Tag Archives: C-USA

12 May

three to watch

In a recent online chat, a Baseball America scribe made a prediction for this summer’s college Team USA roster that included three players from Mississippi: State’s Konnor Pilkington, Ole Miss’ Dallas Woolfolk and Southern Miss’ Matt Wallner. They are worthy candidates – and certainly worthy of keeping an eye on this weekend as the Big 3 charge toward tournament season. Pilkington, the sophomore left-hander out of East Central High, is slated to start today at Georgia. He is just 5-4 in 12 starts, but his wins have been big ones for the Bulldogs, 32-17 and 16-8, tied for best in the SEC. He has a 3.82 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 73 innings. Woolfolk, a sophomore out of DeSoto Central, has been a solid closer for Ole Miss, which faces a crucial series against nationally ranked Texas A&M in Oxford. While both State and USM are projected as regional hosts in Baseball America’s latest mock NCAA Tournament field, the Rebels (29-20, 11-13) aren’t in at all. Woolfolk has 10 saves, three wins and a 1.91 ERA in 23 appearances. USM (37-12, 19-5 C-USA) can clinch the conference title this weekend against UAB in Hattiesburg. Wallner, a freshman from Minnesota, has been just one of several mashers in the Golden Eagles lineup. The 6-foot-5 outfielder leads the team with 15 homers and is batting .328 (.447 on-base) with 47 RBIs. He also has three saves and a 1.84 ERA on the mound. P.S. East Central Community College has advanced to the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament with a two-game sweep of Mississippi Delta in their best-of-3 series. Game 1 winners on Thursday were Hinds, Northwest and Pearl River. No. 1-ranked Jones County and LSU-Eunice received byes to the six-team region tournament, which starts next week at Ellisville.

05 May

that’s the spot

Tough call on the hottest spot this weekend. You could go with Hattiesburg, where Southern Miss and Florida Atlantic will face off for first place in Conference USA. Or you could go with College Station, Texas, where SEC championship contenders Mississippi State and Texas A&M are hooking up; the Aggies won Game 1 9-2 on Thursday. Of course, in Gainesville, Fla., you’ve got Ole Miss, battling for an NCAA regional spot, taking on Florida, also still in the SEC title conversation. Meanwhile, at Braddy Field in Jackson, Jackson State looks to secure first place in the SWAC East when it meets Alabama A&M. Cast a glance, too, at Montgomery, Ala., where William Carey plays Faulkner today in a winner’s bracket game in the SSAC Tournament. The loser will play Blue Mountain later today in an elimination game; the Toppers stayed alive on Thursday by whipping Martin Methodist 11-1. Carey already has earned an NAIA regional host bid. But hold on. Even with all of this other stuff going on, Cleveland wins. The Gulf South Conference Tournament begins Saturday at Ferriss Field with both top seed Delta State and seventh-seeded Mississippi College in action in separate four-team pools. The only way the two could meet again is in the championship game on Tuesday. DSU has won 13 tournament titles and, considering how the Statesmen dominated the regular season, is the odds-on favorite to win again. MC, officially back in the NCAA Division II GSC this season after 20-plus years, qualified for the tournament with an impressive late surge that included a win over Delta State last week. Second-year coach Jeremy Haworth’s team went 20-25 overall. MC’s last GSC Tournament appearance came in 1996, when the Choctaws went 2-and-out. The team’s best result came in 1984, when it won the South Division Tournament and lost to North Alabama in the championship series. P.S. Awards have been rolling in, including GSC player and coach of the year honors for DSU’s Zack Shannon and Mike Kinnison; SSAC player of the year for Carey’s James Land; and a national player of the week award for MC’s Blaine Crim. … The five finalists for the Ferriss Trophy will be named on Sunday, May 14. The announcement ceremony, featuring former Ole Miss star and big leaguer Don Kessinger, is May 22.

16 Mar

hitters, ye be warned

It should be posted in the dugouts at Oxford-University Stadium this weekend as a warning to hitters: “Danger: High Voltage.” Ole Miss and Vanderbilt pitchers have been dealing electric stuff. Their staffs rank 2-3 in the SEC in ERA, first and fourth in batting average against and second and fifth in strikeouts. Ole Miss pitchers have thrown five shutouts in the team’s last six games. Rebels starters have worked 43 2/3 scoreless innings over those six games, one of which Ole Miss (12-5) actually lost. Regardless of the competition, that’s strong. The UM staff ERA has shrunk to 2.40. Opposing batters are hitting .185. Eight pitchers with at least 11 innings of work have ERAs under 4.00. Five are under 2.00, including Andy Pagnozzi (0.82) and Will Ethridge (1.15). David Parkinson (3-1, 2.52) is the reigning SEC pitcher of the week after tossing eight scoreless innings against Furman last Friday. Vanderbilt (12-6), which has a reputation for trotting out quality arms, has a 2.58 ERA, led by freshman starter Drake Fellows, who is 3-0 with a 1.00. Neither team has been a behemoth with the bats, but Ole Miss has been particularly puny. The Rebels have scored only 79 runs and rank 13th in the league in batting and last in slugging. So, if you like good pitching, this series should be crackling with excitement. P.S. Mississippi State (12-6) visits Arkansas to open SEC play in a series that matches the top two home run-hitting teams in the league. The Razorbacks have 25, the Bulldogs 19. Arkansas’ Dominic Smith and Grant Koch are tied with State’s Brent Rooker for second in the individual ranking with five homers apiece. … Southern Miss (13-4) is at Louisiana Tech to start C-USA play. Tech’s first year coach, Lane Burroughs, is a Mississippi College alum and former Southern Miss assistant. He also played at Meridian Community College when current USM coach Scott Berry was an assistant there.

10 Mar

leading men

The state’s college teams have played enough games to where the stats are starting to be meaningful. Mississippi State’s Jake Mangum, the 2016 SEC batting champ and Ferriss Trophy winner, isn’t experiencing any apparent symptoms of a sophomore slump. The Jackson Prep product currently leads the SEC in hits with 26; he’s second in runs (20) and fifth in hitting (.456). Brent Rooker sits third in the league with 18 RBIs. … Ole Miss pitcher Will Ethridge ranks second in the league in batting average against (.082) and fourth in strikeouts (26), while teammates Dallas Woolfolk and Will Stokes are tied for second with two saves apiece. … Southern Miss’ Taylor Braley is second in C-USA in on-base percentage (.542) and first in walks (12), while Mason Irby leads the loop in sacrifices with five. Hayden Roberts’ 25 strikeouts ranks second among C-USA pitchers. … Lamar Briggs is crushing it for Jackson State, leading the SWAC in batting (.429) and slugging (.571). The Tigers’ C.J. Newsome ranks first in runs (15), Jonathan Aponte first in wins (three) and Jose Tirado t-first in saves (two). … Alcorn State’s Jason Sanez is No. 2 in SWAC hitting at .375, and Mississippi Valley State’s Jackson Webb is second in slugging (.563). Webb and teammate Arrington Smith have two homers each, ranking second in the SWAC. … Delta State, 12-4 and ranked as high 18th in NCAA Division II, is led by Zack Shannon, whose 20 RBIs rank fifth in the Gulf South Conference; his .403 average is ninth. With four homers, Clay Casey is tied for fifth. Tre Hobbs’ 29 strikeouts is sixth-best in the league. … Mississippi College’s Casey Echols (son of former State star Tracy Echols) is seventh in the GSC with a .404 average while leading the Choctaws in hits and runs. … William Carey’s Tyler Graves tops SSAC hitters with a .443 average and is No. 2 in RBIs with 32. Adrian Brown is first in runs (28), Tyler James in stolen bases (19) and Lane Fazende in ERA (0.81). James Land’s four homers rank fourth. … Blue Mountain’s Miciah Heard is third in the SSAC with 17 steals, while teammate Caleb Leach, having a big year, is eighth in batting at .368. … Millsaps’ Jacob Mardick, a junior left-hander, leads the Southern Athletic Association with 31 K’s and is third in ERA at 2.28. He is 3-0 for an 8-8 team. … Belhaven’s Terrell Hodges is third in the American Southwest Conference with a .735 slugging average, and Daniel Ammirati is tied for second with seven doubles.

25 Apr

a defining moment — maybe

The dust has settled and things are chill again in Hattiesburg – we assume – after what was hailed as one of the great moments in Taylor Park history on Sunday. So much to remember from Southern Miss’ 2-1 victory over Rice, which clinched just the second series win ever for the Golden Eagles over the perennially powerful Owls. There was, of course, Daniel Keating’s pinch-hit single that delivered the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Hunter Slater’s walk to start the ninth. Tracy Hadley’s bunt. Kirk McCarty going seven-plus. Chuckie Robinson belting a home run. Nick Sandlin getting the last four outs. USM climbed out of the postgame dogpile and into first place alone in C-USA. The Eagles are also climbing in the national polls. But Eagle Nation needs to remember this, too: USM went 35-16-1 in 2015 and did not get an NCAA Tournament invitation. The 2016 Eagles, at 29-12, need to keep winning, starting Tuesday when nationally ranked Louisiana-Lafayette comes to town. Sunday’s win over Rice could be one of those defining moments that successful teams like to look back on. But it’ll lose much of its luster if the Eagles can’t ride the momentum over the next few weeks.

24 Apr

around the horn

It’s a day for letting baseball just flow over you. … Rubber game today in Hattiesburg with the Conference USA lead at stake. Kirk McCarty (3-0, 3.51 ERA) for Southern Miss vs. Ricardo Salinas (6-1, 3.60) for Rice in what has been a pitching-dominated series at Taylor Park. … Mississippi State goes for a sweep at LSU. Reid Humphreys, the ex-Northwest Rankin High star, got an RBI and the save in Saturday’s 2-1 win. For the year, he’s hitting .328 with 15 doubles, four homers and 31 RBIs and he has five saves. … Ole Miss, going for a sweep against Auburn in Oxford, now has won 30 games for 19 straight seasons. Impressive. … Delta State left-hander Tre Hobbs beat Valdosta State in Cleveland on Saturday to improve to 11-1 with a 2.46 ERA and eight complete games. Nationally ranked in NCAA Division II, DSU is 32-13, 21-8 Gulf South. … There was a celebration in Itta Bena on Saturday. By Alabama State, which clinched the SWAC East with a 10-0 win over hapless Mississippi Valley State. ASU (17-0 in the league) won Friday’s opener 12-0. … William Carey University improved to 34-15 and 16-7 in the Southern States Athletic Conference by sweeping Brewton-Parker in Hattiesburg. The NAIA nationally ranked Crusaders are hitting .327 with 390 runs. … Millsaps’ season ended with a 13-11 loss to Birmingham-Southern in the Southern Athletic Association tournament. The Majors finished 20-21. … Belhaven lost its home finale to McMurry at Smith-Wills Stadium on Saturday, saying goodbye to 11 seniors and paying special tribute to Devin McCann, who died in a car accident just before the season began. … Mississippi College stopped an 11-game GSC losing streak with a 3-2 win against Lee in Clinton on Saturday. The Choctaws go for the series win today at Frierson Field. … Former Ole Miss star Chris Ellis, bucking for a call-up to the big leagues, threw six brilliant innings for the Mississippi Braves against Biloxi at Trustmark Park on Saturday. He got a no-decision in a game the M-Braves would ultimately lose but is 2-0 with a 1.16 ERA in four Double-A starts. He got a long look with Atlanta in spring training. … Ex-State standout Chad Girodo’s stay in MLB was short but sweet. He threw two scoreless innings in his debut for Toronto against Oakland on Friday but was shipped back to the minors on Saturday. … UM product Zack Cozart went 3-for-5 in Cincinnati’s 13-5 win over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday and is now batting .400 (20-for-50) on the year with a homer, five RBIs and 10 runs. … Anthony Alford, the former Mr. Baseball from Petal and a top-rated Toronto prospect, has not played since suffering a leg injury in his first game of the season at Class A Dunedin. The Blue Jays have been silent on his status.

14 May

picks to click

It would be too obvious to pick Sikes Orvis as the Ole Miss player to watch in the last weekend of regular season play for the state’s Big 3 Division I schools. Orvis has five homers and 14 RBIs in his last four games. On a less crazy but still sweet roll for the Rebels (29-24, 14-13 SEC) is freshman Nic Perkins, who takes a six-game hitting streak into the series against powerhouse Texas A&M in Oxford. Perkins, only recently inserted in the regular lineup, is batting .367 with five RBIs and three runs in 14 games. For Mississippi State (24-27, 8-19), clinging to hopes of making the SEC Tournament, junior left-hander Lucas Laster, expected to start tonight at Tennessee, needs to deliver a gem. He is 4-3 with a 3.39 ERA in 12 starts, but his last win came on April 2 vs. South Carolina. He pitched fairly well in his start against Ole Miss last week. Southern Miss (32-10-1, 16-10 C-USA) is streaking into its league series at Middle Tennessee State with 10 straight wins. No Golden Eagles hitter is hotter than junior Chase Scott, who has an 18-game hit streak. He went 2-for-5 with three RBIs in Tuesday’s win at Tulane and is batting .304 with three homers, 23 RBIs and 27 runs for the year. P.S. MSU product Jonathan Papelbon became Philadelphia’s all-time saves leader (with 113) on Wednesday; his save was saved by a great throw from ex-Mississippi Braves star Jeff Francoeur that nailed a runner at the plate for the final out in the 3-2 win over Pittsburgh. “As an outfielder who likes to throw, you live for that kind of moment,” Francoeur, still a great right fielder, told mlb.com. … Former State standout Tyler Moore hit a game-tying, pinch-hit homer for Washington, helping the surging Nationals’ cause in a 9-6 win over Arizona. Moore’s sixth-inning homer was his second of the year and 20th of his career. Used mostly as a pinch hitter this season, Moore is batting .207 in 29 at-bats. … Ole Miss alum Aaron Barrett (3-0, 3.68 ERA) got the win for the Nats; he allowed the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning but was bailed out by Michael Taylor’s grand slam in the ninth. … With three more hits on Wednesday, ex-USM star Brian Dozier has eight in his last five games and is batting .357 over his last 10 for Minnesota. He’s at .256 for the season. … UM product Chris Coghlan drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth to give the Chicago Cubs a 2-1 win against the New York Mets.

10 May

wow!

What a Saturday in Mississippi. In Oxford, there was the jaw-dropping comeback by Ole Miss to sweep the series against Mississippi State. In Hattiesburg, Southern Miss made a comeback of its own to beat Charlotte and extend its win streak to eight games. And in Raymond, Hinds Community College blasted Northwest Mississippi 14-3 to claim its eighth state championship. Hinds, 41-5 and ranked No. 1 in NJCAA Division II, went 3-0 in the MACJC tourney, getting outstanding pitching efforts from Randy Bell, Derek Martin and Casey Sutton. Quade Smith was the hitting hero in the finale, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs. USM, now 30-16-1 and 15-10 C-USA, got brilliant mound work from Cody Carroll, Luke Lowery and Ryan Milton in Friday’s 1-0 win over Charlotte. Down 5-0 early on Saturday, the Eagles rallied to win 11-10 in 10 innings, Michael Sterling scoring the game-winner on a throwing error that followed an infield hit by Connor Barron. Game 3 of that series is today. But, of course, the events at Oxford-University Stadium, witnessed by crowds totaling 27,871, trumped all. On Thursday, the Rebels (28-24, 14-13 SEC) got two big hits and three RBIs from Errol Robinson in a 4-3 win. On Friday, Sikes Orvis belted a home run and drove in four runs all told in a 13-10 victory. And on Saturday, down 7-2 in the ninth, the Rebels battled back against a crumbling State bullpen to win 8-7 in 10 innings. Colby Bortles had a game-tying, two-out, two-run hit in the ninth, and Nic Perkins knocked in the game-winner in the 10th. Orvis had two more homers on Saturday, boosting his total to 14. Wyatt Short, the sophomore left-hander from Southaven, worked a perfect 10th to earn the win on Saturday after notching saves on both Thursday and Friday. Short is 4-1 with nine saves. The devastated Bulldogs fell to 24-27, 8-19 and are in real danger of missing the SEC Tournament. P.S. Worth noting: In Pearl on Saturday, the Mississippi Braves beat the Biloxi Shuckers 5-2 in 10 innings to clinch the series with Game 5 still to play today. The M-Braves lost the inaugural game between the two Southern League clubs on Wednesday but have now won three straight.

06 May

winging it

In baseball, good things come to those who … pitch. And Southern Miss can pitch. The Golden Eagles (28-16-1, 13-10 C-USA) have a staff ERA of 3.03, which ranks among the top 20 in the nation. They’ve got seven shutouts, tied for fifth-most in NCAA Division I. They are coming off a three-game home sweep of Marshall in which they limited the Thundering Herd to two runs. None of the Eagles’ three starters allowed a run. Cody Carroll, the league pitcher of the week, threw a three-hitter. James McMahon, now 9-1 with a 1.88 ERA, worked six scoreless innings, and Kirk McCarty (4-1, 2.58) was unscathed over 7 2/3. Tim Lynch has swung a big stick (.331, nine homers, 30 RBIs) and three other regulars are over .300. But it’s USM’s pitching that impresses the most, especially in this season of the livelier ball. At one point during the Marshall series, the staff’s streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run reached 39. “I’ve been (coaching) 31 years, so I’m not going to say I haven’t (seen such a streak),” coach Scott Berry told the Hattiesburg American. “But that’s a pretty good string, I know that.” Light-hitting Charlotte comes to Hattiesburg this weekend for a conference series at Taylor Park, where USM is 16-7 — and where the C-USA Tournament will be held May 20-24. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the first USM team to make the NCAA Tournament field. That Hill Denson-coached club included Damon Pollard, Scotty Jurich, Todd Nace, Kerry Valrie, Greg Cole and Kenny Graves, all of whom were among the group in town for a reunion over the weekend. It would be a fitting tribute if the current club also earned a regional bid. That pitching certainly gives them hope.

21 Apr

taking notes

Jackson State’s Melvin Rodriguez is having a season worthy of Ferriss Trophy consideration. The senior from Puerto Rico leads NCAA Division I in batting. He currently sits at .446 with five homers, 44 runs and 52 RBIs for the Tigers (25-15, 11-6 SWAC). He also has a .505 on-base percentage and 11 steals in 12 tries. … Southern Miss (21-14-1, 9-8 C-USA), leads its conference in ERA (2.82) and fielding (.974). Those stats may bode well for USM’s chances of winning in the postseason, when those aspects of the game are magnified. … Ole Miss ranks last in the SEC in hitting at .247 and 13th in runs (187). Mississippi State is ninth in batting at .273 and sixth in runs (230). The schools rank 10th and 11th in ERA, State at 4.14, UM at 4.15. It’s little wonder both have struggled to win in the league. … Delta State has 36 homers this year, its most this decade, the school reports. Ethan Gill leads the Statesmen with eight. … Millsaps (25-10 with a game tonight against Mississippi College) will host Rhodes, Hendrix and Sewanee this weekend in a Southern Athletic Association double-elimination tournament. The winner advances to the SAA’s best-of-3 championship series. The Majors are 19-4 at Twenty Field. … Belhaven University improved to 6-0 against Tougaloo this season with a 14-4 win on Monday. BU is 32-20 overall but just 10-16 in the Southern States Athletic Conference heading into a season-ending series at rival William Carey this weekend. WCU is 25-19 (heading into a twinbill at Tougaloo today) and 16-9 in the league. Tyler Richardson continues to shine for the Crusaders, with a .374 average, 43 runs and 28 RBIs in 40 games. … Hinds Community College snatched first place in the MACJC with its dramatic sweep of Northwest on Sunday. The NJCAA Division II top-ranked Eagles (31-4) are 18-4 in the league and take on Jones County JC (14-8) in Raymond on Wednesday. Northwest (16-6) visits East Mississippi (16-6) on Wednesday, and Meridian (also 16-6) has a twinbill at last-place Coahoma that day. … A bunch of Hinds players have nice numbers, but none are more impressive than Austin Sanders’. The Ole Miss signee is 3-0 with nine saves and a 1.48 ERA.