present arms

Aces are emerging at the state’s Big 3 NCAA Division I schools. The new baseball, with its lower seams, was aimed at helping hitters but certainly hasn’t been a problem for Southern Miss’ James McMahon. The senior out of Oak Grove High is 4-0 with a 1.31 ERA in five starts for the Golden Eagles (11-7-1). He won Sunday’s rubber game of the C-USA series against Florida International. At Mississippi State (16-6), Austin Sexton is 3-0, 2.12, and Preston Brown 3-1, 2.15, both having made five starts. Christian Trent is 3-1 with a 3.45 in his five starts for Ole Miss (10-9). And not to be overlooked is Jones County Junior College’s Daniel Goff, who is 5-0 with a 2.31. (Hinds’ Randy Bell is also 5-0, working mainly in relief.) … Delta State finally is making some noise. The Statesmen swept Union University in a Gulf South Conference series in Cleveland. DSU (5-8, 4-4) won the three games by a 27-1 total. Justin Vincent threw 5 2/3 innings in Monday’s 10-0 win, and Brandon Cummins hit a homer and drove in three runs all told.