark. The Ole Miss junior stole home and hit a walk-off bomb in the 10th inning Tuesday as the Rebels (3-1) beat Arkansas State at Swayze Field. … Mississippi State (3-1) had as many errors as hits (four) in a 3-0 loss at Southern Miss (5-0). Joey Urban homered for the Golden Eagles, and five pitchers combined on the shutout. … Left-hander Brandon Mitchell, who won 22 games over five seasons at New Orleans, is the latest addition to the Mississippi Mud Monsters’ inaugural roster. He was 5-2 with a 7.28 ERA in the indy Pioneer League in 2024. The Mud-sters, of the indy Frontier League, have announced 17 player signings to date. The season starts in May.

18 Feb

lesson plans

We’ll learn a little more about Southern Miss and Mississippi State today. Both unbeaten but only lightly tested, they’ll renew their old rivalry in a 6 p.m. contest in Hattiesburg. The Golden Eagles outscored Lafayette 39-13 in a four-game sweep to start the season and the Bulldogs — freshly ranked No. 16 by Baseball America — whipped Manhattan 35-5 over three games. Ozzie Pratt leads USM hitters with a .500 average, a homer and seven RBIs. Drey Barrett is batting .385. USM used 15 pitchers against Lafayette, and they posted a collective 3.16 ERA. The Bulldogs’ pitching was even better: 1.96 from 12 hurlers. Aaron Downs is hitting an absurd .571 with a homer and seven RBIs, and Bryce Chance is at .556. Hunter Hines (.455) homered in the Dogs’ opener and now has 55 for his career, fifth-most in school history. MSU leads the all-time series with USM 86-44 and won last year’s game 5-4 at Pearl. Charlie Foster (0.00 ERA in one inning of work) is slated to start for State, which last played at Taylor Park in 2018, against Colby Allen (0-0, 6.00, over three innings), a Starkville Academy product. … We might learn a little more about Carlton Hardy’s first Alcorn State team today, as well. The Braves, coming off a season-opening 12-10 loss at Mississippi Valley State on Monday, host 0-3 Manhattan at 3 p.m. at Rat McGowan Stadium in Lorman. Alcorn, 6-43 in 2024, was picked to finish 11th (Valley was 12th) in the 12-team SWAC in a preseason poll of coaches and SIDs. Hardy, a former Grambling State player, came to the Braves from NCAA Division II Savannah State, where he had a fairly successful 18-year run. He led the Tigers to a 31-17 record in 2024. Alcorn hasn’t had a winning season since 2009. P.S. Left-hander Zack Morris, a former Arkansas and TCU pitcher, and righty Chris Barraza, a New Mexico State and Arizona alum, have signed with the Mississippi Mud Monsters, the new independent team set to play at Trustmark Park in May. The 6-foot-3 Morris put up a 3.63 ERA in the Frontier League in seven appearances last summer. Barraza was a 10th-round pick by the Los Angeles Angels in 2023 and pitched two seasons in Low-Class A (3.96 ERA).

17 Feb

three stars

A trio of heroes from Sunday’s NCAA Division I games:
Luke Hill, Ole Miss: The junior second baseman went 3-for-3 with two homers, a triple and five RBIs to power the Rebels (2-1) to a 15-5 win over nationally ranked Clemson in the Shriners Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Hill is batting .556 with six RBIs and four runs on the season.
Joseph Eichelberger, Jackson State: The senior outfielder went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer as the Tigers (2-1) beat Texas Southern 7-3 in the Cactus Jack HBCU Classic at Houston’s Daikin Park. Eichelberger is 4-for-12 with four RBIs and four runs for the Tigers.
Stone Simmons, Mississippi State: The grad student pitcher, making his first appearance in almost three years, threw three shutout innings, allowing one hit with five strikeouts, in a 5-1 victory over Manhattan on a cold day at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville. Simmons was a member of the Bulldogs’ national title team in 2021, had Tommy John surgery in 2022 and persevered through setbacks to return to the mound. “It was great,” the 6-foot-4 right-hander told 247sports.com. “It took a little while to settle in.” For the record, he retired the first batter he faced for the 3-0 Bulldogs, punched out the fourth and picked off a runner to end the first inning.

16 Feb

what’s that sound?

Before the big storms rolled through Mississippi on Saturday night, there was thunder emanating from Trustmark Park in Pearl. Belhaven University blasted Mount Saint Mary 27-3 and 12-0 in a doubleheader, completing a sweep of the series between NCAA Division III schools. The Blazers (3-0) banged out 36 hits, nine for extra bases, including two home runs at the spacious park. In the opener, Blake McCarthy homered and drove in six runs; Owen Abney went deep and knocked in three runs while scoring three times; and Hunter Harrell picked up four RBIs. In Game 2, Abney — a former Jackson Prep star — went 3-for-6 with four RBIs and Cole Fletcher drove in a pair of runs. The pitching victories went to Gunner Staten and Kade May. Mount Saint Mary, down from New York to start its season, is now 0-3 and coming off a couple of rough years (11-29 and 13-27). … At Twenty Field in Jackson, D-III Millsaps flashed some power, as well, getting homers from Gray Berry and Evan Scott in an 11-8 win against Edgewood (Wisc.). Berry and Scott drove in three runs apiece for the Majors (3-0). … Down in Hattiesburg, Southern Miss (3-0) put up 25 runs in a sweep of Lafayette (Pa.). Davis Gillespie homered and smacked a walk-off sac fly in a 7-6, 10-inning win in the opener, then homered again and drove in four more runs in an 18-4 romp in Game 2. Ozzie Pratt, Matthew Russo and Tucker Stockman had three hits each in an 18-hit attack in the nightcap. Pratt and Drey Barrett contributed homers Saturday for the Golden Eagles, who’ll wrap up the four-game series with the Leopards today at Taylor Park. P.S. Here’s a name to know: Pablo Rogue, a Dominican Republic native and transfer from Miami (Ohio), is batting .524 with a homer, five doubles, a triple, nine RBIs, 11 runs and three steals for East Central Community College. The Warriors, ranked No. 2 in NJCAA Division II, are 6-0. … Ex-Mississippi State standout Nathaniel Lowe lost his arbitration case with the Washington Nationals and will have to “settle” for a $10.3 million contract for 2025. Lowe, who hit .265 with 16 homers for Texas last season, had asked for $11.1M.

15 Feb

pitching in

This one goes out to the ones who pitch. A boatload of state college pitchers showed no love for hitters on Valentine’s Day. Yes, Mississippi State scored 30 runs in a doubleheader demolition of Manhattan on Friday, but not to be overlooked are the mound efforts of starters Pico Kohn (no runs, one hit, 11 strikeouts in five innings) and Karson Ligon (one run, eight K’s in four innings). The visiting Jaspers scored just four runs on the day. For Southern Miss, in a 9-2 victory against visiting Lafayette, J.B. Middleton delivered six scoreless innings. Ole Miss took down nationally ranked Arizona 2-1 as Hunter Elliott, looking like his old self, threw five shutout innings at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Delta State’s Drake Fontenot and Dylan Farley combined for 13 shutout innings in the streaking Statesmen’s 6-0 and 3-0 sweep of Lee University to open Gulf South play. Fontenot punched out 11 in seven innings. Mississippi College beat GSC foe West Georgia 3-1 as Caleb Peterson held the Red Wolves to one earned run over five innings. Andrew Shirah went 7 1/3 innings (two earned runs) for William Carey in a 9-2 win at Abraham Baldwin AC. Shirah is 3-0 with a 2.84 ERA for the 6-2 Crusaders and has won 21 games in his three seasons at WCU. At Trustmark Park in Pearl, Belhaven opened its season with a 7-3 win against Mount Saint Mary and with Colton Sylvester limiting the New York-based visitors to a lone earned run over six innings. And Millsaps beat Edgewood 10-4 as Nick Tarantino allowed one earned run with nine K’s in five innings.