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.

02 Mar

small talk

Mississippi College, which stopped a five-game losing streak with a win at Spring Hill on Tuesday, makes its first Gulf South Conference road trip this weekend, facing Shorter at Rome, Ga. It could be a telling series for the Choctaws, 7-7 overall and 1-5 GSC under new coach Jeremy Haworth. He said before the season that the pitching staff might be in for some growing pains, and that has held true. MC has a 5.73 ERA, though sophomore Jake Fraze (3-1, 3.77) and senior Tyler Scholl (0.77 in nine relief outings) have been stoppers. The defense, which Haworth was banking on for slick play, has endured some rough patches. The Choctaws have committed 27 errors with a cost of 20 unearned runs. Can’t afford that. The hitters have held up their end, with a .314 average. Logan Ferrell is off to hot start in his senior campaign, batting a team-best .418 with 19 runs. Hunter Bolin is hitting .393, Toler Robinson .348, Blaine Crim .333 and Caleb Upton .255 with 11 RBIs. MC lost 14 of its final 15 games last year under a lame-duck coach and limped to a 12-34 finish, 4-28 in the GSC in its return to the NCAA Division II conference. With a new coach in charge, the Choctaws figure to be more energized for the stretch run this spring. P.S. Delta State (9-5 and 8-4 at home) is 4-2 in the GSC and faces its first conference road series at Union this weekend. Will Robertson tops the Statesmen with a .491 average; Tre Hobbs is 4-0, 1.71. … Most of the other small colleges will open conference play this weekend. William Carey (11-5 with five straight wins) is at Martin Methodist in Southern States Athletic Conference play. The Crusaders have been led by Tyler Odom (.451) and J.D. Little (3-1, 2.08). … Blue Mountain (12-4) opens SSAC play at Mobile. … Belhaven, yet to play a home game at Smith-Wills Stadium, has won five of six after the 25-0 loss in its opener and hosts Sul Ross State in an American Southwest Conference series on Friday and Saturday. Adam Kowalczyk is hitting .385, and Tanner Cable is 2-0, 2.57. … Millsaps, off since Feb. 21, will take a sub-.500 mark into its first Southern Athletic Association series at Oglethorpe. Isaac Glenn was hot before the break, batting .406. … Tougaloo, after starting 0-16, has won its last two and will play its first Gulf Coast Athletic Conference series at Talladega.

22 Feb

the way it was

There were hot starts (see Ole Miss and Southern Miss, who registered Opening Weekend sweeps). And there were lukewarm starts (Mississippi State went 2-2, with both losses to Florida Atlantic, and Jackson State also split its four games). Alcorn State celebrated the first win of the Brett Richardson era (6-2 vs. Southern University on Sunday) but lost its other two games in the MLB Urban Invitational. On the colder end of the scale, Mississippi Valley State went 0-4 at Nicholls State. Among the small four-year schools, Blue Mountain, now 8-4, swept three games over the weekend from Tougaloo, which fell to 0-14 on the year. William Carey beat NAIA No. 21 Missouri Baptist two of three. Delta State took two of three from West Alabama to start its Gulf South Conference schedule. (Worth noting: Tre Hobbs, a lefty out of Mississippi Delta Community College, threw a six-hit shutout for the Statesmen and is now 3-0 with an 0.47 ERA.) Mississippi College won one of three GSC games against West Florida, and Millsaps went 1-2 in a tournament at Piedmont College. Which brings us to the most inspiring performance of the weekend. That has to go to Belhaven, which bounced back from a 25-0 loss in its season opener last Tuesday to sweep a road series at Louisiana College. Senior slugger Adam Kowalczyk led the way with two homers, five RBIs and six runs in the three games. BU is slated to play at Millsaps on Tuesday in the first game of the Maloney Trophy Series.

04 Nov

odds and ends

JaCoby Jones, the former Mr. Baseball from Richton, heads a group of Mississippi-connected players named to the Arizona Fall League’s Fall Stars Game. Jones, a shortstop in Detroit’s system currently batting .304 with two homers for Scottsdale, is on the East roster. The West includes 2015 Mississippi Braves starter Lucas Sims and two Biloxi Shuckers alums, outfielder Michael Reed and closer Damien Magnifico. Magnifico had a magnificent run with Milwaukee’s Double-A team last summer, moving into the bullpen and going 4-1 with 20 saves and a 1.17 ERA in 42 appearances. The Fall Stars Game is set for Saturday at 7 p.m. CST and will be televised by MLB Network. … Connor Lien, expected to contend for an outfield spot with the M-Braves next spring, is scuffling in the AFL. He is hitting .171 with a homer, 18 strikeouts and two walks in 41 at-bats for Peoria. Still, Baseball America’s Bill Ballew calls Lien “one of my top sleepers in the organization.” … Jackson native and Ole Miss alumnus Cody Satterwhite, a veteran minor league pitcher, is on the U.S. roster for the first Premier 12 international tournament set for Nov. 8-21. Pool play is in Taiwan and Japan with the semifinals and finals in Tokyo. According to Baseball America, Premier 12 is the top senior event for the International Baseball Federation, now re-branded as the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Satterwhite, currently a New York Mets farmhand, is joined on the American squad by former M-Braves star Tyler Pastornicky and Biloxi Shuckers alum Brett Phillips. … Tampa Bay released former Jackson State catcher Jovany Felipe, who batted .182 in rookie ball this summer after signing as an undrafted free agent. … The Belhaven-William Carey rivalry apparently is no more. With the Blazers moving to NCAA Division III, their 2016 schedule does not include the NAIA Crusaders, their longtime rivals in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and Southern States Athletic Conference. BU will play Maloney Trophy rivals Millsaps and Mississippi College next season. Carey is playing NCAA D-II’s Delta State and MC in 2016, as well as NAIA Tougaloo.

17 Apr

coming attractions

Starkville’s Dudy Noble Field is a hot spot in the state this weekend — weather permitting, as always — with Mississippi State hosting SEC foe Florida as part of Super Bulldog Weekend. At Braddy Field in Jackson, Jackson State faces a SWAC showdown with Alabama A&M. Down in Hattiesburg at Taylor Park, Southern Miss has a big C-USA series against Florida Atlantic. Up in Cleveland, Ferriss Field will fill up for Delta State’s Gulf South Conference battle with Shorter. Mississippi Valley State will host Belhaven in Itta Bena today and then travel to Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium on Saturday for a twinbill against the Blazers. And on Sunday at Smith-Wills, perhaps the most compelling matchup of the weekend will see NJCAA Division II No. 1-ranked Hinds Community College take on No. 16 Northwest Mississippi CC. The doubleheader begins at 2 p.m. Hinds dropped a pair to Southwest at Smith-Wills on Thursday, falling into a tie atop the MACJC standings with Northwest at 16-4. Hinds (29-4 overall) has gotten prolific production from Jonathan Washam (.402 entering the Southwest set), Madison’s Matt Jones (.394, 34 runs), Cleveland’s Marshall Boggs (.349) and Clinton’s Chase Lunceford (.353, five home runs). Randy Bell (7-0, 2.36 ERA) of Woodville and Houston Case (6-1) of Brookhaven are the top winners on the mound for the Eagles, and Madison’s Austin Sanders has nine saves. Northwest (25-8) has won 12 straight games, including a sweep of Northeast on Tuesday in which the Rangers scored 21 runs on 29 hits. Clay Casey, the former DeSoto Central star, has swung a mighty bat, with a .358 average, eight homers, 28 RBIs and 30 runs. Ole Miss transfer Dalton Dulin leads the Rangers with a .382 average and has a school-record 36 stolen bases. Coldwater’s LeeMarcus Boyd is batting .320 with 30 runs. Myrtle’s Colt Smith is Northwest’s ace, having posted a 6-0 record with a 0.54 ERA, and Tupelo’s J.G. Lipscomb is 4-1, 1.48.

16 Feb

number crunching

1 — Career wins for Aaron Stevens, the new Mississippi Valley State coach who notched his first on Saturday, an 8-7 defeat of Illinois-Chicago in the Delta Devils’ second game of the year.
2 — Career wins for Earl Sanders, the new Tougaloo coach whose Bulldogs swept Rust on Friday after dropping their first seven games.
2 — Wins shy of 1,000 career for William Carey coach Bobby Halford, whose Crusaders have won six straight after an 0-5 start. They play a doubleheader today against Saint Joseph in Hattiesburg.
3 — Hits in each of Southern Miss’ first three games, all wins, by Dylan Burdeaux, who is batting .692.
4 — RBIs apiece by Jackson State’s Tilur Smith, Dylan Parker and Jovany Felipe in the Tigers’ 20-10 win over UT-Martin on Saturday.
5 — RBIs apiece by Millsaps’ William Chenowith and Isaac Glenn in a 16-3 victory over Schreiner on Saturday.
7 — Home runs by Belhaven hitters in 12 games, matching the Blazers’ total from all of 2014.
8 — Strikeouts, in six innings of work, by Ole Miss’ Brady Bramlett, in a 16-2, series-clinching victory over William and Mary on Saturday.
9 — Hits in four games, all wins, by Mississippi State’s Seth Heck, who is batting .563.
12 — Hitting streak for Belhaven’s Adam Kowalczyk, a junior transfer from Delaware Tech.
14 — Runs, in eight games, scored by Mississippi College’s Colton Johnson, a freshman from West Jones High.

13 May

that’s more like it

Though it has notched another 30-win season and currently holds third place in the Conference USA standings, Southern Miss has not had a good year with the bats. The team is hitting .244 and no individual is batting above .280. But the Golden Eagles and their fans have to be encouraged by the recent performance of Connor Barron, the one-time prized recruit who has scuffled for most of his three seasons in Hattiesburg. Barron is riding a career-best eight-game hit streak. The center fielder/leadoff batter has lifted his average to .259, second on the club to Matt Durst’s .279. Barron has four homers, nine doubles, 19 RBIs and 28 runs. During his injury-hampered freshman and sophomore seasons, Barron batted .250 and .198; he had no homers and 19 RBIs total. This was not what was expected of a player drafted in the third round (by the Florida Marlins) in 2011. This was not what was expected of a player who batted .490 with eight homers as a senior at powerhouse Sumrall High. But maybe things have turned for Barron, and it would be good timing. USM finishes regular season play with a three-game C-USA series at Charlotte starting Thursday, then hosts the C-USA Tournament next week. Its postseason fate likely will be determined there. P.S. In what could be the event’s pivotal game, Belhaven (41-19) meets top-seed Oklahoma Wesleyan (53-6) today at 2:30 in the winners bracket of the NAIA regional at Smith-Wills Stadium. … Of the five finalists for the Ferriss Trophy, you could build a good case for BU’s Tyler Akins, who is batting .340 and has 17 saves. Akins is joined by Ole Miss’ Auston Bousfield and Chris Ellis and Mississippi State’s Ross Mitchell and Jacob Lindgren as finalists for the award that goes to the state’s best college player.

28 Apr

finishing touches

Old rivals Belhaven and William Carey will meet in the first round of the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday in Montgomery. Fourth-seeded BU (38-17) took two of three from 5-seed Carey (31-24) in the regular season series at Smith-Wills Stadium in February. The Mississippi schools are in the same side of the bracket as NAIA second-ranked and tourney top seed Faulkner (42-12). Belhaven, as host of an NAIA regional, is assured of life after the SSAC event; Carey is going to have to play its way into a bid. … Millsaps, bounced from the Southern Athletic Association postseason by top-seeded Birmingham-Southern on Sunday, plays Mississippi College in a makeup game on Tuesday in Clinton. That might be the end of the road for the Majors (23-18), who would seem to be a longshot for an NCAA Division III at-large bid. … D-II No. 7-ranked Delta State, which claimed first place in the Gulf South Conference regular season by sweeping No. 4 West Florida in Cleveland over the weekend, will open GSC Tournament play on Friday at Birmingham. The top-seeded Statesmen (35-9) meet 8-seed Christian Brothers in the first round.

18 Apr

whirlwind weekend

The weekend started with a bang Thursday night in Oxford, where LSU beat Ole Miss 4-3 in 13 innings in a collision of top 10 teams. More fireworks are sure to follow. Mississippi State is at Missouri for a three-game SEC set, and Southern Miss is hosting Louisiana Tech in a three-game C-USA series. But the more compelling games may involve the smaller schools. To wit: Jackson State vs. Mississippi Valley State in Moorhead. JSU, the defending SWAC champ, sits in third place in the SWAC East at 6-9 (23-17 overall). Time to get healthy in this three-game set with 1-28 Valley. Player to watch: JSU’s Tilur Smith, who has picked up the slack for slumping Charles Tillery (.224) and is batting .347. Delta State at Shorter. The Statesmen are in the midst of playing 10 straight road games, but they are 15-5 away from Cleveland’s Ferriss Field, so no worries there. In fact, DSU seemingly has few worries at all. The Mean Green is 28-8, 19-4 Gulf South Conference and ranked in the top 10 in NCAA Division II. Player to watch: Landon Thibodeaux, hitting .351 with five homers and 25 RBIs. Mississippi College vs. Howard Payne in Clinton. The Choctaws are 15-15 after dropping Thursday’s series opener 6-3. They are chasing a bid to the National Christian College Athletic Association regionals, and they need more wins. Player to watch: Blake Mcilwain, (5-1, 2.91 ERA) who threw a no-hitter last weekend and is slated for one of today’s two games. Millsaps at Oglethorpe. The Majors, ranked in NCAA Division III in preseason, are 19-16 and 9-8 (fifth) in the Southern Athletic Association. They need to build some momentum for league tournament play, which starts next weekend. Player to watch: Keith Shumaker, rocking along with a .340 batting average and a 4-1, 1.56 pitching ledger. Belhaven vs. Bethel in Jackson. The Blazers (34-14) have been guaranteed an NAIA postseason berth as host of a regional, but they certainly don’t want to limp through the last two weekends of the regular season. They’re just 14-10 in the Southern States Athletic Conference. Player to watch: Reagan Rutledge, who is batting .313 and has 51 stolen bases in 55 attempts. William Carey vs. Auburn-Montgomery in Hattiesburg. The Crusaders began the year ranked in the NAIA poll but are just 27-22 and 13-11 in the SSAC, fighting for one of the eight tournament berths. A 13-15 record at Wheeler Field is hard to figure. Player to watch: Jeremy Ferguson, who has a .423 on-base percentage and a team-best 32 runs.

02 Apr

poll positions

The Magnolia State has seven college teams ranked in various polls this week — not bad for a football state. Mississippi State (20-10), with a big SEC series at LSU looming, is up to No. 9 in Baseball America’s latest NCAA Division I poll, while Ole Miss (21-8) is down to No. 23 on the heels of being swept at Alabama last weekend. Belhaven University (28-11), which whipped Millsaps 10-7 in a Maloney Trophy Series game on Tuesday, dropped to 13th in this week’s NAIA poll. Jones County Junior College (28-4), which blanked Copiah-Lincoln in a doubleheader sweep on Tuesday, is No. 1 in NJCAA Division II, with East Mississippi fifth and Mississippi Delta 10th. But no team in the state is hotter than Delta State, which has won 11 in a row and is ranked 12th in Collegiate Baseball’s newest NCAA Division II poll. The Statesmen are 21-6 with a home game today against Arkansas-Monticello and a home Gulf South Conference series this weekend against Lee University. DSU is hitting .334 as a team, led by Will Robertson (.385), Carlos Leal (.382) and Dex Herrington (.369), the former Senatobia High and Northwest CC star who has four homers, 23 RBIs and 30 runs. The staff ERA is 2.34, and Michael Manley, from Terry by way of Meridian CC, is 6-0 with a 0.98.