odds and ends

Behind the brilliant pitching of starters Ethan Small, J.T. Ginn and Peyton Plumlee, Mississippi State allowed a grand total of four runs in three games at Texas A&M, winning its third SEC road series of the season. Small tossed seven hitless innings on Friday; Ginn was the hard-luck loser in a 1-0 game on Saturday; and Plumlee gave up three runs in six innings in Saturday’s second game. … Southern Miss has yielded 26 runs in two losses against visiting Florida Atlantic and finds itself in a tie for first with FAU in the C-USA standings heading into today’s series finale. USM entered the weekend 19-2 at Taylor Park. … Ole Miss rode the arm of freshman Doug Nikhazy to a win at LSU on Saturday and today will shoot for its first series victory at Baton Rouge since 1982. … Delta State faces an elimination game today vs. Montevallo in the Gulf South Conference Tournament at Oxford, Ala. Mississippi College went 2-and-out in the event. Both DSU and MC are in the running for bids to the NCAA Division II South Regional. … William Carey and Blue Mountain saw their seasons end in the SSAC Tournament last week. … Jones County Junior College took second place in the MACJC regular season, with Northwest getting third and Pearl River fourth. Their best-of-3 playoff matchups will be finalized today. Meridian is set to host Gulf Coast in the 5-6 series. Itawamba won the regular season title and will host the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament. … Mississippi Braves right-hander Ian Anderson, a top Atlanta prospect, struck out 11 of the 23 Jacksonville batters he faced in a win on Saturday and now has 37 K’s in 29 innings. … Former DeSoto Central High star Austin Riley, another top Braves prospect, hit two more homers for Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday, giving him five in a four-games stretch and 10 for the year. His season-high is 20. … The Biloxi Shuckers’ Weston Wilson, named Southern League player of the month for April, is 2-for-15 thus far in May. He his batting .272 with six homers, 18 RBIs and 21 runs for the year. … Southern Miss product Brian Dozier belted his fifth homer for Washington on Saturday. He has just 19 hits total in 30 games and is batting .194. … Kansas City produced 19 hits and 15 runs in a win on Saturday, but Billy Hamilton had none of either, going 0-for-5. The Taylorsville native is batting .200.