campus notes

Delta State will dedicate Tim and Nancy Harvey Baseball Stadium at Ferriss Field and unveil a statue in honor of former coach Dave “Boo” Ferriss on Saturday. The ceremonies will coincide with DSU baseball’s biannual reunion, which will bring over 350 former players, coaches and diamond girls to Cleveland. Tim Harvey was a DSU player under Ferriss, and he and his wife made the lead gift for stadium renovations. If there is anyone who doesn’t know, former major league pitcher Ferriss won 639 games over 26 seasons as DSU coach, took three teams to the NCAA Division II World Series and laid the foundation for what is one of the nation’s best D-II programs. … Tim Dillard is being inducted into the Itawamba Community College Hall of Fame and will be honored in a ceremony during the school’s football homecoming in Fulton on Saturday. Dillard, 32, who pitched in Triple-A for Milwaukee this season, starred for ICC in 2002 and ’03, leading the Indians to the juco World Series as a sophomore. A 34th-round draft pick, he has pitched 13 seasons in pro ball, posting a 4.70 ERA in 73 big league games, all with the Brewers. … Mike Smith, a senior outfielder for Mississippi State, didn’t play a great deal in 2015 as a juco transfer, batting .208 in 24 at-bats. He’s bucking for more playing time next spring. In nine scrimmages this fall, Smith is 10-for-23 with seven RBIs, six runs and five steals. The Bulldogs scrimmage again on Sunday at Dudy Noble Field. … The “Jake Gibbs Letterwinner Walk,” honoring every Ole Miss athlete who earned a letter, will be unveiled next October as part of a Vaught-Hemingway Stadium project, the school announced. Gibbs was a football and baseball star for the Rebels and is the school’s second all-time winningest baseball coach. He also played in the big leagues.