Tag Archives: Alcorn State

21 Oct

campus notes

Delta State, in a major rebuilding mode this fall, is holding its Green-and-White Series today and Saturday at Ferriss Field in Cleveland. Most of the key players from last year’s 42-17 team are gone, and 22 newcomers were positioning for jobs during fall ball. The notable returnees are left-hander Tre Hobbs, a 13-game winner and All-America candidate, Juwan Burney (.321 in 26 games) and Dakota Glore (.290 in 32). … Alcorn State’s program took a tough 0-for-4 this week. According to the penalties handed down by the NCAA Committee on Infractions, all of the Braves’ wins from the 2012 through the 2015 seasons are vacated. As in, gone. Brett Richardson gets to keep the 16 wins he picked up in 2016, his first season as coach. The SWAC Tournament championship from 2011 was unaffected. … Ole Miss’ highly touted recruiting class has generated a lot of buzz this fall, but veteran Colby Bortles rates some attention, too. The senior third baseman has been raking this fall, according to every report out of Oxford. He had seven hits, including two homers, and four RBIs in last weekend’s scrimmages. Bortles hit .269 with eight homers and 50 RBIs for the Rebels in 2016. … Fall ball has to feel a little weird in Starkville with John Cohen expected to move into the athletic director’s chair and hand the reins to a new coach for 2017. Mississippi State has scrimmages set for today, Saturday and Sunday. Freshman Dustin Skelton, the ex-Magnolia Heights star who can catch and play third base, reportedly stood out in last weekend’s games. … Southern Miss players will be presented with their 2016 Conference USA championship rings at the Oct. 29 homecoming football game against Marshall. The Golden Eagles made the NCAAs last season for the first time since 2011 and finished 41-20.

02 Sep

movin’ on up

Pinstripes and a playoff race in September. It doesn’t get much sweeter than that. And Jonathan Holder is feeling it. The former Gulfport High and Mississippi State standout has been summoned to the big leagues by the New York Yankees, who are very much in the hunt for an American League postseason berth. Holder, a 6-foot-2 right-hander, will join the Yankees’ bullpen tonight in Baltimore, where former State star Buck Showalter is the manager. Holder (see previous post) had a 0.89 ERA at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after putting up a 2.20 at Double-A Trenton. … Cincinnati has recalled former Northwest Mississippi Community College left-hander Cody Reed from Triple-A. Reed was 0-7, 7.36 in 10 starts with the Reds before being sent out on Aug. 15. … Pillow Academy product Louis Coleman is back in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ bullpen; he had been in the minors as he recovered from a minor shoulder injury. … MSU alum Adam Frazier, a .321 hitter as a rookie, is back up with Pittsburgh; he was briefly sent out last week as the Pirates juggled their roster. … Former Bulldogs star Hunter Renfroe, named the Triple-A Pacific Coast League MVP on Thursday, is still waiting on the call from San Diego. P.S. Ex-Alcorn State star Corey Wimberly is playing again in Mexico, with the Leones de Yucatan. The switch-hitting outfielder had a 3-for-3 day on Thursday and is batting .300 over his last 10 games with five RBIs and seven runs. He signed with Yucatan in June, then was inactive for about a month before returning to the field in early August. Wimberly is 32 and in his 12th season in the minors.

29 Aug

campus notes

With college classes having begun, it’s time for those “what I did on my summer vacation” stories. Mississippi State’s Konnor Pilkington and Jake Mangum showed out in the Cape Cod League, earning recognition from Baseball America as top 30 prospects from the prestigious summer circuit. Pilkington, a left-hander from Hurley and East Central High, was 2-1 with a 1.37 ERA in seven games for Brewster. He also made the All-CCBL team, as chosen by the league. At State this past season, he was 3-1, 2.08 in 14 appearances. Mangum, a Jackson Prep product, hit .300 with nine RBIs and 11 steals in 35 games for Bourne. The Ferriss Trophy winner batted .408 for the Bulldogs as a freshman last spring. … Of the Ole Miss players who took part in summer league ball, none has more to boast about than Parker Ciracci, another Jackson Prep product who redshirted at UM last spring. Right-hander Ciracci posted an 0.78 ERA, five wins and seven saves in 21 games in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. Fellow Rebel D.J. Miller had a fun time, too, batting .286 with 32 runs and 10 steals in the Cal Ripken League. UM’s Kyle Watson, a DeSoto Central alum, swiped 21 bags in the Alaska League. … Southern Miss’ Mason Irby, a transfer from juco national champ Jones County Junior College, played on the NJCAA National Team that went 3-1 in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan. Golden Eagles J.C. Keys and Matthew Guidry were Texas Collegiate League All-Star Game picks. Guidry finished at .331 with 14 RBIs and 24 runs in 40 games for Acadiana, and Keys put up a 4.13 ERA in 13 games for the same club. … Mississippi College’s Hunter Lacefield, a lefty transfer from Northwest CC, went 4-1 with a 0.76 ERA for the North Delta Dealers, the best team in the New Albany-based Cotton States League this summer. … Alcorn State has a new pitching coach, David Duncan, a former Florida A&M pitcher who has some pro experience. The Braves had a staff ERA of 8.03 in 2016, so Duncan has some work to do. … New head coaches are settling in at jucos Pearl River and Mississippi Delta. Michael Avalon left Delta to replace Josh Hoffpauir at PRCC, and longtime Hinds assistant Dan Rives filled the vacancy at Delta, where he played.

20 Mar

names to know

In Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday night, under the SEC Network spotlight, Jake Mangum and Noah Hughes — freshmen and former Jackson Prep teammates –- played starring roles for Mississippi State in an SEC series-clinching win against Vanderbilt. Mangum had a go-ahead, two-run hit in the eighth inning and Hughes delivered two scoreless innings of relief in the 5-4 victory against a Commodores team ranked as high as No. 2 in the country. But those aren’t the only names to know today. Other Magnolia State players taking star turns this weekend: Southern Miss catcher Chuckie Robinson delivered a go-ahead hit and threw out a Marshall baserunner trying to steal in the eighth inning as the Golden Eagles won the rubber game of their C-USA series on Saturday. … Ole Miss’ Wyatt Short notched his fifth save of the year and 18th of his career as the Rebels beat Tennessee 6-4 on Saturday and evened their SEC series. … Wallace Rios of Alcorn State hit two homers and drove in six runs as the Braves beat Alabama A&M 15-13 in a SWAC contest. … Nick Lowe hit a game-tying sac fly and Cody Christian drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth to give William Carey a 5-4 win over visiting Blue Mountain in a Southern States Athletic Conference game. … Garrett Odom blasted two homers and knocked in six runs to pace Mississippi College to a 13-7 Gulf South Conference win against Christian Brothers. …. Terrell Hodges went 6-for-12 with six runs, three RBIs and two steals as Belhaven swept Louisiana College in an American Southwest Conference series at Smith-Wills Stadium. … Millsaps’ Brennan Ducote had two hits and two RBIs to spark the Majors to a 4-1 win over Southern Athletic Association rival Rhodes in Game 2 of a Saturday twinbill. … And in Cleveland, where Delta State swept a GSC doubleheader from Alabama-Huntsville, ranked No. 9 in NCAA Division II, the heroes were many. Lefties Justin Vincent and Tre Hobbs threw complete games; Ben Pickard drove in seven runs; Brandon Cummins scored five times; and Trent Giambroni hit his seventh homer.

04 Feb

choosing nine

Time to take a break from the football recruiting blather and Super Bowl hype. Enough already with the Golden State Warriors. Opening Day Eve for college baseball is upon us. To get in the spirit of the new season, here’s a list of nine Magnolia State players to watch over the coming months:
1. Seth Davis, Blue Mountain, first baseman. No player in the state made a bigger leap forward in 2015 than Davis. A .195 hitter as a sophomore, the 6-foot-5, 225-pounder raked at a .396 clip last season, belting eight homers and driving in 40 runs. He was BMC’s first first-team All-SSAC selection.
2. Adrian Brown, William Carey, outfielder. Brown was a first-team All-NJCAA Region 23 pick for Copiah-Lincoln CC in 2015 after batting .318 with seven homers and 12 steals. If the name sounds familiar, it should. Brown’s father, also named Adrian Brown, played in the big leagues from 1997-2006.
3. Isaac Glenn, Millsaps, outfielder. Glenn, who played in the shadow of Keith Shumaker in 2015, will get a bigger share of the stage now. He led the Majors with a .436 average and 45 RBIs last year and earned first-team All-SAA honors. He’s now getting NCAA Division III preseason All-America notice.
4. Ethan Gill, Delta State, third baseman. Slugging is making a comeback, and the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Gill can accurately be called a slugger. He came in last year as a transfer from Itawamba CC and led the Statesmen in homers (10), RBIs (51) and slugging percentage (.610). He also batted .325.
5. Gavin Collins, Mississippi State, catcher/third baseman. Collins made the SEC All-Freshman team at catcher in 2014 and was a preseason All-SEC pick last year but was set back by a hand injury. He wound up hitting just .228 in 35 games. Expect a bounce-back season.
6. Brady Bramlett, Ole Miss, right-hander. Drafted in the 22nd round by Oakland last summer, Bramlett opted to return to Oxford. That’s a real shot in the arm (pun intended) for the Rebels. After missing the 2014 season with an injury, Bramlett went 7-4 with a 3.74 ERA in 2015.
7. Nick Johnson, Southern Miss, right-hander. The former Ridgeland High star is poised for a bigger role with the Golden Eagles, who lost a lot from a very good 2015 staff. Johnson was 4-0 with a 2.93 ERA in 12 games and 27 2/3 innings. He limited batters to a .198 average.
8. Jesus Santana, Jackson State, third baseman. As a freshman in 2015, the Puerto Rico native led the SWAC in homers with 12 while batting .283 with 48 RBIs. He was All-SWAC last year and is now showing up on some black college preseason All-America charts.
9. Collin Carroll, Alcorn State, first baseman. Carroll won’t sneak up on anyone in 2016. Collegiate Baseball has pegged the senior as the SWAC’s projected player of the year and a third-team All-America. Carroll, a transfer from Southwest Mississippi CC last year, batted .337 with 12 homers and 50 RBIs.

01 Oct

three of a kind

At some point during Instructional League in Florida, the Toronto Blue Jays could trot out an outfield of three Mississippians. (Since no box scores are available from this league, it may already have happened.) The Blue Jays have former Petal High star Anthony Alford, Stone County product D.J. Davis and Mississippi Valley State alum Kalik May in their Dunedin camp this fall. All three have multiple tools and, presumably, bright futures. Alford, a third-round pick in 2012 who gave up football last year, is the most advanced. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound right-handed hitter batted .298 with four homers, 35 RBIs and 27 steals at two levels of A-ball. He was anointed by Baseball America as the best player in the Toronto system. Not far behind is Davis, 6-1, 180, a left-handed hitter drafted in the first round in 2012. He had a strong second year at low Class A Lansing: .282, seven homers, 59 RBIs and 21 bags. He is rated the No. 12 prospect in the system by mlb.com; Alford is No. 3. May, 6-2, 205, was just drafted in June, in the 33rd round. More project than prospect at this time, the switch-hitter batted .261 with two homers, 12 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in the Gulf Coast League — not a bad start. As a senior at Valley in 2015, May hit .335 with four homers, 33 RBIs and 22 steals. He was a standout at East Central Community College in 2012-13 (where he played with Chicago White Sox prospect Tim Anderson). Obviously, the odds of Alford, Davis and May reaching the big leagues with the Blue Jays at the same time would have to be pretty long. But, hey, stuff like that happens in baseball. The three Alous in San Francisco. The Young, Frank and Stynes outfield in Cincinnati. … Note, also, that the Blue Jays have a fourth Mississippi-connected outfielder in their system but not in the IL: Alcorn State alum Earl Burl III, a 30th-round selection in June who batted .216 at short season Class A Vancouver.

28 Aug

field notes

Hunter Renfroe isn’t a one-trick pony – he can run and throw a little, too – but his power just keeps grabbing attention. The ex-Mississippi State star from Crystal Springs launched his fourth homer in nine games for Triple-A El Paso on Thursday. Renfroe, playing right field and hitting second for the Chihuahuas, is 12-for-36 with 11 RBIs and eight runs since San Diego promoted him to the Pacific Coast League on Aug. 19. … Southern Miss product Cody Carroll, drafted in the 22nd round in June by the New York Yankees, has a 1.82 ERA through 13 games for Pulaski in the rookie-level Appalachian League. Carroll notched the save, with three innings of work, in a division-clinching win earlier this week. He was 5-5 with a 3.08 ERA as a starter for USM last season. … Despite a recent slump, former Ole Miss standout Braxton Lee is batting .269 with 21 steals and 44 runs in 108 games for Tampa Bay’s Class A Port Charlotte team. The left-handed hitting center fielder, in his second pro season, got 12 bags in 51 games in 2014. … First-year pro Kalik May, a Mississippi Valley State alumnus, is holding his own in the Gulf Coast League, batting .257 with two homers, 12 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Toronto took May, a switch-hitting outfielder who goes 6 feet 2, 205 pounds, in the 33rd round. The Jays have three other Mississippi-produced outfielders playing at different levels in their system: Anthony Alford (Petal), D.J. Davis (Stone County) and Earl Burl III (Alcorn State).

27 Aug

campus news

Mississippi State alumnus Mitch Moreland recently made a $100,000 donation toward the new Dudy Noble Field, the MSU Bulldog Club announced today. In recognition of his generosity, the indoor batting cages at the facility will be named for him. Moreland, now with the Texas Rangers, starred at State from 2005-07, batting .332 for his career and helping the Bulldogs reach the College World Series in his final season in Starkville. Moreland’s donation will go toward the $40 million renovation plan for venerable Dudy Noble. … Delta State will dedicate a statue honoring former coach Dave “Boo” Ferriss and unveil its new-look stadium on Oct. 3. The statue, crafted by Kim Sessums of Brookhaven, is located in front of Ferriss Field, which has undergone renovations. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be part of the annual Statesmen Baseball Reunion activities. … Fall ball will begin soon, and Alcorn State players will go to work under new coach Brett Richardson, who recently replaced Barret Rey. Richardson was a longtime assistant at Florida A&M, where he also played. The Rattlers won the MEAC championship this past season. Rey won a SWAC championship with the Braves in 2011, his second year at the helm, but wasn’t able to repeat that success. The Braves were 16-40, 7-18 SWAC, in 2015. … It will be interesting to track the progress of the four players from MAIS juggernaut Jackson Prep who signed with SEC schools back in November. Parker Caracci is at Ole Miss, Noah Hughes and Jake Mangum at State and Gene Wood at Alabama. … Ole Miss’ pitching staff should get a big boost from the return of Brady Bramlett, who was drafted by Oakland in the 22nd round in June. He was 7-4 with a 3.74 ERA for the Rebels in 2015. … New Mississippi College coach Jeremy Haworth has bolstered the Choctaws’ roster since his arrival. Recent additions include outfielder Will Elliott (an Alabama transfer from Oxford), outfielder Parker Thurman (Mississippi Valley State/Pearl), infielder/outfielder Chance Whitten (East Central Community College) and pitchers Perry Turner (Jones County JC), Scott Szush (Southeastern Louisiana) and Matt Payne (Volunteer State CC).

24 Aug

touching the bases

Sikes Orvis, the power-hitting prospect out of Ole Miss, has belted two home runs in his last three games at rookie-level Great Falls in the Chicago White Sox’s system. He now has four homers for the season in 34 games and is batting .240. … Mississippi State product Chris Stratton, a first-round pick by San Francisco in 2012, has won three of his last five starts at Triple-A Sacramento. He is 3-4 with a 3.78 ERA. … Silento Sayles, the record-setting base stealer from Port Gibson High, recently earned a promotion from Cleveland, moving up to Class A Lake County in the Midwest League. Sayles is 2-for-8 with a steal in three games. … Jackson State alum and 2015 SWAC player of the year Melvin Rodriguez is batting .211 through 29 games at Auburn in the short season Class A New York-Penn League in Washington’s system. … West Lauderdale High product Blake Anderson, the first Mississippian drafted in 2014, is 3-for-11 since coming off the disabled list for Miami’s Batavia club in the NYPL. He is batting .226. … James McMahon, the 2015 Ferriss Trophy winner from Southern Miss, has a 3.60 ERA over his last 10 appearances, all in relief, at Grand Junction in the rookie Pioneer League. He has four holds and a 6.55 ERA on the season for the Colorado farm team. … JaCoby Jones, a former Mr. Baseball from Richton, has six homers in 21 games (76 at-bats) for Double-A Erie in the Detroit system. … Alcorn State alum Angel Rosa, in his third pro season, is getting a look at Triple-A in the Los Angeles Angels’ system. The infielder is 2-for-6 in two games for Salt Lake; he was hitting .252 in A-ball. … Auston Bousfield, one of the stars of Ole Miss’ strong 2014 team, is 1-for-18 at Double-A San Antonio since San Diego promoted him. Bousfield was batting .273 in A-ball.

04 Aug

the winding road

In his 11th pro season, and still without a day in the big leagues, Corey Wimberly shows no signs of slowing down. The former Alcorn State star is playing for Yucatan in the Mexican League and hitting .333 with a league-leading 85 runs and 29 stolen bases. He had a four-hit game on Sunday, his second four-hit game during a current seven-game streak during which he has 16 hits. The 31-year-old Wimberly, a switch-hitter, is playing center field and batting leadoff for Yucatan, which is in first place in the Triple-A caliber league. It would seem that a major league club could use a player with Wimberly’s skills; he’s a .294 career hitter with 336 steals. He was in the Minnesota system last year, the seventh MLB organization he has played for since Colorado drafted him in 2005. P.S. No longer playing in Mexico – though apparently not officially retired — is Hattiesburg’s John Lindsey, who began this season, his 21st in pro ball, with Tijuana. Lindsey, who got 12 MLB at-bats in 2010, was hitting .262 with three homers and 13 RBIs when he was released in late June. Lindsey, 38, homered in his final game for Tijuana on June 26. If that were indeed the last game of his career, it would be fitting that he went out with a blast. The big slugger has 331 homers all told in pro ball; he hit No. 1 in 1995 in rookie ball for the Rockies.