Tag Archives: allmississippibaseball

08 Jun

cashing in

Since being recalled from the minors by Miami on May 27, ex-Ole Miss star Nick Fortes has gotten just 15 at-bats. Maybe the Marlins should get him some more. Fortes went 2-for-2 with a homer, four RBIs, three runs and two walks in Miami’s 12-2 win over Washington on Tuesday night. The 25-year-old catcher, who made his MLB debut last year, is 7-for-15 this season and is batting .348 with six homers and 13 RBIs in 19 career games. “Just trying to hit a hard line drive,” he told mlb.com about his approach at the plate. Marlins manager Don Mattingly also praised Fortes’ work with rookie pitcher Edward Cabrera, now 2-0 with Fortes behind the plate this year. A fourth-round pick out of Ole Miss in 2018, Fortes rose steadily through the minors, putting up good if not great numbers. He got an extended look last September when the Marlins were evaluating for 2022. They traded for Jacob Stallings to be their regular catcher this year, and Fortes was sent to the minors in spring training. He’s back now — and bidding to stick around. P.S. Mississippi State product Dakota Hudson recorded his second straight strong start (two hits, one run in seven innings) for St. Louis but got no-decision in a game the Cardinals lost to Tampa Bay. Hudson is 4-2, 2.76 ERA, in 11 starts. … Former Southern Miss standout Kirk McCarty, in his second big league appearance, yielded three homers in four innings and took a loss for Cleveland against Texas. Ex-State star Nate Lowe hit one of the homers, his sixth of 2022. … Former MSU slugger Hunter Renfroe returned to Milwaukee’s lineup from the injured list and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in a loss against Philadelphia. Biloxi Shuckers alum Josh Hader, who had not allowed a run this season, blew a save for the first time in almost a year when Alec Bohm hit a two-run homer in the ninth.

07 Jun

way back when

On this date in 1946 — in the gap between Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani — Claude Passeau enjoyed a double-duty performance of note. The Waynesboro native, pitching for the Chicago Cubs, shut out Brooklyn for nine innings and, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth at Wrigley Field, hit a two-run homer to win the game. Passeau, who went to high school in Moss Point and college at Millsaps, was 37 and in his next-to-last season in ’46, and he made the All-Star Game that year for the fifth time. Over his 13 seasons in the majors, Passeau went 162-150 with a 3.32 ERA and won a World Series game in 1945. His career win total is third-most by a Mississippi-born major leaguer. He also batted .192 with 15 career homers. P.S. Transaction watch: Mississippi State product Hunter Renfroe is expected to come off the injured list and play for Milwaukee tonight against Philadelphia. … Ex-Southern Miss standout Kirk McCarty was recalled from the minors for Cleveland’s doubleheader today and is penciled in as the Game 2 starter against Texas. … Meridian Community College alum Corey Dickerson has landed on the IL for St. Louis with a calf injury. … Former Ole Miss star Tyler Keenan, a 2020 draftee, was traded from Seattle to Toronto for big leaguer Ryan Borucki and is now playing at High-Class A Vancouver. … Former MSU star Jordan Westburg, also a 2020 draftee, has been promoted from Double-A to Triple-A in the Baltimore chain. … Ex-MSU standout Brent Rooker, recalled from Triple-A last week, was optioned back to the minors without getting an at-bat for San Diego.

07 Jun

power play

Before the hype gets cranked up for the super-duper Super Regional set for Hattiesburg this weekend, let’s pause for a moment to appreciate the jaw-dropping performance by Ole Miss’ Tim Elko. The senior first baseman batted .778 and slugged 2.111 — yes, 2.111 — in three games in the Coral Gables Regional. His batting line from Monday’s game: 4-6-4-5. (Plus two walks.) You won’t see something like that very often. Elko belted three home runs in the Rebels’ 22-6 demolition of Arizona in the regional title game, a first in his five-year career and a first for any UM player in an NCAA Tournament game. He also broke the school record for homers in a season with 22. Brian Pettway hit 21 in 2005. With 44 career bombs, Elko is within sight of the Rebels’ career record of 48, set by Kyle Gordon in the 1980s. Elko’s place in Ole Miss lore was secured last season when he made that inspired return from an ACL injury and helped the Rebels reach a Super Regional. His performance in Coral Gables was icing on the cake — and, of course, he’s not done yet. We’ve been fortunate in the Magnolia State to witness some amazing slugging exploits in the last few years. Delta State’s Zack Shannon set the state all-classification record with 31 homers in 2018. He hit 50, second only to Dee Haynes’ 69 on the school’s career list, in his two years in Cleveland. In 2019, Matt Wallner hit 23 bombs for Southern Miss, matching the school record. He hit 58 in his three years in Hattiesburg, setting a school mark. (He’s now mashing homers in Double-A ball for Minnesota.) Current USM slugger Christopher Sargent — who batted .524 in five games in the Hattiesburg Regional — has rather quietly cranked out 21 homers this season with at least two more games to play in the Super Regional. … With Mississippi State, the defending national champ, sitting at home this postseason, no Bulldogs are mounting any assault on the school’s single-season home run record of 29, shared by Rafael Palmeiro and Bruce Castoria.

06 Jun

momentum

You know the old saying in baseball: Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher. The focus today is on who might take the mound for Southern Miss and Ole Miss, both hoping to catch a wave. USM got clutch pitching efforts from Hunter Riggins, Tyler Stuart and Justin Storm in winning a pair of elimination games Sunday in the Hattiesburg Regional. The Golden Eagles now face a winner-take-all game against LSU at 3 p.m. at Taylor Park. Can coach Scott Berry get some quality innings from Tanner Hall, the C-USA pitcher of the year who worked eight innings on Friday? The bullpen is stretched thin. Five pitchers threw on Saturday night. It took six to get through Sunday. Ole Miss is in a much more enviable position in the Coral Gables Regional. The Rebels are 2-0 going into today’s championship round against Arizona, a team they beat on Saturday. The Wildcats had to win twice on Sunday to stay alive; they’ll have to do that again today. UM has used five different pitchers — Brandon Johnson closed both games — and yielded just five runs while punching out 35. Derek Diamond, who has had a disappointing season (4-4, 6.57 ERA), could get a shot at redemption today. Arizona roughed up Diamond in their Super Regional meeting in 2021. Outs are hard to get when the heat rises in tournament baseball, but if USM and Ole Miss can summon some more clutch pitching, we’ll get that dream matchup in the Super Regional next weekend.

04 Jun

bunch of stuff

There is a lot to digest from a not-so-sleepy-or-dusty third of June: In the Hattiesburg Regional, the anticipated Southern Miss-LSU winners bracket game will take place tonight (6 p.m.) after the Golden Eagles blanked Army 2-0 and the Tigers rallied past Kennesaw State 14-11 on Friday. The Pete (Taylor Park) will be packed. … At Coral Cables, Fla., Ole Miss’ regional opener against Arizona was pushed back to today because of rain. … In Enid, Okla., Pearl River Community College pummeled Madison (Wisc.) College 19-1 to set up a decisive Game 3 in the NJCAA Division II World Series. No. 1-ranked PRCC rode the bats of Alex Perry (home run, three RBIs) and D.K. Donaldson (three RBIs) and the pitching of Dakota Lee (six innings, one run). … At Pearl’s Trustmark Park, the Mississippi Braves’ Jalen Miller reportedly hit a home run over the batter’s eye in center field — no mean feat — en route to an extra-inning win against Montgomery in the Double-A Southern League. … In Appleton, Wisc., ex-Hattiesburg High standout Joe Gray Jr. had a 4-for-5 game, including his seventh homer and ninth stolen base, for High-A Wisconsin. Gray, a highly rated Milwaukee prospect, is batting .202 in his second stint at that level. … At Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Corey Dickerson, the former Meridian CC star from McComb, hit his first two homers of the season for St. Louis in a blowout win against the Cubs. Dickerson, who chose to wear Mark McGwire’s No. 25 in his first year with the Cardinals, has 130 career homers and has hit as many as 27 in a season. He is batting .194 in sporadic playing time. … Ex-Mississippi State standout Brent Rooker has been called up by San Diego. The former Minnesota Twins outfielder, traded this spring, was hitting .242 with nine homers at Triple-A El Paso. … Ole Miss product Lance Lynn, on the injured list all year for the Chicago White Sox, made his second rehab start for Triple-A Charlotte and yielded three runs in four innings. … Colorado announced that left-hander Ryan Rolison, another former UM star, will undergo shoulder surgery and miss the remainder of the season. A highly rated prospect, Rolison has been on the IL all year. … And last but certainly not least, Jackson Academy outfielder Dakota Jordan received the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year award. The MSU signee, who aims to play football and baseball, hit .524 with 16 homers this season. He is ranked as the No. 176 MLB draft prospect by MLB Pipeline.

03 Jun

in a word

If you had to assess Southern Miss with one word, it would be: pitching. The Golden Eagles have a deep and talented stable of arms that enters the Hattiesburg Regional with a 3.04 ERA, among the nation’s best. Tanner Hall was C-USA pitcher of the year and the state’s Ferriss Trophy winner. For LSU, the 2-seed in the regional, the word would be power. The Tigers raked 107 home runs, led by the remarkable Dylan Crews with 21. Army, the 4-seed, is mostly about speed. The Black Knights swiped 101 bases this season, led by Hunter Meade with 31. Kennesaw State is a curiosity. The Owls’ pitching is highly suspect; they don’t hit a ton of homers or steal a bunch of bases. But KSU does have Josh Hatcher, an All-America candidate who hit .386 with 13 homers, 55 RBIs and 60 runs and twice hit for the cycle in 2022. (Unfortunately, he doesn’t pitch.) USM (43-16, 22-10 at Taylor Park) does enough with the bats (.283, 77 homers) that it should prevail in the regional and make the Super Regional. But LSU, which didn’t have a typical season (38-20, 17-13 SEC), certainly poses a threat. In a published poll, four Gannett “experts” split between USM and LSU as the regional favorite. (All four picked Miami to come out of the Coral Gables Regional, where Ole Miss is playing. That regional champion plays the Hattiesburg champ in the Super Regional.)

02 Jun

stalking a title

Pearl River Community College is two wins away from a place only one Mississippi junior college has ever been before: the national championship. The No. 1-ranked Wildcats beat Florida State College-Jacksonville 13-11 Wednesday night to advance to the best-of-3 finals in the NJCAA Division II World Series. PRCC (43-10) takes on 2-seed Madison (Wisc.) College in Game 1 tonight at Enid, Okla. Jones College is the only state juco to win a national title, bringing home the D-II crown in 2016. (Jones also has a runner-up finish on its ledger, as do Meridian, Northwest and Hinds.) PRCC, which has scored 40 runs in its three wins in Enid, put up a seven-run seventh inning for a 13-8 lead against FSCJ and then held off a late rally. D.K. Donaldson hit a big home run for the Wildcats, and Alex Perry went 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Madison College, making its fourth straight World Series appearance, is 48-9 after putting away Mercer County 3-1 on Wednesday. The WolfPack returned a large contingent of players from last year’s club, including Gunnar Doyle (a .381 hitter with 51 RBIs) and ace Jeff Thielke (8-2, 1.28), whom PRCC will certainly see in the title series.

01 Jun

dog day afternoon

In St. Louis, the day belonged to Dakota Hudson. In Cleveland, it was Konnor Pilkington’s time to shine. The former Mississippi State pitchers were brilliant on the bump Wednesday, Hudson beating San Diego with one of his best starts of the year and Pilkington shutting down Kansas City for his first big league win. Hudson (4-2) went seven innings for the Cardinals, allowing one run on four hits in a 5-2 win. At one point, the right-hander retired 18 in a row. “Exactly what we needed,” Cards manager Oliver Marmol told The Associated Press. Pilkington, a rookie making just his sixth appearance, went five innings, allowed no runs on five hits and fanned eight, including the first four batters of the game. The lefty has claimed a spot, at least temporarily, in the Guardians’ rotation. “My stuff plays,” he told the AP after the 4-0 game — and after receiving a beer shower from his teammates. P.S. Former Ole Miss pitcher and big league manager Mickey Callaway, suspended by MLB in May 2021 after allegations of sexual harassment against female media members, has been fired as manager of Acereros de Monclova in the Mexican League. The team was 16-17. Callaway managed the New York Mets in 2018-19 and was fired after posting a 163-161 record. He was working as the Los Angeles Angels’ pitching coach last year when he was handed a suspension that extended through 2022.

01 Jun

eye on …

Mississippi baseball aficionados might want to devote some attention to the happenings this week at Riverfront Stadium in Wichita, where the Wind Surge is hosting Frisco in a matchup of division leaders in the Texas League. Three up-and-coming players out of Magnolia State schools are on the rosters. Wichita, Minnesota’s Double-A affiliate, features Southern Miss alum Matt Wallner, who is batting .257 with nine homers and 36 RBIs. Minnesota’s No. 10 prospect, the lefty-hitting right fielder batted .315 in May. Playing for the visiting RoughRiders, a Texas farm club, is ex-Mississippi State star Justin Foscue and Mississippi College product Blaine Crim. Foscue, the Rangers’ No. 5 prospect, plays second base and is hitting .288 with three homers. Crim, Frisco’s first baseman, is at .314 with 10 homers and 34 RBIs. Somehow, Crim is not among the Rangers’ Top 30 prospects (per MLB Pipeline) despite a career .314 average in the minors and a 2021-22 Puerto Rican (Roberto Clemente) Winter League batting title. … The opener of the six-game series was suspended in the second inning by weather Tuesday night, so the clubs will play two games tonight. Jack Leiter, the No. 2 overall pick out of Vanderbilt last summer, is expected to start one of the two for the RoughRiders.

31 May

encore issues

The breakthrough performance in 2021 was so good, the encore for Austin Riley this season was certain to be a challenge. The former DeSoto Central High star, not even assured of a starting job entering last season, became an All-MLB performer at third base for Atlanta, batting .303 with 33 home runs and 107 RBIs while helping the Braves win the World Series. Riley’s 2022 season has been a bit clunky. He’s got 12 homers, ranking among the National League leaders. But he’s hitting only .250, and it has taken a hot streak (.357 in his last seven games) to reach that mark. With 24 RBIs, he is not on a 100-RBI pace. He is striking out in 31 percent of his at-bats, up from 2021 (28 percent). Riley’s season is a microcosm of the Braves’. The defending champs are floundering under .500 (23-26), far off the New York Mets’ pace in the NL East. The Braves lead MLB in strikeouts with 479; that’s more than nine per game. They are fifth in homers but just 17th in runs. There are other issues — defense has been spotty and the pitchers walk too many batters — but the inconsistency with the bats is most telling. In a 6-2 loss Monday at Arizona — in a hitter’s venue — the Braves struck out eight times and left eight runners on base, going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. In a nutshell, strikeouts are killing them. Four regulars, Riley among them, rank in the top 10 in the NL in punchouts. The good news is, there is plenty of time left in the season. A late run, a la 2021, is possible. But something in the Braves’ approach needs to change. P.S. No. 1 Pearl River Community College is 2-0 in the NJCAA Division II World Series, having outscored its opponents in Enid, Okla., by a 27-10 count.