Tag Archives: college baseball

26 May

winging it

Every team needs an ace, and Southern Miss has one. One of the best, in fact. Nick Sandlin — C-USA pitcher of the year, Ferriss Trophy winner – has been terrific. The converted closer moved to 9-0 and trimmed his ERA to 1.13 with a four-hit, 12-strikeout performance against UAB in the C-USA Tournament opener on Thursday in Biloxi. But the Golden Eagles (41-15) will need more than one golden arm to make a run in the NCAA postseason (which could well start in an Oxford Regional). Do they have that kind of depth? They just might. The other pitchers don’t get the pub afforded Sandlin, but this is a team with a staff ERA of 3.58. Both Stevie Powers and Walker Powell, the other weekend starters, have won big games. Powers, a left-hander who last pitched on May 5 because of some arm issues, notched the win on Friday, yielding two runs in seven innings in a 5-3 victory against Texas-San Antonio. He joked about following Sandlin in the USM rotation. “It’s been a tough job all year for me,” he said in a school release. He’s been up to it, going 5-1 with a 3.28 ERA. Powell, typically the No. 3, is 7-3, 3.62, and will start today in the semifinal round of the tournament. In the bullpen, Cody Carroll (2.23), Keller Bradford (3.24), Mason Strickland (3.25) and Trent Driver (4.30) have been effective, and large-looming, hard-throwing Matt Wallner has six saves despite a 7.36 ERA in his 11 appearances. Sandlin certainly leads the way for this staff, but coach Scott Berry has more cards to play than just his ace.

21 May

college stuff

Not so long ago, Mississippi State was a .500 team starved for runs and searching for answers. Today, State cracked the Top 25 in Baseball America’s new poll and, as the magazine’s editors suggest, may have “lifted itself off the NCAA bubble.” BA’s projected NCAA field last week didn’t have State among the 64 teams. The Bulldogs (31-24) swept No. 1-ranked Florida at Dudy Noble Field over the weekend, putting up 31 runs against a Gators team that, it should be noted, had already clinched the SEC title and a Top 8 national seed for the NCAA Tournament. Still, it has been an impressive late surge by State, which was 19-19 on April 18 after a loss to Memphis. While the Bulldogs’ NCAA regional fate may already be determined, it would certainly help their cause if they beat LSU in the SEC Tournament opener on Tuesday. State is not in the d1baseball.com Top 25, also released today. … Ole Miss (42-14) held steady at No. 4 in the BA poll and appears assured of hosting an NCAA regional. Southern Miss (39-15) finished the regular season with a flourish, scoring 35 runs in a sweep at Marshall, and is ranked 17th. The C-USA champions are the top seed headed into this week’s conference tournament in Biloxi and are a lock for the NCAAs. … Rain has made a mess of the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament, which started last Thursday in Lakeland, Fla. Delta State, which beat Mississippi College in the first round, is scheduled to play Tampa in a winner’s bracket game today. MC is slated for a loser’s bracket game today vs. Albany State. The D-II World Series starts Saturday in Cary, N.C. … Jackson State, the last Mississippi team standing in the SWAC Tournament, bowed out Saturday when Jose Tirado, the league’s relief pitcher of the year, yielded a game-tying run in the ninth and a game-winner in the 10th of a 10-9 loss to Texas Southern. … The last state juco team standing was Meridian Community College. The Eagles upset No. 1-ranked LSU-Eunice in the NJCAA Region 23 championship round on Saturday but were eliminated by the Bengals on Sunday. MACJC champion Pearl River was eliminated by Meridian on Friday. … Rust College has transitioned from NCAA Division III to NAIA and formally becomes the eighth member of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference this fall. The Bearcats will be the fourth GCAC school with a baseball team, joining in-state rival Tougaloo, Talladega and Edward Waters. Rust, coached by Aurby Burdine, went 0-2 against Tougaloo and 0-4 vs. Talladega in 2018. Founded in 1866 in Holly Springs, Rust is one of the nation’s oldest historically black colleges and universities.

04 May

worth noting

Blue Mountain and William Carey face elimination games today in the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament in Montgomery, Ala. BMC plays Middle Georgia State in the first game of the day, while Carey gets Loyola (New Orleans) in the next game. BMC, which lost its opener on Wednesday, stayed alive with a 4-3 win over Martin Methodist on Thursday, getting a go-ahead RBI hit from Grayson Bowman in the eighth inning. Carey won its opening round game but was crushed by top seed – and NAIA No. 1 – Faulkner 17-2 Thursday. The Crusaders, 0-4 against Faulkner this year, committed six errors and allowed 13 hits and 11 walks. … The Gulf South Conference Tournament format offers a cool possibility: Delta State and Mississippi College will play at Ferriss Field on Monday, and the Pool A championship could be on the line. The four teams in each of two pools play a round-robin starting Saturday, with the two pool winners advancing to the league title game. MC (29-15) beat DSU (38-8) in Cleveland last week, one of only four home losses for the Statesman all year. DSU — seeded No. 1, ranked third in the nation and featuring conference player of the year Zack Shannon — should be favored to win a 15th conference title, but it won’t be a cakewalk. Four other teams in the field have 30 or more wins and six, including both DSU and MC, are ranked in the NCAA Division II South Region poll. … Jackson State still has a chance to win the SWAC East title but may need a little help this weekend from Mississippi Valley State. JSU has finished league play at 17-7. Alabama State is 15-6 heading into a league series at Itta Bena to face the Delta Devils, 9-12 in the league. JSU and ASU split six games in the regular season. The SWAC Tournament starts May 16 in New Orleans. … MUW named freshman pitcher/infielder Will Peters its Male Athlete of the Year at an awards ceremony this week. Peters went 7-2 on the mound and batted .349 as the Owls finished 19-13 in their inaugural campaign.

30 Apr

gotta be impressed

Dalton Minton threw seven shutout innings to pace Delta State to a 2-0 win against Mississippi College on Sunday in the rubber game of a Gulf South Conference series in Cleveland. Minton allowed seven hits and struck out eight batters in running his record to 8-1 and cutting his ERA to 3.74. DSU rolls into the GSC Tournament — at Ferriss Field starting this week — with a 38-8 record. … Mason Strickland tossed 3 1/3 near-perfect innings in relief to help Southern Miss beat host Old Dominion 9-2 on Sunday and complete a C-USA sweep. Strickland allowed one hit and walked none for the Golden Eagles, now 32-11, 16-4 in conference, with nine straight wins. … Rahman Williams smacked a three-run homer to cap a five-run eighth inning as Jackson State beat Alcorn State 7-4 in the rubber game of a SWAC series on Sunday at Braddy Field. JSU is 28-15, 17-7. … On Saturday in Oxford, before a crowd of 12,000-plus, Thomas Dillard’s three-run bomb in the seventh inning carried Ole Miss to a 9-8 win over LSU in the rubber game of an SEC series. Dillard is hitting .306 with 10 homers and 47 RBIs for the Rebels (34-11, 12-9). … Also on Saturday, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Kole Kittrell threw a five-inning no-hitter in a 13-0 win vs. East Mississippi CC. Kittrell fanned six and walked just one.

23 Apr

heads are spinning

Well, now, that was some kind of weekend in college baseball. Mississippi State swept Arkansas. Ole Miss took two of three from Georgia. Southern Miss took three from Middle Tennessee State. Jackson State won a series against Alabama State. Alcorn State took two of three from visiting Mississippi Valley. Delta State claimed the Gulf South championship with a sweep at North Alabama as Zack Shannon broke the school’s single-season homer record. William Carey won a Saturday rubber game against Blue Mountain. Millsaps put up a fight at the SAA Tournament, going 2-2. But let’s focus for a moment, if that’s possible, on Mississippi College. The Choctaws beat West Alabama two of three at Frierson Field in Clinton, clinching a berth in the GSC Tournament for the second straight season. MC is 28-12, 17-8 in the league. Remember that the Choctaws were 17-30 two years ago in Jeremy Haworth’s first season there and 12-34 the year before he arrived. That’s some kind of progress. MC’s best hitter has been Blaine Crim, who homered and drove in three runs in Saturday’s series clincher. He is batting .380 with nine home runs and 48 RBIs, all team-bests. MC’s pitching also has improved dramatically under Haworth. The weekend starters – Chris Crosby, Hunter Mullis and Zack Ingram – are a combined 14-6 with a 3.73 ERA. So, what’s next? For MC, there’s a trip to Delta State next weekend. Buckle up.

19 Apr

think big

At Oxford-University Stadium, Ole Miss plays Georgia in a three-game SEC set Friday-Sunday. At Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, Mississippi State gets Arkansas. At Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, it’s Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee State in C-USA. At Braddy Field in Jackson, Jackson State hosts Alabama State in a SWAC East showdown. Here’s some quick takes on the big weekend upcoming for the state’s Big 4 Division I schools: Even after last weekend’s breakdowns at Vanderbilt, Ole Miss has to feel pretty good about the bullpen troika of Will Ethridge (16 appearances, 4.10 ERA, two saves), Parker Caracci (15, 1.73, six) and Dallas Woolfolk (14, 2.77, six). … Jake Mangum is having another standout year at State (.345, 31 runs, 12 steals), but the Bulldogs’ overall lack of punch (SEC-lows of 189 runs and 18 homers) is wasting some very good pitching. … The meat of USM’s order is pretty imposing: Luke Reynolds (.370, seven homers, 36 RBIs), Matt Wallner (.362, 10, 45) and Hunter Slater (.329, seven, 32). The 3-4-5 hitters combined for seven hits and six RBIs vs. Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday. … JSU’s Raul Hernandez is making a strong bid for SWAC player of the year, batting a league-best .406 with six homers, 14 doubles and 36 RBIs. The junior from Puerto Rico is first in the league in total bases (90) and second in slugging (.629). P.S. Division II Delta State also faces a big series this weekend, going on the road to play North Alabama in a battle of the top two teams in the Gulf South Conference standings. As crazy as Zack Shannon’s individual numbers (.453, 25 homers, 76 RBIs) are, the team’s offensive output is equally as jaw-dropping: 21 games with 10 or more runs, including slow-pitch softball sounding totals of 26, 25, 21, 19, 16 (twice), 15 and 13 (thrice).

11 Apr

pressing on

Tuesday was a test of resilience for three college programs that endured serious disappointment over the weekend. Ole Miss, William Carey and Millsaps all showed a little something. The No. 4-ranked Rebels, coming off an SEC series loss to scuffling Mississippi State, bounced back with an 11-3 win against No. 12 Southern Miss before a crowd of 5,772 at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Chase Cockrell and Thomas Dillard drove in three runs each and Houston Roth improved to 5-0 for the Rebels (28-6), who’ll take a 7-5 conference record to Vanderbilt this weekend. Carey, ranked 11th in the latest NAIA poll, was swept at home by top-ranked Faulkner in a big Southern States Athletic Conference series last weekend. The Crusaders rebounded Tuesday with a 7-1 win in the opener of a doubleheader at LSU-Alexandria behind the bat of Marcus Buckley and the arm of Lake Robertson. WCU lost Game 2 7-4. The Crusaders (26-14, 10-5 SSAC) travel to Loyola (La.) for their next league series this weekend. Millsaps, hoping to make a late push in the Southern Athletic Association standings, was swept at home by Sewanee over the weekend, falling to 8-10 in the conference. Fueled by the hitting of Christian Cooper and six innings of stellar relief from Chris Guerin, the Majors responded Tuesday with a 6-4 victory at East Texas Baptist. NCAA Division III Millsaps (20-16) finishes SAA play at Centre this weekend. P.S. On the day he was named to the Golden Spikes Award Watch List, Delta State’s Zack Shannon smacked his nation-leading 23rd home run in an 8-3 win vs. Harding. Shannon is batting .445 with 70 RBIs for DSU, 29-6 and ranked as high as fifth in Division II.

03 Apr

progress report

Four Magnolia State four-year schools sit at the head of the class, sporting Superior marks, as the college season barrels into April. Ole Miss, ranked third in the country by Baseball America, tops the SEC West at 6-3 and is 25-4 overall. Jackson State leads the SWAC East at 9-3 (17-10 overall). Delta State leads the NCAA Division II Gulf South Conference at 14-3 (24-6), and William Carey is tied for first in the NAIA Southern States Athletic Conference at 10-2 (25-10). Both are nationally ranked. The Crusaders are knotted with NAIA No. 1 Faulkner (33-3, 10-2), which comes to Hattiesburg this weekend. In the Satisfactory category we have nationally ranked Southern Miss (6-2, second in C-USA), Mississippi Valley State (6-6 SWAC), Mississippi College (11-6 GSC), Blue Mountain (7-5, fifth in SSAC), Millsaps (8-7, fourth in the D-III Southern Athletic Association) and unclassified independent MUW (14-9 in its inaugural campaign). That leaves the Needs Improvement group. Alcorn State is 3-9 and last in the SWAC East. Belhaven (7-18 overall) is 4-11 against D-III American Southwest Conference competition, and NAIA Tougaloo (12-15) is 0-6 in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference play. And then there’s Mississippi State, a team that was ranked in preseason but is now 14-15 overall, 2-7 and last in the SEC West. Ready or not, the Bulldogs get Ole Miss this weekend in Starkville. … In the MACJC, Pearl River Community College swept Itawamba CC last Friday to move to 8-0 in the league, alone in first place. ICC was ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA Division II poll last week. It’ll be interesting to see just how high PRCC, ranked 18th last week, jumps in the new poll that comes out today.

28 Mar

eye-catchers

Delta State’s 26-4 win at Southern Arkansas on Tuesday grabs your attention. Zack Shannon and Clay Casey smashed two home runs each for the Statesmen, 21-6 and ranked as high as No. 6 in NCAA Division II. Shannon’s numbers are just ridiculous: 21 homers, .462 average, 58 RBIs. … In Oxford, Thomas Dillard’s seventh bomb of the year helped Ole Miss rally past Southern Miss 7-6 in a matchup of nationally ranked D-I teams. After USM KO’d Rebels starter Jordan Fowler in the first inning, the UM bullpen yielded just one earned run thereafter. UM is 23-3, USM 17-6. … Mississippi State appears to be in some trouble. The Bulldogs fell to 13-13 after a 7-4 loss at Nicholls State, which entered the game with an 8-15 record. … Nationally ranked juco foes East Central Community College and Jones County JC split a big doubleheader in Ellisville. Wyatt Ball and Ken Scott drove in three runs each in the Warriors’ 12-6 win in Game 1, and the Bobcats’ Tyler Spring and Will Hicks threw a combo two-hitter in the second game, a 1-0 victory. Jones managed only one hit, an RBI single in the second inning by Stephen Matthews. The loss was the first in league play for ECCC, now 7-1. … Elsewhere in the MACJC, Pearl River moved to 6-0 with a sweep of Gulf Coast in Poplarville. … On today’s docket, William Carey, 21-9, ranked 11th in NAIA and coming off a huge road sweep at Martin Methodist, hosts D-II West Alabama at Wheeler Field in Hattiesburg. Christian Smith continues to fuel the Crusaders’ attack, with a .330 average, 31 runs and 27 steals. … In the big leagues, former State star Chris Stratton, in his final tuneup for the regular season, threw five shutout innings for San Francisco against Oakland at AT&T Park. Stratton had a 3.29 ERA this spring.

27 Mar

by the numbers

Here’s a number to know for today: 125. Old rivals Ole Miss and Southern Miss meet tonight in Oxford, for the 125th time. They played for the first time on April 10, 1916, in Oxford. Ole Miss beat Mississippi Normal College, which we now know as USM, by a 10-3 count, according to the UM media guide. (It’s not true that David Kellum and John Cox broadcast that game.) Here are few other numbers to know about the two teams:

74 – Wins for Ole Miss in the series, including two last year, one in Pearl, the other in Hattiesburg.
4 – UM’s rank in four different national polls. USM is ranked as high as 14th.
30 – Homers by the Rebels (22-3).
26 – Homers by the Eagles (17-5), seven in their previous three games.
32 – Stolen bases for the Rebels.
19 – Steals for the Eagles.
2.54 – UM’s staff ERA.
3.40 – USM’s ERA.
17 – Errors by the Rebels.
20 – Errors by the Eagles.
177 – Runs scored by the Rebels, 7.1 per game.
194 – Runs for the Eagles, 8.8 per game.
3.83 – Strikeouts-to-walks ratio for UM pitchers, best in the nation.
41 – Runs scored by USM in the first two innings; their opponents have six.
14 – Days until the teams meet again, April 10, at Trustmark Park in Pearl.