purple and gold

It has been a heckuva week for Millsaps College. And, of course, week ain’t over yet. On Sunday, the Majors completed a three-game sweep of nationally ranked Birmingham-Southern to take first place in the Southern Athletic Association standings at 15-3. Then, the Majors swept the league’s pitcher and player of the week honors: Will Edwards, who beat BSC with a two-hit, 12-strikeout shutout last Friday, and Wes Perkins, who had a 7-for-12, seven-RBI week, were the honorees. Edwards, a senior from Kosciusko, is 6-1 with a 2.65 ERA and 63 strikeouts. Perkins leads the SAA in hitting at .434 and is second in homers (4) and RBIs (43). The celebrating continued when the Majors cracked the Top 25 in the NCAA Division III poll for the first time this year. At 25-9 (following an inconsequential loss to NAIA Belhaven on Tuesday), the Majors are ranked 23rd. Millsaps will take a Rhodes trip (to Memphis) this weekend with a chance to win the league’s regular season championship or at least nail down one of the top two seeds for the SAA postseason. Each of the top two will host a four-team tournament, with the winners then meeting in a best-of-3 for the inaugural SAA Tournament title. … Flash back: Roughly a month ago, Southern Miss was in a major tailspin. Flash forward: The 2-1 victory over Ole Miss in Pearl on Tuesday was the Golden Eagles’ eighth straight and boosted their overall record to 19-17. Pitching has keyed this turnaround. USM’s staff ERA is down to 3.47 from 4.58 in mid-March. Andrew Pierce (7-1, 1.83) has been consistently fantastic, and Conor Fisk (3-1, 2.38) and Jake Drehoff (1-4, 3.57) have stabilized the rotation. Jay Myrick is 3-0, 2.23 working out of the pen. USM, 8-4 in Conference USA, is on the road against league rival Memphis this weekend.