Tag Archives: Alcorn State

17 May

hitting up a storm

The recently released ESPN-produced documentary “Thunder and Lightning” shines a well-deserved spotlight on Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro, heroes of Mississippi State’s 1985 College World Series team. They are generally regarded as two of the best college players the state has ever produced. Both are in the National College Baseball Hall of Fame, and both were All-Stars in the big leagues. Clark lit up opposing pitchers for a .420 mark at State in 1985, when he won the Golden Spikes award. Palmeiro’s best year in Starkville was 1984, when he batted .415 (with 29 homers and 94 RBIs to win the SEC Triple Crown). He “slumped” to .300 in ’85. Just for the record, the record for highest average by a Division I player in Mississippi belongs to Greg Daniels, a one-man storm who batted .545 in 1983 for Alcorn State. Daniels was 55-for-101. He played only 32 games, but .545 is still quite a feat. That’s the second-highest average ever recorded by a D-I player, according to the NCAA record book. New Mexico’s Keith Hagman hit .551 in 63 games in 1980. The fifth-highest average belongs to Dave Magadan, who hit .525 at Alabama in 1983, two years before he starred for the Jackson Mets. P.S. Today is the great James “Cool Papa” Bell’s birthday. The late Hall of Famer, a Negro Leagues star known for his blazing speed, was born in Starkville in 1903. He died in 1991.

15 May

one, meet two

This should be good. Hinds Community College and LSU-Eunice, ranked 1-2 in the NJCAA Division II poll, will meet tonight in a winner’s bracket game in the Region 23 Tournament at Eunice, La. The Eagles (42-5) clubbed East Mississippi 12-1 on Thursday, and LSU-E (42-9) routed Northwest Mississippi 12-0. Hinds and LSU-E did not meet in the regular season, though the Bengals did play a couple of MACJC schools. Randy Bell got the win against EMCC and moved to 12-0 for Hinds. Jonathan Washam went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs, and Tyler Cox belted a two-run homer. LSU-E was powered by Steven Sensley, who hit his 18th homer, and Madison Nickens, who had three hits. The Bengals threw ace Mitch Sewald (12-1) on Thursday, so the Eagles might face lefty Ben Braymer, who has 113 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings. P.S. Jim Page notched his 700th win as Millsaps coach on Thursday when the Majors held off Whitworth 7-6 in the first round of the NCAA Division III West Regional. Annon Etheridge and Andy Page had two RBIs apiece for Millsaps. The Majors’ next game is today against old rival Trinity (Texas) in the weather-plagued tournament at Tyler, Texas. … Omar Johnson got win No. 300 at Jackson State when the Tigers beat Prairie View 10-1 in a SWAC Tournament elimination game. Jevon Jacobs threw a six-hitter with 13 strikeouts. The Tigers play Alabama State today. Alcorn State also stayed alive on Thursday, beating Alabama A&M 13-3 behind Cedric Walker’s complete game. The Braves earned a rematch with Texas Southern, which beat them on Wednesday. … Northeast Mississippi CC announced that assistant Richy Harrelson will replace Kent Farris as head coach. Farris is now the school’s athletic director. Harrelson was a legendary prep player at Iuka and Tishomingo County before going on to star at Ole Miss. He also worked as an assistant at Southern Miss.

12 May

crunch time (again)

While undefeated Oxford High is the highest ranked Mississippi school in two different national polls, Northwest Rankin definitely rates attention. The Cougars, also ranked in the Top 25 by both MaxPreps and Baseball America, are 29-2 headed into the MHSAA Class 6A North championship series against DeSoto Central. The Cougars, coached by Jeff McClaskey, feature Shelton Wallace (.464, 25 steals), Ian Ladner (.409, five homers, 38 RBIs) and Hunter Smith (9-0, 0.96 ERA). They are 4-0 in the postseason and have won eight straight overall. Both of NWR’s losses were by one run. DeSoto Central (24-9) is led by the highly touted Austin Riley, hitting .456 with 11 homers and 6-2 with a 2.75 ERA as a pitcher. Keegan James hits .336, and Dallas Woolfolk is 7-1, 2.07. In the 6A South finals, defending state champion Oak Grove (24-7) meets Biloxi (21-11) in the best-of-3. The Warriors have the 1-2 pitching punch of Drew Boyd (9-0, 1.04) and J.C. Keys (8-0, 1.01) and a hot hitter in Matthew Guidry (.426). Biloxi counters with the arms of Austin Creel (7-1, 2.01) and Blake Johnson (7-2, 2.00) and the bat of Darrell Montiforte (.296, three homers). In 5A, Oxford puts its unblemished mark (32-0) on the line against New Hope in the North finals. P.S. The SWAC Tournament begins Wednesday in New Orleans. Jackson State, the two-time defending champion, meets Southern University and Alcorn State plays West Division winner Texas Southern in the opening round of the eight-team event. The tourney winner earns an automatic NCAA Tournament bid (though Southern is ineligible). With probable league MVP Melvin Rodriguez (.444, seven homers, 72 RBIs) in its lineup, JSU certainly has a shot at a three-peat. … In Tyler, Texas, on Wednesday, third-seeded Millsaps faces 4-seed Whitworth in the first round of the NCAA Division III West Regional. … At Eunice, La., on Thursday, Hinds Community College meets East Mississippi and Northwest Mississippi plays LSU-Eunice in the first round of the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament. No. 1-ranked Hinds is the defending region champ.

07 May

random numbers

0.84 — ERA (to go with six saves) for Ryan Kelly, the Mississippi Braves closer who was named the team’s pitcher of the month for April.
1 – Hit (in 1 at-bat) by Adam Frazier, the Mississippi State alumnus just back from a spring training injury and playing for Altoona (Pittsburgh) in the Eastern League.
1.08 – ERA (through three starts) for Matt Maloney, the ex-Ole Miss star now with Sugarland in the independent Atlantic League.
3 – Triples by D.J. Davis, the Stone County High alum now playing for Lansing (Toronto) in the Midwest League.
3 – Home runs by Brandon Jones, the former Mississippi Braves standout now with York in the Atlantic League.
6 – Ranking for unbeaten Oxford High in Baseball America’s latest prep Top 25. (Northwest Rankin is 13th.)
7 – Stolen bases by Auston Bousfield, the Ole Miss product now with Lake Elsinore (San Diego) in the California League.
9 – Hits (all singles, in 41 at-bats) for Fred Lewis, the Mississippi Gulf Coast CC alum playing for Southern Maryland in the Atlantic League.
11 – Stolen bases by Corey Wimberly, the ex-Alcorn State star now playing for Yucatan in the Mexican League.
11 – Saves by Roy Corcoran, the former Gulf Coast CC standout with Aguascalientes in the Mexican League.
16 – Strikeouts (in 12 1/3 innings) by Jacob Lindgren, the ex-State standout now pitching for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (New York Yankees) in the International League.
18 – RBIs for JaCoby Jones, the Richton High product now with Bradenton (Pittsburgh) in the Florida State League.
7,920 – Average announced attendance (second in the nation) this year at Oxford-University Stadium, where Ole Miss hosts Mississippi State in a three-game SEC series that starts tonight.

02 May

meanwhile …

While the focus of the sports world this weekend will be elsewhere — in places like Las Vegas, Louisville, Ky., Chicago and Talledega, Ala. — there will be some relatively significant stuff going on in Jackson and Lorman, specifically at Braddy Field and Rat McGowan Stadium. Jackson State, third in the SWAC East with a 14-7 mark, hosts first-place Alabama State (16-5) in the final regular season conference series. The Tigers, led by Melvin Rodriguez (.448, 68 RBIs) could steal the crown (with some help) in this three-game set. JSU’s pitching hasn’t been so great (6.36 ERA), but the club has found compensation in a .310 team batting average. Meanwhile, Mississippi Valley State will visit Alcorn State in a battle for fourth place in the East Division — and a SWAC Tournament berth. Neither the Delta Devils (9.21) nor the Braves (8.82) scare you much with their arms, but they trot out some hitters of note. Valley’s Brady McBride is batting .352, and Alcorn’s Scotty Peavey is at .345. The Braves’ Collin Carroll has bashed 10 homers, tied for the SWAC lead with JSU’s Jesus Santana. P.S. William Carey was bounced from the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday and joins Belhaven, which went 2-and-out, on the sidelines. The Crusaders are 30-23 and the Blazers 33-25, but neither is going to get an NAIA postseason bid.

26 Mar

trending

Delta State is moving in the right direction heading into a Gulf South Conference series against West Georgia this weekend in Cleveland. The Statesmen have won six of eight to climb to 7-10 overall. They are 6-5 in the GSC after taking two of three from NCAA Division II No. 6 Alabama-Huntsville last weekend. Jacob Swinney (8-for-13, five RBIs) and Jonathan Moody (10-strikeout complete game) were named GSC players of the week after their performance in the UAH series. Swinney, a Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College transfer out of St. Martin, is hitting .370, second on the club to Brandon Cummins (.382). … Also riding a wave into the weekend is William Carey, which took two of three games from NAIA No. 2 Faulkner at Montgomery, Ala., last weekend. The Crusaders, who started slow this season, are 17-15 and 9-6 in the Southern States Athletic Conference with Blue Mountain coming to Hattiesburg for a three-game league series. In the rubber game of the Faulkner series — a 9-5 win against Eagles ace Kurt Lipscomb — Tyler Richardson scored four runs and Alex Buechler and Michael Wells drove in three apiece. Even bigger: Larson Barkum delivered seven strong innings in relief to get the win. … Melvin Rodriguez, a senior from Puerto Rico, has been a driving force for Jackson State, which has won three straight to move to 15-8. Rodriguez went 3-for-5 with three RBIs in a win over Southern University at Braddy Field on Tuesday night. For the year, the left-handed hitting second baseman is batting .444 with nine doubles, a homer and 30 RBIs. … Millsaps, 15-4 and on a seven-game win streak, hosts Southern Athletic Association rival Centre this weekend. … Either Alcorn State or Mississippi Valley State, both struggling, will get a lift when the rivals play a SWAC series in Itta Bena this weekend. The Braves, 7-19 and 2-6 in the league, took a 10-game losing streak into a Wednesday twinbill with Tougaloo, which the Braves swept. The losing skid started with 13-0 and 21-0 losses at Oklahoma State in early March. The Delta Devils, under first-year coach Aaron Stevens, are 4-14-1, 1-7 with six consecutive losses, including a couple to JSU. P.S. The outcome was predictable when East Mississippi CC met Coahoma on Wednesday in Scooba — the first-place Lions took two from the last-place Tigers — but there is a wow factor in the details. EMCC, now 10-0 in the MACJC, won by scores of 31-2 and 13-2. The Lions scored 14 runs in the first inning of the first game. Drew Standland drove in six runs in the opener, and Kyle Liberto and David Pimentel picked up seven RBIs apiece on the day. Coahoma dropped to 1-19, 1-9.

28 Feb

swing thoughts

“Good field, no hit” was not a label that applied to Zack Cozart prior to 2014. And it’s one he is eager to shed. The Ole Miss product, a top-drawer defensive shortstop for Cincinnati, saw his offensive numbers slide last year to .221 with four homers and 38 RBIs. He was a .250 hitter with 27 homers combined in 2012-13. Cozart reportedly noticed a “glitch” in his swing while reviewing video in the off-season and believes it’s an easy fix. And there’s this: He may be pushed this spring by newly acquired Eugenio Suarez, who batted .242 with four homers and 23 RBIs in 85 games with Detroit last year and has a .271 career minor league average. P.S. Odds and ends: Corey Wimberly, the former Alcorn State star and 10-year minor leaguer, will play in Mexico this season, according to an milb.com story. Wimberly, 31, has played for seven different organizations without reaching The Show. “I’ve only enjoyed it,” he said of the ride. “I haven’t gotten to that bitter point.” … Former Hinds Community College star Beau Wallace signed a minor league deal with Milwaukee for this season after not playing in 2014. Drafted as a third baseman by Pittsburgh in 2013, Wallace is now listed as a catcher. … Starkville native Julio Borbon re-signed a minor league deal with Baltimore; he put up good numbers for the Orioles in Triple-A last year but never got a call-up.

21 Feb

ready or not

Alcorn State will get some national exposure today when the Braves play Grambling State in the MLB Urban Invitational to be televised live by MLB Network starting at 2 p.m. The Braves lost their opener in the four-team event 5-0 to New Orleans on Friday at UNO’s Maestri Field. Alcorn is 1-4; the one win, against Savannah State, was coach Barret Rey’s 100th in his six seasons in Lorman. The Braves won the SWAC Tournament and went to an NCAA regional in 2011 but have scuffled of late. They finished 11-42 last season. They managed just three hits and committed three errors in the loss to UNO. Maybe they’ll rise to the occasion of playing on national TV. One player to watch: Collin Carroll, a junior transfer from Ridgeland via Southwest Mississippi Community College who is batting .400 with a homer and three RBIs. He is the lone Alcorn batter hitting over .250. P.S. The Urban Invitational is a Major League Baseball initiative aimed at growing the game among inner-city youth and providing exposure for historically black colleges.

07 Jan

heating up

In the winter leagues, January is akin to October, which means it’s postseason time. In the first round of the Mexican Pacific League playoffs, a pair of Mississippians are on opposing sides in the Obregon-Mexicali series. On Tuesday, Hattiesburg native John Lindsey belted a two-run homer — one of his four hits — in the first inning to propel Mexicali to a 6-4 victory that staved off elimination. Alcorn State product Corey Wimberly went 3-for-5 with an RBI for Obregon, which leads the best-of-7 series 3-2. Daniel Castro, the Mississippi Braves’ shortstop last season, had a hit for Obregon, as well. Neither Wimberly, who played in the Minnesota system in 2014, nor the 37-year-old Lindsey, who played in Mexico, is under contract with an MLB organization for 2015.

18 Dec

shopping

From all indications, Corey Wimberly has still got game. The former Alcorn State standout, 31 and a veteran of 10 minor league campaigns, is batting .291 with 17 stolen bases for Obregon in the Mexican Pacific League. He went 3-for-3 with a home run, a sac and three RBIs on Tuesday and 1-for-4 with a run on Wednesday. What Wimberly doesn’t have is a team for 2015. He’s a 5-foot-8 switch-hitter with speed who can play the outfield or second base. And he’s hungry, still hoping for that first taste of the big leagues. Surely, he fits someone’s shopping list. … Also still looking for a place to play: Paul Maholm (Mississippi State alum), Phil Irwin (Ole Miss), Justin Henry (Ole Miss) and Matt Tolbert (Ole Miss). Veteran left-hander Maholm is coming off a poor year (with the Los Angeles Dodgers) and an injury. Irwin made one appearance for Texas and was released in August. Henry, an infielder/outfielder, was in Triple-A with Boston in 2014, and Tolbert, an infielder with big-league time, was also in the minors (with Philadelphia) recovering from injury.