Tag Archives: Delta State

14 Mar

centerpieces

Mississippi State’s sweep of Oregon got top billing in the college weekend wrap-up on Baseball America’s web site. The host Bulldogs (12-3-1) put up 24 runs on 33 hits against the Ducks’ vaunted pitching staff. State had a bunch of heroes, but Brent Rooker stood out with a 6-for-11 effort, two homers and five RBIs. He is batting .377 – third among State regulars — and leads the club with 20 RBIs. State jumped from 24th to 15th in the new BA poll, while Oregon dropped from No. 11 to 19. … Ole Miss, BA’s No. 12 team, swept three from Grambling State in Oxford to improve to 15-1. The Big Man on Campus for the Rebels was Brady Bramlett, who beat the Tigers (five shutout innings, 11 strikeouts) to move to 4-0 with a 2.14 ERA, 30 K’s in 21 innings. … Jake Sandlin went off for Southern Miss as the Golden Eagles (13-4) took two of three from visiting Samford. The Georgia College transfer, an NCAA Division II All-America last year, went 6-for-12 with five RBIs and three runs. He is batting .350 for the year. … Delta State (13-9, 7-5) salvaged the final game of its Gulf South Conference series against West Georgia. Will Robertson was 2-for-5 in the 6-3 win, recording his 14th multi-hit game and boosting his average to .429 (with 23 RBIs and 20 runs). … Millsaps used a seven-run ninth inning rally to beat Center 9-7 on Saturday and claim the Southern Athletic Association series. Freshman Brennan Ducote had the go-ahead hit, a two-run single, for the Majors (8-8, 4-2). … Delta State transfer Tanner Cable got the win, his fourth, as Belhaven crushed Eureka College 15-1 on Saturday. Cable is 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA for the Division III Blazers (8-4). … Blue Mountain, forced to play NAIA No. 3 Faulkner on the road instead of in New Albany, was outscored 43-5 in losing three straight. … In the only MACJC doubleheader completed over the weekend, Hinds Community College beat Itawamba CC 17-6 and 4-3, getting 24 hits and four home runs in the process at Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium. The Eagles are 9-7, the Indians 12-6.

09 Mar

something special

It doesn’t have a nickname, and the winner doesn’t take home a trophy. It’s not a conference game and likely won’t have any bearing on the postseason hopes of either team. But Delta State-William Carey does have a lot going for it. Tonight’s meeting is the third in the series of senior college games at Biloxi’s MGM Park, home of the Double-A Shuckers. (Jackson State beat Southern University in the first on March 1, and Southern Miss lost to South Alabama in the second on March 2. Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College is also playing its home games at the Biloxi ballpark completed just last summer.) DSU, an NCAA Division II school, and Carey, an NAIA member, have played 116 times before, with the Statesmen leading 73-43. Tonight’s game is a matchup of highly successful and long-tenured coaches, Mike Kinnison at DSU and Bobby Halford at Carey, who have over 1,800 wins between them. And both appear to have good teams again in 2016. The Statesmen are 11-7, sparked to this point by a stable of sluggers. DSU is batting .357 as a team, topped by Will Robertson at .449. Ben Pickard has hit six homers, Colton Welch and Trent Giambroni five each. Outside of Tre Hobbs, who is 5-0, the pitching has been inconsistent (4.60 staff ERA), though Dalton Moats did get Gulf South Conference pitcher of the week honors after tossing a shutout last weekend. Carey is 15-5 with nine straight wins. Leading the Crusaders’ attack are Southern States Athletic Conference hitter of the week Tyler Odom (.439, two homers, 21 RBIs, 15 runs) and Tyler James (.414, 18 runs, 16 steals). WCU pitchers have compiled a 2.62 ERA. Bottom line on this game: Whenever DSU and Carey meet, it’s a matchup of the only two four-year schools in the state that have won baseball national titles.

06 Mar

in a groove

Tre Hobbs didn’t arrive at Delta State without credentials. He was an All-Stater at Riverside High in Greenville in 2013 and an All-MACJC pick at Mississippi Delta Community College last year. But did anyone really expect the 5-foot-10, 160-pound left-hander to get off to this kind of start for the Statesmen? Hobbs improved to 5-0 for 10-7 DSU with a 5-3 win against Union on Saturday. Trailing 3-2 entering the seventh (two of Union’s runs were unearned), Hobbs benefited from a three-run rally fueled by a Colton Welch home run. Hobbs then finished off a complete game seven-hitter. For the year, Hobbs has a 1.62 ERA, 28 strikeouts and 10 walks in 33 1/3 innings. He was 5-4 with a 4.12 ERA for a 20-27 Delta CC team last year. While Hobbs has a much better supporting cast at DSU, he also appears to have risen to the challenge of tougher competition in NCAA Division II.

04 Mar

numbers to crunch

2,326 – Announced attendance for Wednesday’s South Alabama-Southern Miss game at MGM Park in Biloxi. The Golden Eagles (7-2) were a hospitable host, losing to the Jaguars 4-2, their second straight loss to USA.
.563 – Jack Kruger’s batting average in nine games for Mississippi State. The California juco transfer also leads the 7-2 Bulldogs with 12 runs, 13 RBIs, two homers and a 1.000 slugging percentage.
5 – Hits by Errol Robinson, Ole Miss’ preseason All-America shortstop who is hitting just .217 over seven games. The Rebels, ranked in several polls, are 7-1 despite slow starts by veterans Robinson, Colby Bortles and Will Golsan.
7 – Steals in seven attempts by Jackson State’s Bryce Brown, whose speed nicely complements the power of Jesus Santana (four bombs) in the 5-3 Tigers’ lineup.
0 – Home runs in 10 games by Alcorn State’s Collin Carroll, picked by some as the SWAC’s preseason player of the year. The ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College star from Ridgeland hit 12 homers in 2015.
10.70 – Mississippi Valley State’s staff ERA. The 2-7 Delta Devils (both wins came against Tougaloo) are hitting .233 and have made 30 errors.
11 – Consecutive wins by Delta State against Union, the 9-5 Statesmen’s opponent in this weekend’s Gulf South Conference road series.
9 – Pitchers used, one in each inning, by Millsaps in a 5-2 win against Adrian at Twenty Field on Wednesday. The nine combined for a seven-hitter with eight strikeouts for the 4-6 Majors.
.621 – Timothy Rowe’s batting average for Itawamba Community College. That leads the state and ranks fifth in NJCAA Division II. Jones County JC’s Mason Irby and Pearl River’s Zachary Clark are tied for the state and national lead with six homers each. Irby’s 24 RBIs tops the state and ranks fourth in the country. Jones’ Clint Sasser has an MACJC-best 20 steals, tied for most in the nation.

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.

28 Feb

power plays

Power isn’t everything in baseball. You can win without it. It can be pitched around. But power is something special. It jolts the ballpark. It dents the memory. You remember home runs years later. Billy Beane. Barry Lyons. Randy Milligan. Wesley Walls. Adell Davenport. Ray Montgomery. Fred Cooley. Daryle Ward. Tommy Bost. Jeff Francoeur. Jason Perry. Hunter Renfroe. Evan Gattis. Drug testing, much needed, took some of the wallop from the pro game, making legit power even more valuable. College baseball started turning down the power a few years ago with new bat specs, concerned that too many games were ending with scores like 15-12. Only 0.39 homers were hit per game in college baseball in 2014, the lowest figure ever. In 2015, after some changes to the ball, the home run started to make a comeback. Homers rose 43.5 percent over 2014. Wouldn’t be a surprise to see the number rise again in 2016. Did you notice what Delta State did on Saturday? Seven homers in one game, three by Trent Giambrone. (Unfortunately for the Statesmen, their pitching gave up 17 runs and the game was lost to Lee University.) Southern Miss is also enjoying a power surge to start 2016. The Golden Eagles have hit 14 home runs during their 6-0 start. Taylor Braley has four, Tim Lynch three. Sikes Orvis, who hit 16 homers for Ole Miss last year, is gone to the pros, but Colby Bortles and J.B. Woodman are threats to go deep for the Rebels. Woodman has two in six games to date. At Mississippi State, keep an eye on newcomers Jack Kruger, who has two homers already, and Nathaniel Lowe, who belted 17 bombs in junior college a year ago. Jackson State’s Jesus Santana hit 12 homers in 2015 and has three already in 2016. Alcorn State also has a slugger of note in Collin Carroll. No one really likes a 15-12 game – and those will be rare – but it’s good to see power back as a threat in the college game. Power is something special.

16 Feb

by the numbers

14 – Pitchers used by Millsaps College in going 1-2 in the Millsaps Invitational over the weekend. Daniel Ross went 5 1/3 innings against LaGrange on Friday to get the lone win.
13 – RBIs by Pearl River Community College’s Carter Hankins in six games over the weekend. The Wildcats (8-2) won five of the six.
11 – Runs in six games this season by Mississippi College’s Logan Ferrell.
10 – RBIs in seven games for Delta State’s Will Robertson.
9 – Losses to start the season for Tougaloo College.
8 – Road games scheduled to start the season for Belhaven University, which opens today against Huntingdon in Montgomery, Ala.
4 – Wins in four games to start Chris Kirtland’s coaching career at Jones County Junior College.
2 – Wins in two starts for William Carey University’s J.D. Little, who has a 1.38 ERA.
1 – Home run on Friday by Mississippi Gulf Coast CC’s Brian Lane, the first at Biloxi’s MGM Park for the Bulldogs.

08 Feb

weekend wrap

No one had a better opening weekend than Mississippi College’s Hunter Bolin. The junior from Starkville went 9-for-13 with five RBIs and five runs as the Choctaws launched the Jeremy Haworth era with a three-game sweep of Tougaloo at Frierson Field in Clinton. MC outscored the Bulldogs 32-14, and its pitchers posted a 2.63 ERA. If there was a downside, the Choctaws committed seven errors; Haworth is counting on defense to be a strength of this club, which is entering its second season of NCAA Division II play. … Jasper James, a junior from Wiggins, had eight hits and five RBIs in three games for Tougaloo. … Blue Mountain College took three of four from Judson College in New Albany, capping the weekend with a brilliant performance by Collin McCrory, who threw a one-hitter in a 5-0 victory. The junior from Amory was one out away from a seven-inning no-hitter. … Will Robertson, a senior from Falkner coming back from a 2015 injury, went 5-for-12 with two homers and four RBIs to help Delta State sweep Harding in a three-game series at Ferriss Field in Cleveland. … Nick Lowe and James Land each hit a homer and the pair combined for 10 RBIs but William Carey went just 1-2 on its trip to Ave Maria in Florida. … Millsaps put up 20 runs but won only once in three outings at the Firehouse Classic at Montgomery, Ala. Lee Ogletree, a 2015 transfer from Hinds Community College, had six hits and four RBIs for the Majors. He picked up three of his RBIs in an 11-7 win over Southwestern on Saturday. P.S. Worth noting: Pearl River CC scored in every inning of both games of a doubleheader sweep of Mineral Area CC on Saturday in Poplarville. The Wildcats won 14-7 and 16-8. After losing the season opener to Mineral Area on Friday by a 20-9 count, PRCC won Game 2 of that twinbill 14-4. Carter Hankins, a sophomore from Purvis, banged out nine hits and drove in six runs for the weekend.

07 Feb

right at home

What do you take to a housewarming? Delta State’s players brought a handful of home runs and a little bit of pitching to newly refurbished Ferriss Field (Harvey Stadium) in Cleveland on Saturday, and an announced crowd of 881 brought some atmosphere. When the party was over, Statesmen baseball had settled in nicely with a doubleheader sweep of Harding. Ethan Gill blasted two homers for DSU, and Will Robertson and Colton Welch added one each. Juco transfer Dalton Moats didn’t pitch great in the season opener but did notch the win in an 11-5 romp. Tre Hobbs, another transfer (from Mississippi Delta Community College), was outstanding in Game 2, allowing one run and fanning six in 5 2/3 innings of a 2-1 victory. All in all, it was a good start for DSU, which ended the 2015 season a little short of its annual goal, which is an NCAA Division II regional appearance. The Statesmen went 25-18 last year, finishing with a loss in the Gulf South Conference Tournament title round. The new digs might provide some inspiration this season, though winning at Ferriss Field has never been a problem for DSU, which went 11-2 there in 2015.

04 Feb

choosing nine

Time to take a break from the football recruiting blather and Super Bowl hype. Enough already with the Golden State Warriors. Opening Day Eve for college baseball is upon us. To get in the spirit of the new season, here’s a list of nine Magnolia State players to watch over the coming months:
1. Seth Davis, Blue Mountain, first baseman. No player in the state made a bigger leap forward in 2015 than Davis. A .195 hitter as a sophomore, the 6-foot-5, 225-pounder raked at a .396 clip last season, belting eight homers and driving in 40 runs. He was BMC’s first first-team All-SSAC selection.
2. Adrian Brown, William Carey, outfielder. Brown was a first-team All-NJCAA Region 23 pick for Copiah-Lincoln CC in 2015 after batting .318 with seven homers and 12 steals. If the name sounds familiar, it should. Brown’s father, also named Adrian Brown, played in the big leagues from 1997-2006.
3. Isaac Glenn, Millsaps, outfielder. Glenn, who played in the shadow of Keith Shumaker in 2015, will get a bigger share of the stage now. He led the Majors with a .436 average and 45 RBIs last year and earned first-team All-SAA honors. He’s now getting NCAA Division III preseason All-America notice.
4. Ethan Gill, Delta State, third baseman. Slugging is making a comeback, and the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Gill can accurately be called a slugger. He came in last year as a transfer from Itawamba CC and led the Statesmen in homers (10), RBIs (51) and slugging percentage (.610). He also batted .325.
5. Gavin Collins, Mississippi State, catcher/third baseman. Collins made the SEC All-Freshman team at catcher in 2014 and was a preseason All-SEC pick last year but was set back by a hand injury. He wound up hitting just .228 in 35 games. Expect a bounce-back season.
6. Brady Bramlett, Ole Miss, right-hander. Drafted in the 22nd round by Oakland last summer, Bramlett opted to return to Oxford. That’s a real shot in the arm (pun intended) for the Rebels. After missing the 2014 season with an injury, Bramlett went 7-4 with a 3.74 ERA in 2015.
7. Nick Johnson, Southern Miss, right-hander. The former Ridgeland High star is poised for a bigger role with the Golden Eagles, who lost a lot from a very good 2015 staff. Johnson was 4-0 with a 2.93 ERA in 12 games and 27 2/3 innings. He limited batters to a .198 average.
8. Jesus Santana, Jackson State, third baseman. As a freshman in 2015, the Puerto Rico native led the SWAC in homers with 12 while batting .283 with 48 RBIs. He was All-SWAC last year and is now showing up on some black college preseason All-America charts.
9. Collin Carroll, Alcorn State, first baseman. Carroll won’t sneak up on anyone in 2016. Collegiate Baseball has pegged the senior as the SWAC’s projected player of the year and a third-team All-America. Carroll, a transfer from Southwest Mississippi CC last year, batted .337 with 12 homers and 50 RBIs.