Author Archives: Mike Christensen

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.

15 Mar

special delivery

There was nothing particularly eye-catching about the pitching line in the box score: 2 innings, 2 hits, 1 unearned run, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts. But on the field in Goodyear, Ariz., on Friday night, it was a captivating outing by Jurrangelo Cijntje, the former Mississippi State standout whose switch-pitching abilities have garnered a lot of attention. Appearing in his first actual pro game — a Spring Breakout contest for Seattle prospects against Cleveland’s — Cijntje pitched lefty against lefty-hitting Travis Bazzana — first overall draft pick last summer — and retired him on a grounder on his first pitch. “There was a lot of adrenaline,” Cijntje said in an mlb.com article. “I couldn’t even control my body, but I fought through it.” He pitched righty the rest of the way, striking out Bazzana on a 97-mph heater to conclude his 40-pitch appearance. “That’s something special,” Bazzana said in the mlb.com story. “I think he’s got a bright future, and it was cool to battle.” Cijntje, a native of The Netherlands who pitched in Florida as a high-schooler, was the 15th overall pick by Seattle last year after going 8-2 with a 3.67 ERA at MSU. According to reports, Seattle plans to develop him as a right-handed starter who’ll go lefty in certain situations. He figures to start the upcoming season in Low-Class A at Modesto (Calif.). P.S. The Chicago Cubs reportedly are considering signing Lance Lynn, the grizzled veteran out of Ole Miss. Lynn, 37, is 143-99 in an MLB career that began in 2011; he went 7-4 with a 3.84 ERA for St. Louis in 2024. … Ex-Ole Miss star Grae Kessinger, batting .294 this spring, has been optioned to Triple-A by Arizona. Kessinger, who has some big league time, was acquired by the Diamondbacks in a trade after Houston designated the infielder for assignment in December. … MLB The Show 25, the popular video game, has added Starkville native Cool Papa Bell and Mississippi prep products Konnor Griffin and Braden Montgomery to the list of available player cards. Hall of Famer Bell is one of the new Legends — along with former Jackson Generals stars Lance Berkman and Bobby Abreu — and rookie pros Griffin (Jackson Prep) and Montgomery (Madison Central) are part of the Spring Breakout Series.

14 Mar

hot spots

Big weekend in the Magnolia State. Where to start? Conference play begins for the NCAA Division I schools, and there are Top 25 SEC matchups in Oxford (Arkansas at Ole Miss) and Starkville (Texas at Mississippi State). In Hattiesburg, Southern Miss, also nationally ranked in various polls, welcomes Old Dominion to launch Sun Belt play. Not to be overlooked by any means is Valdosta State-Delta State in Cleveland. DSU, 17-5 and ranked 12th nationally in Division II, leads the Gulf South Conference with a 10-2 mark, and the visiting Blazers are a tick behind at 9-2. Senior right-hander Drake Fontenot, the Statesmen’s No. 1 starter, has not allowed a run in his last four starts. The reigning D-II South Region and GSC pitcher of the week, the 6-foot-5 Louisiana native is 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA, 46 strikeouts and seven walks in 39 2/3 innings. He’ll face a Valdosta lineup that includes the GSC’s leading hitter, Marcus Sevillano (.466), and top RBI man, Orlando Pena (32 with seven homers). Brett Burrell paces the Statesmen’s attack at .465 with five homers and 30 RBIs. DSU is unbeaten (10-0) at Ferriss Field. Of note: Mississippi College, which has won eight straight and climbed into the D-II South Region rankings at No. 8, travels to Cleveland, Tenn., to meet Lee University in a GSC series. MC is 15-8, 8-4 in the league. P.S. In the jucos, Holmes Community College, Jones College and Mississippi Gulf Coast CC all opened MACCC play this week with doubleheader sweeps. Holmes, ranked No. 24 in NJCAA D-II, is 19-4 overall and 16-1 in Goodman. The Bulldogs travel to Copiah-Lincoln (17-10, 1-1) today. Former Brandon High star Xavier Myles has sparked Holmes at the plate, batting .389 with five homers, 29 RBIs and seven steals — top 10 in the MACCC in each category. … No. 2-ranked Pearl River (20-4 with eight straight wins) opens league play Sunday vs. Northwest in Poplarville.

13 Mar

breaking out

The Spring Breakout games, featuring most of the best minor league talent, begin today with Boston’s squad taking on Tampa Bay (MLB Network, 6:05 p.m.). On the Red Sox’s roster is former DeSoto Central High star Blaze Jordan, while the Rays’ roster includes Mississippi State product Colton Ledbetter. The games, 16 all told, will run through Sunday. Among the Mississippians who could be featured are Konnor Griffin (Pittsburgh), Braden Montgomery (Chicago White Sox), Tim Elko (White Sox), Cooper Pratt (Milwaukee), Dakota Jordan (San Francisco), Jurrangelo Cijntje (Seattle) and Tanner Hall (Minnesota). MLB Pipeline has pegged David Mershon, former All-SEC shortstop out of MSU, as a sleeper prospect on the Los Angeles Angels team. Though not ranked among the Angels’ Top 30, the 5-foot-7, 175-pound Mershon’s star appears to be ascending. From mlb.com: “He’s a switch-hitter with on-base skills and speed who can play excellent infield defense.” Drafted in the 18th round last summer after two years at State (.347, 27 steals last year), the South Carolina native went straight to Double-A and hit .254. The Angels then sent him to the Arizona Fall League, another high-talent loop, and Mershon batted .263 there. Invited to big league camp, he is 3-for-14 in A-games. The Angels’ Spring Breakout game is slated for Saturday (MLBN, 8:05 p.m.) against the Cubs. P.S. Justin Foscue, another former MSU infielder, was optioned to Triple-A by Texas on Wednesday. Foscue, batting .235 in big league games this spring, made his MLB debut in 2024 but hit just .048 (2-for-42). The 14th overall pick in the 2020 draft, he has a .278 career average in the minors with 60 homers. … MSU alum Kendall Graveman, recently signed by Arizona as a free agent, has not pitched this spring because of a reported back issue. He missed all of the 2024 season following shoulder surgery.

12 Mar

crooked numbers

Here’s a cool statistical oddity from Tuesday night on the Mississippi college scene: Delta State pounded Arkansas-Monticello 20-11 as three different players — Brett Burrell, Bo Rock and Brendan McCauley — got three hits with a home run and drove in five runs. The Statesmen, ranked 13th in the latest NCBWA NCAA Division II poll, improved to 17-5. … DSU put up an eight-run inning, but Jackson State did the Statesmen one better, scoring nine in the first inning of a 15-3 win against visiting Tougaloo. Arjun Huerta drove in three of the nine runs. JSU, heading into SWAC play this weekend, moved to 11-3 with a twinbill sweep of the Bulldogs. … Mississippi State (12-4), ranked No. 22 by Baseball America, beat Old Dominion 9-4 at Biloxi’s Keesler Federal Park. The Bulldogs hit six doubles, drew six walks and used six pitchers to overthrow the Monarchs. State will play Nicholls State in Biloxi today, then welcomes No. 9 Texas to Starkville to begin SEC play this weekend. … Mississippi College (14-8) won its seventh straight game, beating Ouachita Baptist 10-0 on the road. The Choctaws, who had a seven-run inning, were sparked by Korey Cooper, who drove in four runs, and got a combo four-hitter from five pitchers. … Belhaven University rallied from 4-1 down to beat MUW 5-4 at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Trey Fletterich drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth for the Blazers (10-5). MUW slipped to 3-9. … Josh Alexander doubled and tripled and knocked in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as William Carey University won at West Alabama 4-2. Carey, ranked 12th in NAIA, is 19-4.

11 Mar

quick pitches

On a windy day in Arizona, Justin Steele got blown away by Milwaukee hitters. The former George County High star, expected to start the second game of the Chicago Cubs’ season next week in Japan, gave up 10 hits — three home runs — and seven runs all told in 3 2/3 innings. The left-hander now has a 9.72 ERA in 8 1/3 innings this spring. The 2023 All-Star went 5-5 with a 3.07 ERA in 24 starts in an injury-curtailed 2024 season. He won 16 games in 2023. … Also in Cactus League action today, ex-Ole Miss standout Doug Nikhazy, making a start for Cleveland, got knocked around by the Los Angeles Dodgers, yielding four hits, four walks and seven runs in 1 2/3 innings (55 pitches). The left-hander gave up a two-run homer to Tommy Edman, the second batter he faced. In camp as a new member of the Guardians’ 40-man roster, Nikhazy has a 7.27 ERA in 8 2/3 innings and is likely ticketed to return to Triple-A to start 2025. … Brandon Woodruff, the Mississippi State alum from Wheeler, pitched in a minor league game for Milwaukee in Arizona, his first live appearance since shoulder surgery 17 months ago. He reportedly threw 94 mph and unveiled a new cutter. Woodruff, a two-time All-Star, is 46-26, 3.10, for his career. His projected return to the Brewers’ active roster is mid-May. … On Monday in Florida, Jackson Prep product Will Warren threw 3 2/3 innings (two hits, one walk, one earned run) for the New York Yankees in a win against Detroit. Warren, 3-0 with a 1.54 ERA in 11 2/3 innings this spring, appears to be a viable candidate for the Yanks’ tattered rotation with Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil both out. GM Brian Cashman, asked about looking for arms outside the organization, told mlb.com: “We’ll just evaluate what’s available, and this time of year, very little is available.” For the record, former Ole Miss star Lance Lynn and Madison Central High alum Spencer Turnbull, both MLB vets, are free agents. … Nick Sandlin, ex-Southern Miss standout, got a win for Toronto on Monday with a scoreless inning in relief. A newcomer to the Blue Jays (trade from Cleveland), he has made just two appearances this spring. … Ole Miss alum Ryan Rolison, a first-round pick back in 2018, has thrown three scoreless innings with three K’s this spring for Colorado; the 27-year-old lefty (4.55 ERA in 83 minor league games) is in camp as a minor leaguer. … Kansas City optioned Eric Cerantola, Mississippi State product, to Triple-A, and the A’s did the same with ex-UM star Gunnar Hoglund.

10 Mar

movin’ on up

The NJCAA’s first Division II regular season poll is out, and there is a new No. 1: East Central Community College, up from preseason No. 2. New at No. 2 is Pearl River CC (previously No. 5) and jumping up to No. 4 is Jones College (previously ranked 12th). Northwest (21) and Holmes (24) are also in the Top 25 released today. Conference play starts this week in the MACCC, which figures to be another eight-week dogfight. East Central (18-4) visits East Miss (13-7) for a doubleheader on Wednesday, while Jones (14-5) is at Northwest (17-4) and Holmes (17-4) hosts Hinds (5-14). Pearl River (19-4) opens league play at home on Friday against Northwest. Of note: ECCC and PRCC will hook up March 18 in Decatur. ECCC’s Warriors are led offensively by, among others, Barret Rodgers, batting .419 with five homers and 27 RBIs; the team’s top pitcher has been Chris Bilingsley, 3-0 with a 2.59 ERA. For PRCC, Caston Thompson is batting .346 with four homers and 18 RBIs, while on the bump K.K. Clark is 4-0, 1.33. Jones’ T.J. Dunsford is raking at .441 with four homers and 17 RBIs; Brycen Smith leads Bobcats pitchers with a 3-0 record and 4.15 ERA. P.S. Alcorn State’s Jermel Ford, a senior from Hattiesburg, put up six hits, nine RBIs, six runs and eight steals in back-to-back games at Alabama A&M over the weekend, leading the Braves (2-10) to their first wins of the season. Alcorn plays at Louisiana-Monroe on Tuesday, then starts SWAC play at Bethune-Cookman on the weekend. … The Mississippi Mud Monsters, the new independent team in Pearl, recently signed three more players, veteran minor league pitchers Tyree Thompson and Rodney Theopile and outfielder Basiel Roberts. The season begins in May.