heat wave

Something special may be brewing in Hattiesburg at the “other” college in town. Yes, Southern Miss broke a three-game losing skid behind ace Andrew Pierce on Friday night — but a better pitching performance for a hotter club took place down the road at William Carey’s Wheeler Field. Jake Fabre, a senior right-hander from Houma, La., threw a 14-strikeout, seven-hitter at NAIA powerhouse Lee University, leading the Crusaders to their ninth straight win, 8-2. Carey is 17-6 and 9-1 in the Southern States Athletic Conference. Lee fell to 19-4 and 8-2. They’ll play a doubleheader today. Fabre improved to 3-2 with a 1.55 ERA; he has 40 K’s and just three walks in 40 2/3 innings. None of Carey’s top four starters has an ERA over 2.35. Coach Bobby Halford has a few hitters, too, with Mitch Bohon (.392, 17 RBIs) and Scott Fabre (.371, two home runs, 18 RBIs) leading the way. P.S. Corey Wimberly, the Alcorn State product now in Atlanta’s system, made a big league spring appearance on Friday, going 0-for-1 in the Braves’ win over Houston. Wimberly, 29, a switch-hitting second baseman/outfielder, has been plugging away in the minors since 2005 with decent success (.297, 281 steals). He batted .301 in 39 games for the New York Mets’ Triple-A Buffalo team in 2012. … Noticed that former Mississippi Braves Barbaro Canizares and Yasser Gomez are playing for Spain in the World Baseball Classic. Both are Cuba natives — how does that work?