green machine

Congratulations go out to Delta State coach Mike Kinnison on the occasion of his 600th win at the Division II power in Cleveland. He picked up the last two he needed in Saturday’s sweep of West Alabama, another nationally ranked club. It’s almost taken for granted every season that the Statesmen will be a contender for their conference title and the national tournament — and it shouldn’t be. A lot of diligent effort goes into it, by players and coaches. What’s really amazing is how seamlessly DSU has moved from the Boo Ferriss era to the Bill Marchant era to the Kinnison regime without suffering any real drop-off. Kinnison played for Ferriss and coached under Marchant before taking the reins in 1997. He has won a national title (2004) and been to three other D-II College World Series in his 14 seasons. The Statesmen will be in the CWS hunt again this year. You can count on it.