rat’s milestone

It has been quite the year for milestone victories. First, William Carey coach Bobby Halford won No. 800, then Millsaps’ Jim Page got No. 500. On Tuesday, Alcorn State’s Willie “Rat” McGowan picked up No. 700. McGowan’s tenure at Alcorn goes back to the late 1960s, and, as was noted in a release sent out by the school, he would have a lot more wins had his baseball duties not been curtailed by football duties, limiting the number of games his Braves could play. To this day, SWAC schools don’t put a lot of emphasis on their baseball programs. Alcorn flies well under the radar, even in baseball-mad Mississippi. McGowan has produced his fair share of standout players, counting 11 major league draftees among them. Al Jones, a pitcher from the early ’80s, made the big leagues. Infielder Corey Wimberly is in the Oakland A’s big league camp this spring. Greg Daniels, who wasn’t drafted, hit a remarkable .545 in 1983, leading the nation. For all that and more, the Rat deserves a tip of the cap.
P.S. Meridian Community College product Cliff Lee’s second spring start today went as badly as his first. The 2008 AL Cy Young winner allowed 5 hits and 4 runs — 3 earned — over 3 innings for the Cleveland Indians. His throwing error gave Colorado an unearned run in the first. Lee was roughed up for 3 hits and 2 runs in just one inning of work last week. Lee told The Associated Press that he wasn’t worried about today’s outing, that he was just throwing fastballs and nothing else.