short hops
Baseball is a non-contact sport, except when a 97-mph fastball hits you in the face. Blaze Jordan, the ex-DeSoto Central High star, took one just below his right eye on Friday in a game for Double-A Portland. “Baseball is rough sometimes,” Jordan said on X (Twitter). “Be back soon!” He went on the seven-day injured list with a nasty black eye. The 21-year-old Boston prospect is batting .253 with seven home runs and 51 RBIs in his first full year at the Class AA level. … Austin Riley, another DeSoto Central alum, blasted his 18th homer of the year – and fourth in August – but it was wasted in Atlanta’s “Nightmare on Blake Street,” a 9-8 loss Sunday at Colorado in which the Rockies scored seven times in the eighth inning. … One day after getting roughed up by Atlanta, former Mississippi State standout Dakota Hudson landed on Colorado’s IL with elbow inflammation. Hudson, who has a 6.17 ERA with the Rockies, was making his first big league appearance since July 3. He had been at Triple-A. … MSU alum Christian MacLeod made his Triple-A debut in the Minnesota system on Sunday, yielding four earned runs in five innings in a loss against Columbus. The 2021 draftee has pitched at three levels in 2024 and has a 3.26 overall ERA. … South Panola product Emaarion Boyd put up a four-hit game on Sunday for High-A Jersey Shore, scored twice and swiped his 20th bag of the season for the Philadelphia affiliate. Boyd, 20, the Phillies’ No. 18 prospect (per MLB Pipeline), is batting .241 for the year with 41 runs and 31 RBIs in 78 games. He has 84 steals in three pro seasons. … There is a new vibe at Alcorn State, where Carlton Hardy, a highly successful college coach, has taken the reins as the Braves’ head man. Hardy spent the last 18 years at Savannah State, where he won a couple of conference coach of the year awards and led the Tigers to a 31-17 record in 2024. The former Grambling State player takes over an Alcorn program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2009. The previous coach, Reggie Williams, went 16-122 in three years.