blue monday

That noise you just heard was the whistling sound of Mississippi’s Big 3 schools falling in the new Baseball America poll. Mississippi State, swept at home – during Super Bulldog Weekend — by Texas A&M, dropped from No. 2 to seventh. Ole Miss, which lost two of three at Alabama (plus a midweek game to Southern Miss), went from eighth to 15th. And USM, which lost two of three at Alabama-Birmingham, tumbled out of the poll from No. 25. There is a lot of baseball left, as they say, but this might be a tough weekend to recover from on all fronts. State (24-12-1, 8-7 SEC) gave up 30 runs to the Aggies, who might have one of the best teams in the country. Ole Miss (26-10, 7-8 SEC) scored just six runs against the Crimson Tide. USM (27-10, 12-3 C-USA) squandered leads in losing the first two games against a sub-.500 Blazers team. Of course, there were bright spots. For State, freshman Jake Mangum, helping fill in for injured Jacob Robson, went 7-for-15. Ole Miss got excellent starts from Brady Bramlett and David Parkinson, plus a 5-for-12 effort from freshman Ryan Olenek. For USM, Kirk McCarty threw a three-hit shutout in Game 3 on Sunday, and the Golden Eagles hit four homers to lift their season total to 44. … Keep an ear out.