road trippers

Jones County Junior College won’t have a home this season. Construction of the $2.8 million Community Bank Park, a baseball and softball complex going up on the Ellisville campus, will put the Bobcats on the road for all of their scheduled 50 games. The odyssey begins next Tuesday at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium, where JCJC will play two (noon start) against Bishop State of Alabama. The Bobcats will play designated home games at various locations around the state, including Southern Miss’ Taylor Park in Hattiesburg and William Carey’s Wheeler Field in the Hub City. … Itawamba CC, which went 43-13 and won the state title last season, is ranked No. 9 in the preseason NJCAA Division II poll, the only Mississippi school in the Top 15. The Indians open Saturday at home against Southwest Tennessee.
P.S. Jackson native and former big leaguer Stu Cliburn is the pitching coach for the Puerto Rican Winter League championship club currently playing in the Caribbean World Series. Might catch a glipse of him on MLB Network’s broadcasts of the series this week.