Tag Archives: Alcorn State

07 Jul

northwestern exposure

Jackson State hasn’t had a player picked in the MLB draft since 2017. For Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State, it’s been eight years since they had a player drafted. Seven players from those schools will get a little more exposure in the inaugural HBCU Swingman Classic, scheduled for tonight at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, where scouts and team execs will be gathered for the major league All-Star Game next week. Jackson State’s Ty Hill — a Ferriss Trophy finalist this year — and teammates Jatavis Melton, Jesse Caver and Erik Gonzalez, Valley’s Narvin Booker and Victor Figueroa and Alcorn’s Kewan Braziel are among the 50 players from historically black NCAA Division I schools invited to Seattle. In addition to workouts, two squads will play a game tonight (9:30 on MLB Network). No player from Mississippi’s three HBCUs is ranked among the top 200 draft prospects by mlb.com or Baseball America. More exposure might be just what one of them needs. “Not everyone goes to a Power 5 conference,” Ken Griffey Jr., who created this event, recently told MLB Network. Hill is a particularly interesting case. He hit .399 with a .507 on-base average for his three years at JSU. He walked 96 times, fanned 74. This past season, Hill — noticeably smaller than his listed 6 feet 1, 210 pounds — batted .387 with six homers, 16 doubles, four triples and 53 RBIs. He can handle third base, second or the outfield. Obviously, the Saltillo High product can play the game. Whether his abilities transfer to pro ball, who really knows? He might just need a chance. … Prior to the HBCU game is the MLB/USA Baseball High School All-American Game for 2024 draft prospects. Jackson Prep star Konnor Griffin, rated the No. 1 prospect by some services, is expected to play. He is an LSU commit. Also on the rosters are Noah Sheffield, son of Gary, and Adrian Beltre Jr. A replay of the game will air at 10 a.m. Saturday on MLBN. … The All-Star Futures Game is set for Saturday in Seattle at 6 p.m. (live on Peacock). Former Biloxi High star and 2019 Gatorade player of the year Colt Keith, a top Detroit prospect, is on the American League roster. The lefty-swinging third baseman is batting .335 with 16 homers and 57 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023. Also watch for Biloxi Shuckers outfielder Jackson Chourio, a highly regarded Milwaukee prospect. Atlanta’s representative is right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach, who is at Low-A Augusta. The Futures Game will re-air on MLBN Sunday at 8 a.m.

08 Mar

special delivery

Stepping up in a rivalry game is something special. Here’s a tip of the cap to three players who did so in three intra-state clashes on Tuesday night. In Oxford, senior Peyton Chatagnier went 2-for-3 with a homer and three runs to drive Ole Miss to an 11-5 win over Southern Miss in a matchup of nationally ranked rivals. Chatagnier is batting .400 with four homers, 11 RBIs and 14 runs for the 11-2 Rebels, who are ranked as high as No. 4. USM slipped to 8-4. At Lorman, freshman Victor Figueroa went 3-for-4 with five RBIs as Mississippi Valley State whipped Alcorn State 8-4. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Figueroa is hitting .359 with 12 RBIs for the Delta Devils (6-6). Alcorn fell to 1-11. At Pearl’s Trustmark Park, Stewart Bonnecaze was the leader of a pack of four Millsaps pitchers who combined on a three-hitter to propel the Majors to a 4-2 victory against Belhaven that evened the Maloney Trophy Series at 1-1. Bonnecaze, a freshman, worked four hitless innings, allowing just an unearned run and fanning five, to improve to 1-1 with a 4.66 ERA for the 8-7 Majors. Belhaven is 3-9. … Jones College, Itawamba Community College and Mississippi Delta CC will play a round-robin today at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson, an event originally scheduled to be played in Cleveland. Jones-Delta is at noon, Jones-ICC at 2:30 and ICC-Delta at 5. Tickets are $10.

23 Apr

better than most

In case you missed it, Laurel native Shemar Page, now pitching for Grambling State, threw a seven-inning perfect game Friday against visiting Alcorn State. It is reported to be just the 34th perfecto in NCAA Division I history going back to 1959. Page struck out 13 of the 21 batters he faced. The Tigers run-ruled the Braves 16-0. It’s been that kind of year for Alcorn, 2-24 after that loss. Right-hander Page has followed a long and winding road to Grambling. He was a two-way player at Raleigh High, an ace pitcher at Pearl River Community College — which won state and region titles while he was there — and primarily a hitter in two seasons at Louisiana Tech. As a grad transfer at Grambling, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Page has posted a 5-4, 2.67 ledger in 10 starts on the mound and is batting .359 in 78 at-bats.

28 Mar

let’s get some runs

The focus here is on runs. Not home runs. Not RBIs. Just runs, which, when you get down to it, is what baseball is all about. Alcorn State scored eight runs on Sunday, just enough to win for the first time this season after 16 consecutive losses in which the Braves rarely scored. (They actually scored nine times on Saturday but, curse their luck, managed to lose 10-9.) So give a shout-out to first-year Braves coach Reggie Williams, the ex-big leaguer, and to Jamil Betancourt and Garrett Palladino, who each scored twice in the 8-7 win at Prairie View A&M. Alcorn’s leading scorer this season is Clayvonje Wright, who scored once on Sunday and now has six of the Braves’ 37 runs on the season. Ole Miss could have used a few more runs against Tennessee, scoring just seven all told in losing three times in Oxford. Jacob Gonzalez leads the Rebels (16-7) in runs with 28, though he never touched home plate in the UT series. Leading scorers in baseball don’t get the attention that they do in basketball or soccer or hockey. Doesn’t seem right. Here’s a tip of the cap to Mississippi State’s runs leader, Hunter Hines, who has 30 as a freshman for the 15-10 Bulldogs and ranks second in the SEC. Southern Miss (17-7), which tallied 35 times in a sweep at Western Kentucky over the weekend, is led by Christopher Sargent and Slade Wilks with 22 runs apiece. Jackson State (12-12) is led by Ty Hill with 29 runs. Mississippi Valley State (6-9-1) is topped by Maury Weaver with 13 runs. Chad Ragland is the leading scorer at Delta State (16-8) with 28, and Mississippi College (11-19) is led by Caleb Reese and Markarius Lee with 22 each.

10 Mar

three stars

From Wednesday’s slate of compelling matchups and mismatches around the Magnolia State:
Peyton Chatagnier: The Ole Miss second baseman/leadoff batter starred in a nomination for play of the year, cleverly stealing three bases — and making the ESPN SportsCenter highlights — in the Rebels’ 16-1 win against winless Alcorn State at Swayze Field in Oxford. Chatagnier swiped second on a pickoff attempt, took third when he noticed no one was covering and then sprinted home after the Alcorn catcher, who had run up the line to take the belated throw from second, left the plate unguarded. Chatagnier also homered in the game and scored four times as the 11-1 Rebels, a consensus top five team, dispatched the 0-8 Braves.
Tanner Hall: The Southern Miss right-hander, who baffled Mississippi State last week, was at it again against Tulane, throwing eight strong innings — four hits, an unearned run and eight strikeouts — in the Golden Eagles’ 7-2 win over the Green Wave at Taylor Park in Hattiesburg. Hall is 2-0 with an 0.84 ERA in five appearances for 10-3 USM.
Hunter Hines: The freshman from Madison Central High, batting in the 3-hole as the DH, accounted for both of Mississippi State’s runs in a 7-2 loss against Texas Tech in a matchup of nationally ranked teams at MGM Park in Biloxi. Hines is batting .367 with four homers, 14 RBIs and 14 runs for the Bulldogs (7-7).

07 Mar

what’s going on …

It was quite a wild weekend for state college teams.
Here’s a quick summary: Ole Miss lost for the first time. Mississippi State lost two of three games and may have lost its ace. Southern Miss won a series at Louisiana-Lafayette with a rubber game rally. Jackson State pounded hapless Alcorn State three times at Braddy Field. Mississippi College beat the No. 1 team in NCAA Division II (see previous post). Delta State swept a conference series on the road. William Carey took two of three from Blue Mountain in an SSAC opening series. Belhaven, playing at Trustmark Park in Pearl, swept a conference series. Millsaps opened conference play by winning a home series. MUW, playing its first home games in Columbus, took two of three from Greenville University.
Here are some observations, not necessarily astute: Ole Miss, ranked as high as No. 2, hit 19 bombs — five by Tim Elko — in its first nine games before getting blanked at Central Florida on Saturday in a 1-0, 12-inning loss. The Rebels (10-1) showed they could win without a homer as they bounced back for a 9-1 victory in Game 3 on Sunday. … State (6-6) scored 33 runs at Tulane but lost two of three. The Bulldogs’ staff ERA is 4.49 due mainly to a leaky bullpen. Landon Sims’ arm injury, if serious, could be an even bigger problem. … Hunter Riggins won 27 games over a stellar career at Delta State and is now 3-0 with a 0.45 ERA for USM (8-3). The Hernando native threw a shutout on Saturday at ULL. … New Alcorn State coach Reginald Williams could be in a for a long year as he attempts to rebuild the program. The Braves fell to 0-7 after getting swept by Jackson State this weekend. The Tigers (8-5) outscored the Braves 39-5. Alcorn made eight errors in Sunday’s game, a 14-3 defeat. … Carey’s A.J. Stinson improved to 3-0 with a six-hitter against Blue Mountain on Saturday in the rubber game of their SSAC series at Hattiesburg. Stinson struck out 11 in a 128-pitch effort in the 10-2 win in the second game of a twinbill. The Crusaders are 14-4, the Toppers 10-7. … A three-run homer by Hunter White and some clutch relief work by Will Swift carried Belhaven (7-5) to a 4-2 win over Howard Payne on Saturday and a sweep of their American Southwest Conference series. … Sam Pitre homered and drove in four runs and Ryan Erwin picked up his fourth win in relief as Millsaps (11-5) whipped Centre College 15-5 on Sunday in the rubber game of a Southern Athletic Association series.

10 Sep

for history buffs

The first East-West Game, an All-Star contest featuring the best players in the Negro Leagues, was played on this date in 1933, with Starkville native Cool Papa Bell batting leadoff for the East and former Alcorn State player and coach William (Willie) Foster throwing the game’s first pitch for the West. Before a crowd of about 20,000 at Chicago’s old Comiskey Park, Bell flied out in the matchup of Hall of Famers. The West won the game 11-7, with Foster going the distance and allowing just two earned runs, per retrosheet.org’s box score. He also had a hit. Bell went 0-for-5 but scored a run. Foster, raised in Rodney, is considered perhaps the greatest left-hander in Negro Leagues annals, while Bell, who played in roughly a dozen East-West Games, is regarded as one of the fastest players of all-time. They are the only Magnolia State-connected players in Cooperstown. The 1933 East-West rosters also featured such notable names as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, Oscar Charleston, Willie Wells and Mule Suttles, who hit the lone home run.

23 Aug

around the horn

Not so long ago, New York Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames, the former East Central Community College star, was on a hot seat, as was manager Aaron Boone. For the better part of three months, the club struggled to score, foundering with runners in scoring position, frequently striking out or hitting into double plays. Well, that seems like ancient history now. The Yankees, finally fit and fortified with new additions to the lineup, are sizzling hot as they head into Truist Park in Atlanta, where the eyes of the baseball world will be on a two-game series between the hottest teams in the game. Both have won nine straight. The Yankees have climbed to 72-52, second in the American League East. The Braves are 68-56, first in the National League East. … Atlanta’s Mississippi connection, third baseman Austin Riley, the DeSoto Central High product, is batting .342 during the win streak, with four homers, six RBIs and nine runs. … Ex-Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman, now with Houston, faced his former team, Seattle, for the first time on Sunday. He gave up a run in his one inning but maintained the lead, which the Astros later squandered en route to a 6-3, extra-inning loss. Graveman has allowed two runs in nine innings for the Astros; he had a 0.82 ERA in 30 appearances for the Mariners. Graveman was upset when Seattle traded him in late July. … In his third game at Low-A Salem, former DeSoto Central star Blaze Jordan hit his second homer, this one a grand slam. The first-year pro is 3-for-11 for Salem after hitting .362 with four homers for Boston’s Florida Complex League team. … Just in time for the start of fall classes, Alcorn State has hired a new coach. Reggie Williams, a former major league outfielder, was named last Friday to fill the post previously held by Brett Richardson. He was not retained after a 7-20 season. Williams is a Southern University alum who played in the big leagues in the 1980s. He previously worked as an instructor and coach in the Cincinnati and Milwaukee organizations and was also an educator in the Memphis school system. Three of the state’s HBCUs will have new coaches in 2022. Stanley Stubbs moves from Rust College to Mississippi Valley State, and John Bates was promoted from Stubbs’ staff to replace him as Bearcats coach. … Three Mississippians were on the West roster for Sunday’s Perfect Game All-American Classic in San Diego: outfielder Emaarion “Mari” Boyd of South Panola, outfielder Dakota Jordan of Jackson Academy and catcher Ross Highfill of Madison Central. All are 2022 seniors. The West was no-hit by the East in a 9-1 defeat at Petco Park.

14 Apr

buckle up

If either Ole Miss or Mississippi State were looking ahead to this weekend’s main event in Starkville, it did not show on Tuesday. The Rebels, behind Cael Baker’s six RBIs, thumped Austin Peay 13-1 and the Bulldogs, blasting five home runs, dismissed Arkansas State 18-10 in midweek “tuneups” before the huge SEC clash set for Dudy Noble Field. Game 1 of the three-game series is Friday at 6 p.m. SEC Network will televise it. Both teams enter with 8-4 league marks, tied for second in the West, and top 10 national rankings. Kids on sandlots across Mississippi dream of playing in such a series. This weekend, some get that chance. On paper, this is the classic great pitching (State) vs. great hitting (UM) matchup. The Bulldogs are second in the SEC in ERA and tops in punchouts; the Rebels lead in runs and are second in batting. But Ole Miss’ pitching staff has its fair share of pro prospects, and State’s lineup has produced eight or more runs in a game 13 times. Chops are being licked on both sides. Anything can happen in this series – and probably will. … All eyes in the Magnolia State will not be trained on Starkville, however. Surging Southern Miss (21-10, 8-3 C-USA) has a four-game set at nationally ranked Louisiana Tech, which took three of four from the Golden Eagles in Hattiesburg last month. Jackson State, led by Chenar Brown (.379, eight homers, 39 RBIs), is an amazing 15-0 in SWAC play and welcomes rival Alcorn State for a three-game set at Braddy Field.

16 Aug

golden oldies

The old Negro Leagues, which Major League Baseball is celebrating today, produced not only great players but great teams. Mississippians played major roles on some of the best. There is surely ample debate about which Negro League team deserves to be called “the best,” but the short list would have to include the 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords. There were four future Hall of Famers on that team, five if you count Satchel Paige, who was on the roster but held out most of the season. The center fielder and leadoff batter for the Crawfords, the Negro National League champs in ’35, was James “Cool Papa” Bell, the Starkville native and Hall of Famer whose speed is legend. Clarksdale native David “Lefty” Harvey was a pitcher on that team, which also featured the incredible slugger Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston and Judy Johnson. Bell was also the leadoff man for the 1930 St. Louis Stars, another NNL champion with a stacked lineup that included Willie “The Devil” Wells, Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe (from the Ken Burns films) and George “Mule” Suttles. Nicknames apparently were a Negro Leagues staple. William Foster, who grew up in Rodney and played and coached at Alcorn A&M, didn’t have a nickname — he was known simply as Bill or Willie — but did have a great arsenal of pitches as the left-handed ace of the 1927 Chicago American Giants. That team won the NNL pennant and the Negro World Series, with Hall of Famer Foster throwing a shutout in the decisive eighth game. The Giants’ roster also featured Pythias Russ, “Gentleman Dave” Malarcher, Walter “Steel Arm” Davis and Willie “Pigmeat” Powell. The 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes, with Jackson native Buddy Armour playing center field, won the Negro American League pennant and the World Series in a sweep against a Homestead Grays team that trotted out a 42-year-old Bell and Greenwood native Dave Hoskins. The Buckeyes, 53-16 in the regular season according to “Only the Ball Was White,” were led by future major leaguer Sam “The Jet” Jethroe and the brothers Jefferson, Willie and George, both pitchers. Hattiesburg’s Rufus Lewis was the ace of the 1946 Newark Eagles, who won the NNL title and the World Series in seven games against Kansas City’s Monarchs. Lewis won Game 7. Future big leaguers Larry Doby and Monte Irvin and Max “Dr. Cyclops” Manning were other stars on that great Newark team. … All MLB players, managers, coaches and umpires will wear today a patch commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro National League. The logo is based on the official logo created by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.