Monthly Archives: February 2025

04 Feb

dual threat

If you’re familiar with Dave Clark, the baseball player, you know he could hit. Over a 13-year big league career, the Tupelo native — now the Houston Astros’ first-base coach — batted .264 with 62 home runs and 284 RBIs. Before that, he was an MVP at Jackson State, and before that, he set a Mississippi high school record with 23 home runs as a senior at Shannon High in 1980. You might not know that in addition to packing a punch at the plate, Clark also packed a wallop as an amateur boxer during his high school days. In a great story on mlb.com, Brian McTaggart details Clark’s boxing exploits, noting that he went 26-0 with 13 knockouts in his career, won two Golden Gloves tournaments as a light heavyweight and was in line for a trip to Moscow for the 1980 Olympics before the U.S. boycott. “I didn’t really know how good I could possibly be,” Clark told McTaggart. “I thought I was pretty good.” But baseball was and is Clark’s true love, and he blossomed at Jackson State, ultimately being drafted 11th overall in 1983 by Cleveland. A 6-foot-2, 200-pound outfielder, he belted 53 homers in his first four minor league seasons, reached the majors in 1986 and played until ’98 before becoming a coach and manager, in both the minors and MLB. He managed Houston as an interim for 13 games in 2009.

03 Feb

buying local

The Mississippi Mud Monsters’ latest signing has a true homecoming feel. Davis Bradshaw, a Florence native who played at McLaurin High just down the road from Trustmark Park, has been added to the new independent team’s roster, per the Frontier League transactions page. Bradshaw, 26, can flat-out hit. He batted .303 over six seasons in the Miami system, reaching the Double-A level in 2022, when he visited Trustmark as a member of the Southern League’s Pensacola club. The left-handed hitting outfielder batted a crazy .756 as a senior at McLaurin High in 2017 and followed that with a .442 season at Meridian Community College. He is primarily a singles hitter — five homers in 1,308 at-bats in pro ball — who swiped 55 bases in the minors. He played just 21 games in the Marlins’ system during an injury-tinged 2024 and was released last summer. … The Mud Monsters added to their on-field staff last Friday when they announced Jamie McOwen as hitting coach. McOwen, a Florida native, is a longtime minor league and indy league player who once had a 45-game hitting streak in A-ball. He joins pitching coach Robert Carson III, a Hattiesburg native, on manager Jay Pecci’s staff. … The team also has signed catcher Victor Diaz. Diaz, 23, from the Dominican Republic, played in the Houston system in 2024, batting .197 with five homers in 41 games at the rookie and Low-Class A levels. The 5-foot-10, 235-pound Diaz has been in pro ball since 2019. Bradshaw and Diaz join ex-DeSoto Central star Kyle Booker, former Mississippi State standout Brayland Skinner and Ryan Cash on the “Mud-sters” roster. The team will begin its inaugural season on May 8 at the Pearl ballpark. P.S. Kudos to Mississippi College. The Choctaws were three outs from going 0-3 in their weekend trip to Houston before rallying for seven runs in the ninth inning on Sunday to pull out a 13-10 win against Arkansas Tech. MC pounded out 15 hits and drew eight walks in the game at Daikin Park. Bryce Capobianco (2-for-5 on the day) led off the ninth with a triple, Bryce LaRocca (3-for-6) hit a two-run single, J.T. Vance (2-for-5) had a go-ahead double and Korey Cooper (3-for-5) capped the rally with a two-run home run. NCAA Division II MC has had four straight losing seasons under coach Jeremy Haworth, now in his 10th campaign. He won a Gulf South Conference title in 2018, his third season.

01 Feb

fast starts

Names to know from Friday, the first day of college games:
Eli Collins (from Laurel via Southern Miss) went 4-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs to pace NAIA No. 9 William Carey to a 13-3 win against visiting Pikeville (Ky.).
Austin Garrison (East Mississippi CC transfer from Gulfport) got six hits in eight at-bats with a pair of homers and seven RBIs as Blue Mountain Christian swept William Woods (Mo.) 12-8 and 9-1 at Millington, Tenn.
Wes Warnock (from Vicksburg via Mississippi Delta CC) went 3-for-6 with two RBIs and a run to lead Delta State to a 6-5 win over Palm Beach Atlantic at West Palm Beach, Fla.
Jordan Evans homered in a 2-for-5 game for Mississippi College in a 3-2 loss to Arkansas-Monticello at Houston.
Kyrent Cole was 2-for-3 with an RBI, four runs and two steals as Rust College fell to Miles (Ala.) 12-11 in New Orleans.
Jaxon Milam was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a steal for fifth-ranked Pearl River Community College in a 6-4 victory vs. Northwest Florida State at Panama City, Fla.
P.S. In the Caribbean Series, former Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton went 1-for-3 with two walks, two runs, two steals and an RBI as Mexico beat Puerto Rico 8-1 in the opening round at Mexicali, Mexico. Hamilton, 34, an 11-year big league veteran, is a free agent who played in the Mexican League last summer and in the Mexican Pacific League this winter.