Belhaven University Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

24 Jun

ratings game

With the college season finally done and a national champion crowned in NCAA Division I, it’s time to close the book on the Magnolia State season, another very good one. Ranking the teams on the 80-20 scouting scale — with 50 being average, 80 exceptional and 20 the pits — there are three teams that probably deserve a 65 rating.
Start with Belhaven University, which reached a Super Regional in NCAA D-III, the only state school to get that far. The Blazers went 34-15, 13-5 (second in the CCS), won the Maloney Trophy (over Millsaps), reached the finals of their conference tournament and won a regional on the road in their first postseason appearance in 14 years.
Give a 65 also to Southern Miss and Ole Miss, ranked No. 21 and No. 19, respectively, in Baseball America’s final poll. The Golden Eagles won 47 games, finished second in the Sun Belt, reached the finals of the SBC Tournament (losing to Coastal Carolina) and reached the finals of the regional they hosted. They also produced the SBC player of the year (Nick Monistere) and two first-team All-America selections (Monistere and J.B. Middleton, the Ferriss Trophy winner). Ole Miss won 43 games (16-14 SEC), won the Governor’s Cup, reached the final of the SEC Tournament (beating national champ LSU along the way), earned a No. 10 national seed and made the finals of their regional. And they were unranked at the start of the season.
At the 55 level, there are four. William Carey University won 38 games (17 on the road), won the SSAC title (24-6) and reached the finals of the league tournament. However, the Crusaders went 2-and-out in the NAIA Opening Round tourney they hosted. Delta State went 33-20, won the Gulf South regular season championship and went to an NCAA D-II regional, where the Statesmen went 1-2. Mississippi College finished 35-23, swept Delta State in the regular season finale, went 2-2 in the GSC Tournament and upset the No. 1 team in the nation (Tampa) in their D-II regional before bowing out. Millsaps went 29-15, won the SAA regular season title and went to a D-III regional. The Majors also produced a D-III All-America pick: Bradley Pelle.
Coming in with a 50 is Mississippi State. The Bulldogs wound up 36-23, 15-15 SEC, and lost in the first round of the SEC Tournament. They got a regional bid but lost twice to host Florida State. They also endured a midseason coaching change and coaching search. Give interim coach Justin Parker some props for navigating that with a 10-4 record. Jackson State also rates a 50 after going 30-21, 16-12 SWAC, and putting together a clutch 10-game win streak late in the year. They bowed out in three games in the SWAC Tournament. Blue Mountain Christian also scores a 50; the Toppers finished 28-24, 16-14 SSAC (beating Carey two of three), and won a game in the league tourney. Give a 50 also to D-III MUW, which posted a 21-17 mark (with a win over Millsaps), went 14-4 in the SLIAC and made the league tournament finals.
Rust, of the NAIA-level HBCUAC, comes in at 40. Rust went 22-28 (13-17) and was 0-2 in the league tourney. A shade below at 35 are Tougaloo, Mississippi Valley State and Southeastern Baptist. Tougaloo was 14-32 and 9-20 HBCUAC. Valley finished 12-29, 7-23 SWAC. Southeastern Baptist, an NCCAA program in Laurel, went 20-19, beat Alcorn State and went 2-2 in a Christian college regional.
Alcorn State gets stuck with a 25. Under new coach Carlton Hardy, who got a late start with the program, the Braves finished 6-43, winning only one of 30 SWAC games (against Southern University). Hardy, who has a good track record, has a lot of work to do in Lorman.

16 May

back on right track

Andrew Gipson can’t say that he predicted his Belhaven University team would crash the postseason for the first time in 14 years. But after overhauling the roster from 2024, he liked what he saw when the current Blazers first hit the field.
“As we started fall ball, I felt like, “The pieces are here to make this work,'” the second-year coach said.
The pieces came together for a second-place finish in the Collegiate Conference of the South regular season race, a runner-up finish in the league tournament and a hard-to-come-by at-large invitation to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Belhaven plays Rhodes College today in the first round of the Webster (Mo.) Regional.
Meanwhile, just down Riverside Drive, Millsaps College is also celebrating a regional berth. For the first time in 10 years, Jim Page has the Majors back in the D-III postseason; they open today against region host East Texas Baptist in Marshall, Texas.
The Majors finished last in their conference in 2024. “It was heartbreaking game after heartbreaking game all of last year,” Page said. “I told the team afterward, people can call me crazy, but if we could just re-do this season, it’d be completely different.”
With virtually the same cast of players back for 2025, it was essentially a re-do. And it was completely different: The Majors won the league’s regular season title and earned the program’s ninth D-III regional bid in Page’s 37 seasons.
BLAST FROM PAST
Gipson was an assistant coach under Hill Denson in 2011, the last time the Belhaven made a postseason tournament. That’s when the school was in the NAIA. Gipson played under Denson during the “glory days” of Blazers baseball, when the team was routinely winning conference championships and making it to NAIA regionals. The Blazers, with Gipson on the team, made a trip to the NAIA World Series in 2010.
After the transition to non-scholarship NCAA Division III, the program endured a stale period. When Gipson took the head coaching job in the summer of 2023, coming from the staff at D-I Southeastern Louisiana, he told the administration, “I’ll get it back to where we were.”
His first team went 25-17. With 33 new players added to the roster, the current team is 31-13 and stands 19th in the D-III NPI rankings.
“This thing means a whole lot to me,” Gipson said. “Just to get it back in the manner we have … I’m proud of it. I’m proud of the guys.”
Eight Blazers were named either first- or second-team All-CCS.
Included is today’s starter, Kade May (7-1, 1.51 ERA), from Florence by way of Copiah-Lincoln Community College. “The kid can really pitch,” Gipson said.
Other arms of note are No. 2 starter Colton Sylvester (7-2, 4.37) and Lane Alack, who fills a crucial swing role.
Gipson said one key to the team’s surge early this season was the way shortstop Austin Canale and third baseman Dathan Cummings, both freshmen, solidified that side of the infield defense.
The big bat for the Blazers belongs to Tristan Pearson, from Biloxi via Jones College. He is hitting .401 (.554 on-base percentage) with 54 runs. “He and Hunter Harrell have been sparkplugs,” Gipson said, “and Blake McCarthy has been driving those guys in all year.”
The Blazers hit .321 as a team with a .439 OBP, testament to their gritty approach. They have 105 stolen bases. They hit just 16 homers — home-field Trustmark Park is a big yard — but pounded out 80 doubles.
“Big picture, I wanted us to be multiple,” Gipson said, “to be able to do whatever the particular scenario requires. We can play matchups, run different lineups out there depending on what type of pitcher we’re facing. Our ability to be multiple is probably our biggest strength.”
MAJORS ON A MISSION
The Millsaps’ players mantra this season, Page said, was “Get Some.” The veterans wanted to erase the memory of a ’24 season full of hard luck and disappointment. “It’s been a tremendous team,” Page said. “We’ve got older guys who’ve led the way and kept us on track. Going worst to first like we did, that’s a tribute to the kids. They played with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder.”
From 14-27, 4-17 Southern Athletic Association, in 2024, the Majors went 13-5 in the SAA and are 29-13, ranked 23rd in the NPI. (Two of the losses were to Belhaven in the Maloney Trophy Series.) Page won the league’s coach of the year honors, and Bradley Pelle and Nick Tarantino were honored as player and pitcher of the year.
“Almost everybody we’ve played has told us, ‘You guys are really good,'” Page said.
Tarantino, a senior who’ll go today vs. ETBU, is 10-1 with a 2.94 ERA, 85 strikeouts in 82 2/3 innings. Program veteran Wil Wood and Jackson Hood have also stood out on the bump. Pelle, a senior, is hitting .393 with 14 homers, 58 RBIs and 15 steals. “When the pitcher misses (location), he doesn’t miss,” Page said. Gray Berry, a vocal senior from West Point and East Mississippi CC, is at .407 with 64 runs. A new strength-and-conditioning program has noticeably improved the Majors’ defense, Page said.
Millsaps has built a strong tradition under Page, a recent Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame inductee with more than 850 career wins and multiple conference awards and titles. The team rose to the No. 1 ranking in D-III in 2009. In 2013, the Majors made a run to the D-III World Series. There had been a postseason drought since 2015, but that has now ended. And the current team has enough depth in arms, firepower in the lineup and playmakers on defense to make a tournament run, Page said.
“Eight teams get to the World Series, but it’s not always the top eight or the best eight,” he said. “It’s the eight that get through. We can be one of those.”

05 May

frozen ropes

Belhaven University gets a second crack at the Collegiate Conference of the South championship today when the Blazers play Huntingdon (Ala.) at Maryville, Tenn. The Blazers (31-12) were unbeaten in the tournament and riding an eight-game win streak before the Hawks took them down 2-1 Sunday night. NCAA Division III Belhaven last won a conference title in 2011 when the program was in the NAIA Southern States Athletic Conference. Hill Denson was the coach. The Blazers won five titles in the NAIA-level GCAC under Denson between 2004-10. … Mississippi College eliminated Delta State 9-3 in a losers bracket game in the GSC Tournament as Jordan Evans doubled, homered, drove in two runs and scored three. MC meets Valdosta State next in Oxford, Ala. … William Carey lost to Loyola (La.) 9-7 in the SSAC Tournament title game, but the Crusaders will move on to an NAIA Opening Round tourney starting May 12 in Hattiesburg. … Capping Super Bulldog Weekend with a 6-1 win Sunday for a sweep of Kentucky, Mississippi State moved to 4-0 under interim coach Justin Parker. MSU pitchers yielded just 15 runs over the four games against Memphis and the Wildcats under their (former) pitching coach. Next up for State: Ole Miss at Dudy Noble Field. Won’t that be fun? … Ole Miss salvaged a win in the series finale at Oklahoma, climbing to 13-11 in the SEC but falling to No. 18 in the new Baseball America poll. … Southern Miss, 35-13 with a nine-game win streak, swept Arkansas State in a three-game Sun Belt set in Hattiesburg, getting its fifth walk-off win on Friday on a Matthew Russo home run. … Jackson State has won 10 in a row, including a home sweep of Mississippi Valley State; the Tigers are 27-17, 14-10 SWAC. … In MLB, DeSoto Central High alum Austin Riley hit two homers totaling 842 feet to power Atlanta past the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Riley, with 161 career homers, now ranks ninth among Mississippians on the career list. (Technically, he was born in a Memphis hospital, but he grew up in Southaven.) … Colt Keith, ex-Biloxi High star, homered for the third time in five games — and third time all year — to help Detroit beat the Angels 13-1. … Kansas City set a franchise record with seven homers in a wild win over Baltimore; former MSU standout Hunter Renfroe (192 career bombs) was not among the Royals who went yard and has yet to homer this season in 75 at-bats. … Ole Miss product Nick Fortes came off the injured list Sunday for Miami and went 1-for-3 as the starting catcher.

16 Apr

all in a day

Somewhere in Hattiesburg today, Nick Monistere must be walking on air. Having been named the Sun Belt Conference’s player of the week earlier on Tuesday, Monistere went out and hit two home runs, including a game-clinching grand slam in the ninth inning, to lead Southern Miss to an 8-7 victory at Southeastern Louisiana. The junior second baseman out of Northwest Rankin High hit .438 with three homers and 10 RBIs last week, including a two-homer, seven-RBI game in a loss at Texas State on Sunday. His slam on Tuesday was his 12th homer of the season, tied for the team lead, and he now has 44 RBIs, which leads the club. The former prep All-American is batting .322. The Golden Eagles (25-12) trailed most of the game at SLU (29-8) and were down to their final out when they loaded the bases on two walks and a single to set the stage for Monistere’s dramatic blast. Colby Allen pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth for his seventh save. Still ranked in some national polls, USM will play Georgia State in an SBC series at Taylor Park this weekend. … In other Tuesday news, Belhaven University claimed the Maloney Trophy for the sixth straight time, beating NCAA Division III rival Millsaps College 10-5 at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Tristan Pearson went 3-for-3 with a walk, an HBP, two RBIs and a run for the Blazers (24-11), and John Wade got the last six outs without yielding a hit for his second save. Pearson, a senior from Biloxi via Jones College, leads BU in hitting at .405 and in OBP at .557.

25 Mar

into the arena

We like rivalries. Kong vs. Godzilla. Batman vs. Joker. Red Sox-Yankees. State-Ole Miss. Tonight brings a pair of intrastate clashes that don’t rise to the level of those conflicts but do have some spice. Some history. Belhaven University is at neighboring Millsaps College in the first game of the Maloney Trophy Series, and Mississippi College is at William Carey University in a rare inter-classification contest. … Belhaven leads its all-time series with fellow NCAA Division III member Millsaps by a 34-18 count (30-19, per MC’s website). The Blazers — once an NAIA team that had a great rivalry with Carey — have won four straight against Millsaps and 12 of the last 13. The Majors haven’t claimed the Maloney Trophy since 2018. Both appear to have solid teams this season. Belhaven is 14-8, Millsaps 16-6 (and 13-5 at Twenty Field). J.D. Weed has been a force at the plate for BU, batting .437 with three homers and 22 RBIs. Millsaps features the reigning SAA player of the week, Gray Berry, who went 11-for-21 last week and is at .407 with four homers and 26 RBIs for the year. Never know what kind of pitching you’ll see in a midweek game, but for what it’s worth: Belhaven has a 3.85 staff ERA, Millsaps a 5.12. … Carey, an NAIA power under coach Bobby Halford, leads its series with NCAA D-II MC 14-10, but the Choctaws have won the last three meetings and seven of eight. MC — a D-III school for a time and once part of the Maloney Trophy competition — is 21-9 overall and 8-4 on the road. Carey, ranked No. 8 in NAIA, is 26-4 with 12 straight wins and holds a 16-2 record at Wheeler Field in Hattiesburg. Korey Cooper tops MC’s batters with a .413 average; Bryan LaRocca (.383) has 10 homers and 40 RBIs. Carey’s leading hitter is Tyler Ducksworth at .382, while Josh Alexander has smacked 12 homers and Preston Ratliff 10. The Crusaders’ team ERA is 4.41, MC’s 4.37.

12 Mar

crooked numbers

Here’s a cool statistical oddity from Tuesday night on the Mississippi college scene: Delta State pounded Arkansas-Monticello 20-11 as three different players — Brett Burrell, Bo Rock and Brendan McCauley — got three hits with a home run and drove in five runs. The Statesmen, ranked 13th in the latest NCBWA NCAA Division II poll, improved to 17-5. … DSU put up an eight-run inning, but Jackson State did the Statesmen one better, scoring nine in the first inning of a 15-3 win against visiting Tougaloo. Arjun Huerta drove in three of the nine runs. JSU, heading into SWAC play this weekend, moved to 11-3 with a twinbill sweep of the Bulldogs. … Mississippi State (12-4), ranked No. 22 by Baseball America, beat Old Dominion 9-4 at Biloxi’s Keesler Federal Park. The Bulldogs hit six doubles, drew six walks and used six pitchers to overthrow the Monarchs. State will play Nicholls State in Biloxi today, then welcomes No. 9 Texas to Starkville to begin SEC play this weekend. … Mississippi College (14-8) won its seventh straight game, beating Ouachita Baptist 10-0 on the road. The Choctaws, who had a seven-run inning, were sparked by Korey Cooper, who drove in four runs, and got a combo four-hitter from five pitchers. … Belhaven University rallied from 4-1 down to beat MUW 5-4 at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Trey Fletterich drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth for the Blazers (10-5). MUW slipped to 3-9. … Josh Alexander doubled and tripled and knocked in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as William Carey University won at West Alabama 4-2. Carey, ranked 12th in NAIA, is 19-4.

09 Mar

worth noting

After 10 losses to open the season, Alcorn State finally put one in the win column on Saturday. It did not go down smoothly. The Braves blew a late 12-5 lead, as host Alabama A&M scored five in the eighth and two in the ninth to tie. Alcorn then scored three times in the 11th — on a passed ball, a sac fly and an error — to pull out a 15-12 victory. Jermel Ford, a senior from Hattiesburg, went 2-for-5 with four RBIs, two runs and four steals. Ford, who pitched and took the loss in the series opener, entered the game batting .278 with no RBIs in 18 at-bats. New coach Carlton Hardy’s team will go for win No. 2 today at Huntsville, Ala. Reminder: The Braves went 6-43 in 2024. … Mississippi College swept a three-game Gulf South series against Auburn-Montgomery, the Choctaws’ first league sweep since 2021. MC is 13-8, 8-4 GSC, with six straight wins overall. … Tristan Pearson went 9-for-13 with five RBIs and J.D. Weed was 7-for-15 with six RBIs as Belhaven University (9-5) took two of three from LeTourneau at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The Blazers are 6-2 at Trustmark, now their permanent home. … Rigoberto Hernandez, from Panama, went 8-for-13, including a four-hit, four-RBI game, and William Carey University (18-4, 10-2) got strong pitching from Matthew Davis, Luke Lycette, Conner Wilson and Bobby Magee in an SSAC series sweep over Point U. Carey is ranked 12th in NAIA. … Matthew Russo’s walk-off homer — his fourth bomb of the year — gave Southern Miss (10-5) a 2-1 win against visiting UNC-Wilmington. … Rust College’s five-game win streak ended Friday with a thud, 21-8 at Wiley College. Game 2 of the HBCUAC series on Saturday was suspended because of rain. … Pearl River Community College (19-4) has won seven straight, three by shutout, and allowed only nine runs all told during the streak. The Wildcats, fifth-ranked in NJCAA Division II, have a 2.27 staff ERA.

16 Feb

what’s that sound?

Before the big storms rolled through Mississippi on Saturday night, there was thunder emanating from Trustmark Park in Pearl. Belhaven University blasted Mount Saint Mary 27-3 and 12-0 in a doubleheader, completing a sweep of the series between NCAA Division III schools. The Blazers (3-0) banged out 36 hits, nine for extra bases, including two home runs at the spacious park. In the opener, Blake McCarthy homered and drove in six runs; Owen Abney went deep and knocked in three runs while scoring three times; and Hunter Harrell picked up four RBIs. In Game 2, Abney — a former Jackson Prep star — went 3-for-6 with four RBIs and Cole Fletcher drove in a pair of runs. The pitching victories went to Gunner Staten and Kade May. Mount Saint Mary, down from New York to start its season, is now 0-3 and coming off a couple of rough years (11-29 and 13-27). … At Twenty Field in Jackson, D-III Millsaps flashed some power, as well, getting homers from Gray Berry and Evan Scott in an 11-8 win against Edgewood (Wisc.). Berry and Scott drove in three runs apiece for the Majors (3-0). … Down in Hattiesburg, Southern Miss (3-0) put up 25 runs in a sweep of Lafayette (Pa.). Davis Gillespie homered and smacked a walk-off sac fly in a 7-6, 10-inning win in the opener, then homered again and drove in four more runs in an 18-4 romp in Game 2. Ozzie Pratt, Matthew Russo and Tucker Stockman had three hits each in an 18-hit attack in the nightcap. Pratt and Drey Barrett contributed homers Saturday for the Golden Eagles, who’ll wrap up the four-game series with the Leopards today at Taylor Park. P.S. Here’s a name to know: Pablo Roque, a Dominican Republic native and transfer from Miami (Ohio), is batting .524 with a homer, five doubles, a triple, nine RBIs, 11 runs and three steals for East Central Community College. The Warriors, ranked No. 2 in NJCAA Division II, are 6-0. … Ex-Mississippi State standout Nathaniel Lowe lost his arbitration case with the Washington Nationals and will have to “settle” for a $10.3 million contract for 2025. Lowe, who hit .265 with 16 homers for Texas last season, had asked for $11.1M.

18 Jan

familiar names

During his introductory teleconference on Tuesday, new Mississippi Mud Monsters manager Jay Pecci said he would “lean heavily” on players with local ties in constructing his roster for 2025. True to his word, two of the first three players the club has signed are Mississippi prep products: former DeSoto Central High star Kyle Booker and Lake Cormorant High alum Brayland Skinner, who played on Mississippi State’s College World Series winner in 2021. The signings were announced on the Frontier League website. The Mud Monsters, who will begin their inaugural season in the independent FL on May 8 at Trustmark Park in Pearl, also have signed Ryan Cash, a four-year indy league veteran. Outfielder Booker, 22, who played at Tennessee and Oral Roberts (.294 career average), spent the 2024 campaign in the Frontier League, batting .203 in 27 games. Skinner, 25, also an outfielder, played at State in 2021-22 and then at Memphis. He participated in the MLB Draft League in 2023 and played in indy ball last season, batting .298 with eight homers and 49 RBIs in 90 games. Infielder Cash, 27, played college ball at Oklahoma State and Oral Roberts. He hit .250 in 81 games in the FL last season, having previously played in two other indy leagues. P.S. The Mud Monsters and Belhaven University announced Friday that the Blazers will play their home games at Trustmark Park through the 2030 season. BU, an NCAA Division III school, has played some home games at the Pearl ballpark the past few seasons after their long tenure at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium ended.

05 Dec

to do list

Having chosen a nickname and a logo, released a schedule for 2025 and named a general manager, the Mississippi Mud Monsters’ next — and perhaps most-anticipated — task is putting together a team, starting with the hiring of a field manager. Andrew Seymour, who spent the previous six seasons as GM of the Palm Beach Cardinals, a Class A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, has taken the administrative reins as GM of the Mud Monsters, who’ll begin play in the independent Frontier League next May at Pearl’s Trustmark Park. Frontier League teams, of which there are 18, have been announcing player signees for 2025 since their season ended in mid-September. Banks Tolley, ex-St. Andrew’s High and Appalachian State star, signed with Schaumburg of the FL last month after playing briefly in the league last summer. It’s likely the Mud Monsters will attempt to recruit players with ties to baseball-rich Mississippi. (Incidentally, Tyreque Reed, a Houlka native who played at Itawamba Community College and several years in the minors, led the Frontier League in hitting this past season with a .341 average for Washington. He is not currently listed on the Wild Things’ roster. Ex-Belhaven All-America pitcher Brett Sanchez played for the FL’s Joliet team in 2024.) The Mud Monsters’ first home game is set for May 8 against the Florence Y’alls. P.S. Catching up with: Former William Carey star Patrick Lee, who played in the Detroit system in 2024, is in the Puerto Rican (Roberto Clemente) Winter League, batting .278 in seven games with five runs and four steals for San Juan. … Harrison Central High alum and ex-big leaguer Bobby Bradley has hit four homers in 19 games for Navojoa in the Mexican Pacific League. He has five homers and 20 RBIs all told in the MPL this winter after hitting 13 in the summer Mexican League. … Former Magee High standout Brennon McNair, a Kansas City prospect, is hitting .205 with two homers, five RBIs and three steals for Brisbane in the Australian Baseball League. … The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, now called the HBCU Athletic Conference, will not play its season-ending tournament at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium in 2025, ending a three-year run there. Tougaloo and Rust are members of the NAIA-level league.