Author Archives: Mike Christensen

24 Mar

a short fall

Pearl River Community College lost its grip on the No. 1 ranking in the NJCAA Division II poll after going 3-1 last week. Now ranked No. 2, PRCC (25-5, 5-1 MACCC) split a twinbill against then-No. 4 East Central CC and blasted then-No. 24 Holmes two times. The Wildcats have 11 wins against ranked teams, per the school website. Caston Thompson, a Brookhaven Academy product, leads PRCC hitters at .390 with six homers, 24 RBIs and 30 runs. Jacob Johnson, out of Pearl River Central High, threw five shutout innings at Holmes and is 6-1 with a 1.26 ERA. … ECCC (23-7, 5-3), ranked No. 1 two weeks ago, remained fourth in the national poll after a 2-2 week. Jones (19-8, 5-3) is 10th after losing two heartbreakers to Northeast on Saturday. Northeast (19-13, 6-2), freshly ranked No. 23, won 7-6 on a walk-off HBP and 2-1 on a walk-off knock by Kody Gilmore. Northeast’s stars included Layth Holliday, who drove in four runs in Game 1, and Dean McCallum, who tossed a five-hitter in Game 2. Also at 6-2 in the league is unranked Meridian (19-11), which got one of the best performances of the season by Brennon Wright, a Starkville High alum who hit for the cycle and stole two bases in a 29-9 victory Saturday against Delta. MCC ran out of ammo in Game 2 and lost 6-3. The big game upcoming is Jones hosting Meridian on Wednesday. P.S. After a show of power that swept away Missouri over the weekend, Ole Miss moved up to No. 15 (from 19) in Baseball America’s new poll. Isaac Humphrey, a Louisville transfer, belted four homers and drove in 13 runs in that series for the Rebels, now 18-5, 4-2 SEC. They’ll face No. 19 Florida in Oxford next weekend. The top five teams — and 11 of the top 19 — in the BA poll are SEC schools. No. 5 LSU hosts scuffling Mississippi State (15-9, 1-5) next weekend. Southern Miss, which beat Ole Miss last week in Pearl and swept Louisiana-Monroe on the road over the weekend, is No. 23 in the BA poll. The Golden Eagles are 18-6, 5-1 Sun Belt. … It’s been a rough start to the SWAC season for the Mississippi schools. Alcorn State is 0-6, Mississippi Valley State 0-5 and Jackson State 2-4. Senior Erick Gonzalez, one of JSU’s best arms, got shelled on Sunday, surrendering 10 runs in three innings in a rubber-game loss to Bethune-Cookman at Braddy Field. Valley (4-9 overall), for whatever reason, has had 13 games cancelled this season. … The top five in the new MaxPreps Mississippi poll has Magnolia Heights and Lewisburg at 1-2 again, followed by Madison Central, Hartfield Academy and Ocean Springs. Purvis, Jackson Academy and Southeast Lauderdale slipped to the second five.

23 Mar

runs-apalooza

It’s officially spring, and runs are in bloom in college ballparks all over the place. At Columbia, Mo., Ole Miss belted six homers Saturday to overpower Missouri 17-10 in Game 2 of their SEC series. The Rebels (17-5, 3-2) have 46 homers on the season; seven players have four or more, led by Judd Utermark with nine. … At Wilberforce, Ohio, Rust College’s Shamaar Stapleton, an Olive Branch native, had a day: 5-for-6 with nine RBIs in a 27-7 win Saturday that completed a three-game sweep of the HBCUAC series. … In Hattiesburg, William Carey’s array of mashers put up 57 runs in a three-game sweep of Mobile. Josh Alexander drove in 11 runs and Rigoberto Hernandez 10 for the NAIA No. 8 Crusaders, 26-4 (16-2 SSAC) with 12 straight wins. … At Clinton, Mississippi College scored 37 times in a series sweep of Trevecca Nazarene. J.T. Vance went 6-for-13 with a homer, five RBIs and four runs on the weekend for the Choctaws (21-9, 13-5 GSC). Of note: MC coach Jeremy Haworth notched his 300th career victory. … In Jackson, Millsaps (16-5, 4-2 SAA) clinched its series victory over Hendrix with a five-run sixth inning in an 11-10, seven-inning win in Game 2 of a Saturday twinbill. E.J. Ousley drove in three runs and scored the go-ahead tally in that rubber game. … Mississippi State (15-8, 1-4 SEC) was on the short end of a 13-11 game at Oklahoma; the Bulldogs got two homers from Ace Reese and another from Hunter Hines (No. 58 career) but couldn’t hold a late lead. … At Goodman, No. 1-ranked Pearl River Community College swept No. 24 Holmes CC 16-1 and 10-3 in a big juco showdown. The Wildcats (25-5, 5-1 MACCC) blasted four homers on the day, and Jaxon Milam went 4-for-6 with a homer, three RBIs and five runs. P.S. Something completely different: Run prevention was the story for Delta State, which swept a Gulf South series at West Alabama, getting shutouts from the amazing Drake Fontenot (7-0, 0.64) and Logan Eldridge (3-2, 5.88) in Games 1 and 3. The Statesmen, ranked 10th in NCAA Division II, are 22-7 and 15-3 GSC.

22 Mar

sitting on ready

No one would appear more ready for the MLB season (stateside version) to begin than Garrett Crochet. The former Ocean Springs High standout, now with the Boston Red Sox, threw 5 1/3 shutout innings Friday in a Grapefruit League game against Pittsburgh and pronounced himself “pumped” for his opening day start. The Red Sox launch the 2025 campaign at Texas on Thursday. Crochet, a 2024 All-Star acquired in an off-season trade, has a 0.57 ERA over 15 1/3 innings this spring. Commanding a 97-mph four-seamer, a sinker and a cutter, he has struck out 30, roughly half the batters the 6-foot-6 left-hander has faced. Crochet was 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA for the lowly Chicago White Sox last season, when he threw just 146 innings. The Red Sox will want their new ace to shoulder more of a load in his second season as a starter. … Who else is ready? Jackson Prep product Will Warren, likely to be in the New York Yankees’ rotation, has posted a 1.09 WHIP and a .219 average against this spring over 19 1/3 innings. His big league debut was a little rocky last year, but he appears primed for much better things in 2025. … Former Southern Miss star Matt Wallner has belted six home runs for Minnesota, tied for the spring training lead entering today’s play. The lefty-hitting outfielder is batting .231 with 14 RBIs. He has been pegged by mlb.com as an X-factor in the Twins’ bid to make the playoffs this season. … Colt Keith, the ex-Biloxi High standout who shined (.260, 13 homers) as a rookie with Detroit in 2024, has hit the ground running this spring, ranking among the top hitters with a .320 average in 50 at-bats. Having moved from second base to first, the 6-foot-2, 211-pound Keith has four doubles and five RBIs.

21 Mar

name-dropping

Some names to know as Magnolia State schools head into a weekend of conference play:
Hayden Redding, Blue Mountain Christian: Leads the nation’s NAIA players in stolen bases with 37 (in 38 attempts) while batting .343 for the Toppers (17-11, 9-6 SSAC).
Drake Fontenot, Delta State: Undefeated at 6-0 with a 0.77 ERA for the Statesmen, 10th-ranked in NCAA Division II at 19-7, 12-3 GSC.
Korey Cooper, Mississippi College: Third in the GSC in batting at .414, with seven homers and 34 RBIs for the rising Choctaws (18-9, 10-5 GSC).
Rigoberto Hernandez, William Carey University: SSAC player of the week after hitting .625 with four homers, 13 RBIs and 12 runs in three games for the NAIA eighth-ranked Crusaders (23-4, 13-2).
Nick Tarantino, Millsaps: Ranks second in the nation in Division III with 52 strikeouts (in 35 innings) and sits at 4-1, 2.36, for the Majors (14-5, 2-1 SAA).
J.D. Weed, Belhaven: Raking at .441 clip with three homers, three triples, 21 RBIs and six bags for the Blazers (12-7, 1-2 CCS).
Colby Allen, Southern Miss: Has a 3-1 record, five saves and a 2.05 ERA for the Golden Eagles (15-6, 2-1 SBC).
Ryan Moerman, Ole Miss: Slugging at a .722 clip with seven homers and nine doubles among 27 hits for the Rebels (15-5, 1-2 SEC).
Noah Sullivan, Mississippi State: Batting .409 with a .522 OBP, 21 RBIs and 21 runs for the Bulldogs (14-7, 0-3 SEC).
Malik Berrien, Rust: Leads the Bearcats (10-14, 3-6 HBCUAC) with 21 steals while batting .402 with 20 RBIs and 24 runs.
P.S. Jackson State has had six players suspended — along with three from Prairie View — following an altercation during their SWAC series last weekend. The players were not identified, according to an ESPN report. The suspensions were for four games, and the schools were also fined.

20 Mar

roster reality bites

The wait will continue for Jake Mangum, the ex-Mississippi State star who was optioned to Triple-A by the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. Mangum, 29, in pro ball since 2019 but yet to make his MLB debut, batted .429 with two homers and nine RBIs this spring. “The disappointment of not making the club is real, and it should be real for them because of the type of camp they had,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told mlb.com, referring to Mangum and fellow outfielder Kameron Misner. Tampa Bay is the third organization Mangum has played for, and this is his first spring on a 40-man roster. “Just going to keep going. I think one day it will happen,” Mangum told Rays Beat last week. Flowood native Mangum, who left MSU as the all-time hits leader in the SEC, is a .296 career hitter in the minors. … Also sent down by the Rays on a day when the MLB transactions page was humming was Ole Miss alum Jacob Waguespack, 31, who has a 5.11 ERA in 31 big league appearances spread over three seasons (2019, ’20 and ’24). All told, nine Mississippi products on 40-man rosters have been optioned out so far. … On the minor league level, ex-Southern Miss pitchers Hunter Stanley (Cleveland), Walker Powell (Chicago Cubs) and Billy Oldham (Minnesota) landed on the injured list to start 2025, as did Ole Miss products Jack Dougherty (Minnesota) and Cole Tolbert (Boston). Tolbert apparently will miss the entire season. P.S. Tim Anderson, the former MLB All-Star out of East Central Community College, apparently will make the Los Angeles Angels’ 26-man club as a non-roster spring invitee. Anderson, working at second base, shortstop and center field this spring, is batting .267 in the Cactus League. A .278 career hitter, he was released by Miami last summer with a .214 average. … Tampa Bay recently signed MSU alum Hunter Stovall as a minor leaguer. He batted .277 over six seasons in the Colorado system before becoming a free agent last fall.

19 Mar

musical chairs

The No. 1 vs. No. 4 showdown Tuesday in the state junior college ranks resulted in a split between top-ranked Pearl River Community College and East Central CC. That opened the door for Jones College, ranked sixth in NJCAA Division II, and unranked Meridian to jump to the top in the MACCC, both with 5-1 records. (Yes, the musical chairs in the state standings and the national poll will continue into next week.) PRCC, 23-5 overall, is now 3-1 in the league and ECCC (22-6) is 4-2. In their twinbill at Decatur, ECCC won the opener 10-0 and PRCC roared back to take the nightcap 11-1, boosted by a Nico Williams grand slam. Meanwhile, surging Jones (19-6) swept struggling Hinds 11-9 and 11-3. T.J. Dunsford continues to be an offensive catalyst for the Bobcats, and Chase Russell and Josh Lee have emerged as stalwarts on the mound. The most intriguing team at the moment might be Meridian (18-10), which took two Tuesday from 21st-ranked Gulf Coast, 9-8 and 3-0. The Eagles have won five straight after a six-game losing streak. Connor Gehr, the ace of the Eagles’ pitching staff, got a walk-off hit in the 13th inning to beat Gulf Coast in Game 1 at Scaggs Field. Peyton Fowler (2-1) then went out and threw a two-hitter in the second game. Brennon Wright (.373), Tyrus Williams (.289, five homers) and Brayden Martin (.310, 19 steals) have paced Meridian’s hitters. MCC is at Delta on Saturday, while Jones visits Northeast. Pearl River goes to Holmes and ECCC to Itawamba. … The MACCC weekly honors went to East Miss’ Trace Tingle, a Pascagoula native who beat then-No. 1 East Central with a two-hitter last week, striking out nine batters, and Pearl River’s Topher Jones (Hernando), a Mississippi State transfer who hit .583 with a homer and nine RBIs.

19 Mar

the early show

Gotta get up early — 5 a.m. local time Wednesday — to watch Justin Steele try to shut down the world champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Former George County High standout Steele is starting for the Chicago Cubs in Game 2 of the Tokyo Series. A 2023 All-Star, Steele is 29-21 with a 3.24 ERA in his career with the Cubs. He is 2-1 all-time against the Dodgers, beating them in ’23 as a starter and in ’21 as a reliever. Max Muncy and Chris Taylor have homers off Steele, who doesn’t surrender many. Tommy Edman is 4-for-10 career against Steele, and Will Smith is 1-for-3. Left-hander Steele has never faced Shohei Ohtani, the reigning National League MVP who went 2-for-5 with two runs in the Dodgers’ 4-1 win in the season opener at the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday. The Dodgers’ starter will be Roki Sasaki, the Japanese import who will be making his MLB debut. P.S. On a breezy Tuesday night in Pearl, Southern Miss did a lot of good things in a 6-2 win over Ole Miss at Trustmark Park. You want defense? In the first inning, left fielder Davis Gillespie went to the fence — and maybe over it — to make a catch on a high drive by Ole Miss slugger Ryan Moerman. USM second baseman Nick Monistere made a slick snatch while lying on his back to record an out at the bag and save shortstop Ozzie Pratt from a costly error. Golden Eagles third baseman Drey Barrett made two sweet plays, including starting a 5-3 double play that ended the game with the bases full of Rebels. You want pitching? Matt Adams worked a strong 4 2/3 to get it started for USM. Josh Och got eight outs in the middle innings, allowing just two walks and punching out three. Closer Colby Allen escaped a tight spot with a punchout to end the eighth and then worked in and out of a jam to end the game for his fifth save. The bats made some noise, too. After Jake Cook drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first, Pratt ripped a double for a 1-0 lead. With two outs in the first, a Monistere single made it 2-0. In the fifth, Gillespie blasted a go-ahead three-run homer to left in a park that doesn’t yield a lot of bombs. Carson Paetow capped the four-run fifth with a two-out RBI double. That was all the Eagles needed to take it home. With a crowd of 3,498 looking on, USM improved to 15-6, avenging a loss last month at Oxford. Ole Miss slipped to 15-5.

17 Mar

poll watching

“What helps me as a baseball player is, before the game, knowing that I can affect the game in multiple ways — defensive side of the ball, stealing a bag, scoring runs, getting on base, not just focusing on hitting. I think whenever I go out there aggressively to be able to affect a game in so many different ways, I always like to say, ‘Count the positives.’ If I have more positives than negatives that day, I had a good day.” Those words were spoken by Corey Dickerson after a walk-off hit in a big league game some time back. One can imagine the former MLB outfielder from McComb delivering that same kind of message to his Jackson Academy players, who are off to an 11-2 start in Dickerson’s debut as head coach. The Raiders, who went 4-0 in last week’s Battle at the Beach, have bolted to No. 3 in MaxPreps Mississippi Top 25. Dickerson was a .280 career hitter in the majors, with over 1,000 hits, posted a .323 on-base percentage and won a Gold Glove. The Raiders are hitting .331 as a team with 61 stolen bases and a .963 fielding percentage. Foster Meacham is batting .475, one of three Raiders hitting .400 or better. … Magnolia Heights is No. 1 in the MaxPreps poll, followed by No. 2 Lewisburg, JA, Southeast Lauderdale at No. 4 and Purvis at 5. … Ole Miss (15-4) dropped from 13th to 19th in Baseball America’s new poll and is the only state school ranked. UM is No. 18 and Southern Miss (14-6) No. 19 in both the ESPN and d1baseball.com polls. The two meet Tuesday night (6 p.m.) at Trustmark in Pearl in what ought to be a spirited affair. The Rebels beat the Golden Eagles 15-8 in Oxford last month. … Pearl River Community College moved up a spot to No. 1 in the new NJCAA Division II poll. PRCC (22-4) swept Northwest 16-1 and 13-1 on Sunday, hitting seven homers and allowing just seven hits. Ethan Garner hit two bombs for the Wildcats. East Central dropped from No. 1 to fourth, Jones is sixth, Gulf Coast 21 and Holmes 24. … Millsaps College took two of three from NCAA Division III nationally ranked Center, beating the Colonels 10-4 on Sunday to improve to 13-5, 2-1 SAA. The Majors might crack the d3baseball.com poll this week. … Delta State, ranked 12th in the NCBWA D-II poll last week, is poised to move up at 19-6 and 12-3 Gulf South. Mississippi College, 17-9, 10-5 GSC, with 10 wins in its last 11 games, might crack the D-II Top 25 this week.

17 Mar

digging the long ball

Brewton-Parker Field in Mount Vernon, Ga., isn’t especially small, but for William Carey University’s hitters, it played like a bandbox over the weekend. The Crusaders hit 19 home runs and scored 75 runs all told — 31, 11 and 33 — in a three-game sweep of the Southern States Athletic Conference series. “(P)laying in some of the smaller parks really plays into our power throughout the lineup,” Carey coach Bobby Halford said in a school release. Carey, ranked 12th in NAIA, is 22-4 and 13-2 in the SSAC with eight wins in a row. Brewton-Parker fell to 9-15, 4-11. High-scoring games aren’t uncommon at BP Field: Four times previously visiting teams had scored 13 or more runs in 2025. The host scored a season-high 17 in Game 1 vs. Carey. But still, the Crusaders’ show of power was jaw-dropping. Jayden Mark had a three-homer game, his first three of the season. Josh Alexander, Carey’s homer leader at 10, had two two-homer games, and Preston Ratliff and Rigoberto Hernandez each produced a two-homer game. The Crusaders entered the series with 17 homers over 23 games. … Of the state’s big four NCAA Division I schools, only one came out of the first weekend of conference play feeling very good. Southern Miss (14-6) took two of three from visiting Old Dominion to start Sun Belt play, though the Golden Eagles lost Game 3. Ole Miss (15-4) dropped two of three at home against Arkansas, Mississippi State (13-7) was swept by visiting Texas and Jackson State (12-6) went 1-2 at Prairie View A&M. … Millsaps College rallied from four runs down to beat Centre 5-4 at Twenty Field to split a Sunday doubleheader; Charles Hunt, a pinch hitter, knocked in the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh. The Majors are 12-5, 1-1 Southern Athletic Association. Centre, nationally ranked in Division III, is 12-2, 4-1. P.S. In MLB, ex-State star Hunter Renfroe hit two doubles and a triple and drove in five runs for Kansas City in a Cactus League game. Veteran outfielder Renfroe is batting .348 with a homer and nine RBIs this spring. … Brandon Woodruff, former Bulldogs pitcher, threw a scoreless inning for Milwaukee in his first MLB game action since 2023. “It was a big day for me,” a beaming Woodruff, coming off shoulder surgery, told reporters. … Right-hander J.T. Ginn, another MSU product, was optioned to Triple-A by the A’s; Ginn made his MLB debut last season.

16 Mar

good vibes

Atlanta Braves fans breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday when Austin Riley returned to the lineup following a worrisome HBP the day before. “We dodged a bullet,” the former DeSoto Central High star told reporters after an impressive display in batting practice. Riley was hit in the right hand and left Friday’s game, but he returned Saturday to play third base and hang out a 1-for-3 in a 4-0 loss against Minnesota. Riley missed several weeks at the end of last season with a broken right hand. He is hitting .310 with a homer this spring. A two-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner, he enters 2025 with a .272 career average and 153 bombs. … In that same Saturday game, former Southern Miss standout Matt Wallner went 1-for-3 with his 13th RBI of the spring for Minnesota. Wallner, batting leadoff (see previous post), is tied for second in MLB spring training stats in both RBIs and homers (five). He hit two on Friday. He’ll enter the new season with 29 career bombs in 169 games. … Elsewhere, Tanner Hall, the 2022 Ferriss Trophy winner from USM, started and threw two scoreless innings for the Twins’ Spring Breakout team. Hall, a fourth-round draft pick in 2023, went 4-3 with a 5.40 ERA in A-ball in his pro debut last season. He was 22-8 with a 2.92 in three years in Hattiesburg. Hall is not listed among the Twins’ Top 30 prospects. … Ole Miss alum Doug Nikhazy, Cleveland’s 22nd-ranked prospect, was optioned to Triple-A. He had a (misleading) 7.27 ERA in four spring appearances and impressed Guardians staff, who reportedly want him to build up innings in the minors.