heat check

The eye-popping number of the state college season to date belongs to William Carey University’s Tyler Graves. The number: 17. Graves has driven in 17 runs through 11 games for the Crusaders, who are 7-4 while playing every game away from home. Graves, a senior from Petal, is 15-for-37, a .405 average matched by teammate Christian Smith. … Ole Miss’ sweep of highly rated East Carolina over the weekend was fueled in part by Ryan Olenek’s bat; the SEC player of the week went 6-for-13 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs. But noteworthy also are the numbers put up by Cole Zabowski, one of the lesser heralded freshmen in Oxford; the Georgia native is 3-for-7 with a homer and four RBIs. … Taylor Braley carried the big bat for Southern Miss in its sweep of Northeastern, going 4-for-10 with two homers, seven RBIs and four runs. … Hunter Stovall banged out eight hits in 15 at-bats with three RBIs for Mississippi State, off to a 3-1 start. … Kirt Cormier is 8-for-14 with a homer and three RBIs for Alcorn State (2-2). … Jackson Webb has two homers in a 7-for-18 start for Missisisppi Valley State (0-4). … Jackson State (1-2) was led over the weekend by Lamar Briggs, who went 4-for-12. … Delta State (7-2) has gotten major production from Emil Ellis, who is 13-for-34 with eight runs and three RBIs. … Will Elliott is 10-for-31 with a homer, five RBIs and five runs for Mississippi College, which has stumbled to a 1-10 start. … Miciah Heard is 21-for-49 with 13 runs and six RBIs for Blue Mountain (8-6). … Terrell Hodges (8-for-17, two homers, nine RBIs) and J.G. Miley (8-for-17) have helped Belhaven get off to a 4-1 start. … At Millsaps (2-5), Logan Patterson has eight hits in 22 trips. … D’Anthony Morrow has six hits in his last 11 at-bats for Tougaloo, which is 4-5 heading into a twinbill with William Carey in Jackson on Wednesday.