East Central Community College Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

12 Jun

juco stars come out

Individual honors continue to roll in for Pearl River Community College’s 2025 team, which finished as national runner-up this season in NJCAA Division II. Five Wildcats were named to the NJCAA All-America teams, including first-team pick K.K. Clark. Jacob Keys and Caston Thompson made second-team A-A, Topher Jones the third team and Jacob Johnson honorable mention. Itawamba CC’s Jud Files and East Central’s Pablo Roque made the third team. Clark, a Brandon High product, went 12-2 with a 1.84 ERA in his lone season with PRCC after transferring from Mississippi State. He was previously named the MACCC’s pitcher of the year and the outstanding pitcher in the juco World Series. Clark is bound for Louisiana Tech, where he’ll play for Mississippian Lane Burroughs. All told, PRCC has seen 16 players from the ’25 squad sign with four-year schools. Pearl River’s Michael Avalon was the MACCC coach of the year after guiding the Wildcats to a 53-10 record with state and Region 23 titles. … A number of MACCC players finished among the national leaders in various statistical categories. PRCC’s Clark and Johnson, both 12-game winners, tied for second in the nation in that category, and Clark ranked fourth in strikeouts with 116. Jones College’s Caden Freeman and Copiah-Lincoln’s Nash Sturdivant tied for the D-II lead in saves with nine each. Jake Meilstrup of Southwest was third in the nation in steals with a school-record 56. (The previous record was held by Maleke Fowler — not, surprisingly enough, by former MLB star Jarrod Dyson.) PRCC’s Jones led the state with 72 RBIs, a figure that ranked 10th nationally, and teammate Keegan Giger, a .349 hitter, topped the state with 82 hits, tied for 16th in the national stats. Holmes’ Hunter Azemar led the state in home runs with 15, tied for 17th-most in the nation. PRCC’s Thompson, the MACCC player of the year and a Nicholls State signee, and Jackson Hood tied for 14th in homers with 14. The MACCC’s leading hitter was Hinds’ Dawson Muenzenmay, who batted .400, with Meridian’s Brennon Wright at .381. The national ranking of batting average leaders is not available.

30 May

names to know

John Lewis and Andrew Nielsen: Lewis, from Columbus, drove in the tie-breaking run in the 11th inning and Nielsen, from Lucedale, got the last 11 outs without yielding a run as East Central Community College rallied past Pearl River CC 6-5 Thursday in the semifinal round of the NJCAA Division II World Series. The teams play again tonight — their eighth clash of 2025 — for a berth in the finals in Enid, Okla. Lewis’ knock in the top of the 11th scored Pablo Roque, who had led off with a double. Nielsen, 4-0 with a 2.62 ERA in 18 appearances this season, posted saves in the Warriors’ first two games in Enid.
Riley Maddox, Matthew Adams and Ben Davis: In today’s NCAA Tournament openers, Maddox gets the start for Ole Miss, Adams for Southern Miss and Davis for Mississippi State. Maddox, out of Jackson Prep, is 6-5 with a 5.26 ERA for UM, which plays Murray State in the Oxford Regional. Adams is 6-2 with a 3.93 headed into the Hattiesburg Regional game vs. Columbia. Davis, a Booneville product by way of Itawamba Community College, is 3-2 with a 3.96 in 22 games, just three starts, the last in March. He faces Northeastern in the Tallahassee Regional. Each of the state’s Big 3 is holding its ace for the second round.
Austin Riley: The ex-DeSoto Central star delivered in a time of major need for Atlanta, going 2-for-3 with a homer, two walks, three runs and four RBIs in a 9-3 win in Game 2 of a twinbill Thursday at Philadelphia. The Braves had lost the first game — Riley was 2-for-5 — and three in a row overall to fall to 25-29. Riley’s homer — his ninth — was his first in 22 games and his 20th career bomb vs. the rival Phillies. The third baseman is batting .280 with 32 RBIs.

27 May

eye on enid

After a day of rest, Pearl River Community College and East Central CC will get back on the field for the sixth installment of their compelling 2025 rivalry. They meet tonight in a winners bracket game at Enid, Okla., in the NJCAA Division II World Series. Both have been ranked No. 1 at one point this year. When last they tangled, PRCC won 10-0 in the deciding Game 3 of the Region 23 title series, played at Poplarville earlier this month. The Wildcats outscored the Warriors 36-7 in that series, something that no doubt gnaws at the ECCC players. The teams split their MACCC regular season doubleheader, played in March in Decatur. Pearl River, seeded second in the World Series, is 51-8, coming off an 11-3 win against Kellogg (Mich.) on Sunday. Jackson Hood keyed a pivotal five-run fifth inning with a home run, and K.K. Clark posted his 11th win. Jacob Johnson, 12-game winner who beat ECCC in the Region 23 clincher, should be available tonight. East Central, 45-14 and the 6-seed, has won two games in Enid, including a wonky 10-9 victory vs. South Mountain (Ariz.) on Sunday. The Warriors squandered a 6-0 lead but got a big bomb from Brady McAbee, a clutch go-ahead knock in the ninth from Eli Smith and a 1-2-3 final inning from closer Andrew Nielsen to emerge a winner. It was their second one-run win in Enid. ECCC has used seven pitchers, with Nielsen closing in both contests. The winner of tonight’s game will be in the driver’s seat to make the WS finals.

25 May

games of throne

It’s championship Sunday, and look who’s here. Though nothing can be taken for granted in tournament play, it’s no surprise, really, that Southern Miss has reached the Sun Belt Conference title game. The Golden Eagles, two-time defending champs, came in as the No. 2 seed with a 15-game win streak. They’ll meet Coastal Carolina, the top seed, today (1 p.m.) in Montgomery, Ala. In Hoover, Ala., Ole Miss is something of an interloper in the SEC championship match. The Rebels came in as the seventh seed (16-14 in the league) and were a little wobbly down the stretch of the regular season, going 14-11 after a hot start that had lifted them into the national top 10. They’ll play 4-seed Vanderbilt today (noon). Ole Miss (40-18), the 2022 national champ, last won the SEC tourney in 2018, its third crown. To get to this final, the Rebels beat Florida, Arkansas and No. 1-ranked LSU, 2-0 on Saturday. The Rebels won two of three from Vanderbilt in Oxford this season. Vandy (41-16) won the SEC Tournament in 2023, its fourth league title. The Commodores, typically loaded with MLB-caliber arms, have won two national titles. A pick to click for UM: Will Furniss. He hit a big homer against LSU, his 10th of the year, and is batting .288 with 40 RBIs. For Vandy, it’s freshman Brodie Johnston, who has 12 homers, 51 RBIs, 14 doubles and a .502 slugging average. In the Sun Belt finale, USM (44-13, 18 straight wins) gets a Coastal Carolina club that is also sizzling hot. The Chanticleers are 47-11 with 17 straight wins. The teams did not meet in the SBC regular season; USM leads the all-time series 5-2. A key player for USM figures to be Jake Cook, former Madison Central High star who is hitting .357 with 54 runs and 30 RBIs. For Coastal, which won the national title in 2016, the pick to click is Sebastian Alexander, a .302 hitter with nine homers and 25 steals. P.S. Belhaven ran into a buzzsaw in its NCAA Division III super regional. The Blazers, finishing 34-15, were blasted two straight, 17-3 Friday and 14-1 Saturday, at No. 2-ranked Denison (Ohio). … East Central Community College, behind the pitching of Chris Bilingsley and the power of Jayden Adcox, won its NJCAA Division II World Series opener 6-5 Saturday against Catawba Valley. Pearl River CC, which had a first-round bye in Enid, Okla., plays its opener today against Kellogg (Mich.).

21 May

together again

MACCC powerhouses Pearl River Community College and East Central CC, who just met last week in a three-game showdown for the Region 23 crown, could collide again in the NJCAA Division II World Series in Enid, Okla. PRCC is the No. 2 seed, while ECCC is seeded sixth on the same side of the bracket in the 12-team, double-elimination event. PRCC (50-8) earned the automatic bid by winning the region title in a winner-take-all game Saturday. ECCC (42-14) got one of the two at-large bids and is in the field for the third straight year. PRCC won the national in 2022. ECCC will play Catawba Valley on Saturday. PRCC gets a first-round bye before taking on the winner of the Southeastern Iowa-Kellogg contest on Sunday. Pearl River leads the nation in staff ERA and ranks among the leaders in home runs, a pretty sweet combo. The big mashers for the Wildcats include Caston Thompson (13 homers, .372 average), Jackson Hood (12 homers, .344) and Topher Jones (10 homers, .377). The twin aces are Jacob Johnson (12-1, 1.62 ERA) and K.K. Clark (10-2, 1.75). Johnson shut out ECCC in the deciding game of the region title series. East Central’s top hitters are Barret Rodgers (.359) and Pablo Roque (.352, seven homers), and the Warriors’ ace is Bryson Goff (9-1, 2.81). P.S. In MLB, former Jackson Prep standout Will Warren, now with the New York Yankees, struck out 10 batters in 5 2/3 shutout innings to beat the Rangers and run his record to 3-2. … Ole Miss alum Nick Fortes hit his first homer of 2025, accounting for Miami’s only run in a 14-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs. … Mississippi State product J.T. Ginn has gone back on the injured list for the A’s after making one rocky start in his first game off the IL.

16 May

full throttle

Pearl River Community College still needs one more win to advance to the NJCAA Division II World Series, but there doesn’t appear to be any stopping this train. The Wildcats, ranked No. 2 in the nation, barreled through No. 5 East Central CC 22-1 on Thursday in Poplarville, scoring 17 runs in the third inning of the five-inning contest. “The focus we have right now is special,” coach Michael Avalon said in a school release. PRCC is 49-7 and has won 15 of its last 16. The Wildcats are 4-0 in this postseason, having outscored their opponents 53-6. Jaxon Milam drove in six runs Thursday. Chap Cook hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the 17-run inning, and Nico Williams also went yard in that frame. Ace K.K. Clark (10-2) called it a day after three. Game 2 of the best-of-3 Region 23 title series is tonight at Dub Herring Park. “We have to show up and be ready to play. East Central is going to bounce back,” Avalon said. The winner of the series gets the automatic berth in the juco World Series at Enid, Okla. East Central (41-13) made that trip the last two seasons. PRCC last went in 2022, when the Wildcats won the national title. P.S. Eight was a magic number on Thursday night for the state’s Big 4 NCAA Division I schools. Mississippi State hit eight homers — a school record — in a 25-7 rout of hapless Missouri at Columbia, Mo. Hunter Elliott struck out eight batters for his eighth win as Ole Miss upset Auburn 9-2 in Oxford. In another matchup of nationally ranked teams, Joey Urban’s eighth-inning homer provided the winning run for Southern Miss in a 4-3 victory at Troy (Ala.). And Jordan McCladdie’s two-run knock in the eighth inning propelled Jackson State to an 8-7 win over visiting Southern University. Worth noting: Three MSU players hit two homers each Thursday, including Hunter Hines, who tied Rafael Palmeiro’s career homer mark with 67. Hines, a senior out of Madison Central High, now has 13 homers on the year. … In the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament at Tampa, Fla., Mississippi College rolled to a 13-9 win over Lynn as Bryce LaRocca and Tyler Jacobsen drove in three runs each. In the other side of that regional, at Lakeland, Fla., slumping Delta State stumbled to a 7-3 loss against West Florida. Gulf South Conference pitcher of the year Drake Fontenot gave up four runs in 3 2/3 innings to take the loss, DSU’s sixth in a row. The Statesmen face elimination today. MC moves into a winners bracket game vs. No. 1-ranked Tampa.

15 Apr

draft notice

A high school player from Mississippi went ninth overall in the 2024 MLB draft. Might another go that high this July? Keith Law, draft analyst for The Athletic and The New York Times, ranks Purvis High’s JoJo Parker No. 9 on his recently released 2025 draft prospect chart. (Jackson Prep product Konnor Griffin went at No. 9 overall to Pittsburgh last year and is currently in A-ball.) Law calls Parker “one of the best pure hitters in the draft class this year, with a very compact swing and excellent pitch recognition, unusual for a high school hitter from Mississippi.” Parker is the third-highest rated prep player on Law’s list. (Ethan Holliday of Stillwater, Okla., is No. 1 overall.) Parker is a 6-foot-2, 195-pound lefty-hitting shortstop. Per MaxPreps, he is batting .500 with eight homers, 47 runs and 27 steals. Yes, he also pitches for the Tornadoes, ranked third in the state by MaxPreps. Parker’s twin brother Jacob, also a potential 2025 draftee, is hitting .480 with nine homers and 37 RBIs and is regarded as a better pure power hitter than JoJo. Both are Mississippi State signees. … Also on Law’s Top 50 draft list are Southern Miss right-hander J.B. Middleton (No. 44) and Ole Miss righty Mason Morris (No. 50). P.S. Pearl River Community College’s Caston Thompson, from Jayess, went 7-for-11 with three homers, nine RBIs and six runs to earn MACCC player of the week honors. The second-ranked Wildcats went 3-1 last week and are 36-6, 16-2 MACCC. Jones County’s Josh Lee, from Gulfport, went eight innings, fanning 13, to beat Mississippi Gulf Coast last week and garnered conference pitcher of the week honors. He is 6-0 for the Bobcats, 29-10, 15-5, and ranked eighth in NJCAA Division II. East Central remains No. 3 in the national poll at 33-7, 15-3.

09 Apr

spotlight on …

Focus today on Ellisville and Community Bank Park, where Jones College will host Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in a big — yes, they’re all big — conference doubleheader. The big move in the NJCAA Division II poll this week was made by Jones (27-8, 13-3 MACCC), which jumped from No. 8 to No. 5 after running its win streak to eight games. Pearl River Community College (33-5) remains No. 2 in the national poll and atop the MACCC standings at 13-1. East Central is ranked third (up from fourth) at 31-7 and is 13-3 in the league. Jones is 13-1 at home, its only loss there to Itawamba in mid-March. The individual spotlight at JC belongs to Chase Russell, an All-Stater from Madison Central High who leads the state in hitting at .417 with four homers — including a walk-off grand slam last week — and 24 RBIs. T.J. Dunsford is second in the league in batting at .397, and Braden Smith, out of Brandon, has nine homers and 36 RBIs. Russell, originally a Southern Miss signee, also leads Jones pitchers with a 3.96 ERA and has a 3-1 record. Josh Lee (Gulfport) is 5-0, 4.05. Jones is coached by former Mississippi State catcher Wes Thigpen, who came over from Gulf Coast four years ago. Gulf Coast, under new coach Zach Allen, comes to Ellisville with a 27-13 mark, 9-5 in the league. … Pearl River’s K.K. Clark, from Brandon via MSU, was named MACCC pitcher of the week after tossing a five-inning no-hitter at Meridian. Hitter of the week is East Central’s Briceton Johnson, a freshman from Maben who hit .615 with a grand slam and a three-run homer in four games.

28 Mar

cue the highlights

With one triple to his name over his first four big league seasons, Nick Fortes delivered a second three-bagger Thursday that helped Miami make a little history. The former Ole Miss catcher led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a triple off the center-field wall, and moments later Kyle Stowers knocked in pinch runner Javier Sanoja to give the Marlins their first opening day walk-off win, 5-4 over Pittsburgh. Fortes, whose defense is his real forte, sorta picked up where he left off in 2024, when he batted .290 after the All-Star break. His big hit was one of several highlights for Mississippians in the majors on opening day: Austin Riley, the ex-DeSoto Central High star, hit the first 2025 home run by a Magnolia State product, going yard for Atlanta in its 7-4 loss at San Diego. … Mississippi State alum Jordan Westburg smacked one of the six homers Baltimore hit in a 12-2 rout of Toronto. … After all those fireworks had settled, former Southern Miss star Nick Sandlin pitched a clean ninth inning in his Blue Jays debut. … Garrett Crochet, Ocean Springs High product, threw five innings (two runs, four strikeouts) in his Boston debut and got a no-decision in a game the Red Sox won late, 5-2, at Texas. … Ex-George County High standout Justin Steele allowed three runs in five innings, good enough to get the win for the Chicago Cubs in a 10-6 victory at Arizona. … Biloxi High alum Colt Keith had a chance to be a hero for Detroit but, with two on and two out in the ninth, fouled out against Blake Treinen, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 win in their home opener. Keith went 0-for-5. … A couple of lowlights: Brent Rooker, the former State slugger, went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts for the A’s in a 4-2 loss at Seattle, and East Central Community College product Tim Anderson went 0-for-4 with three punchouts in his Angels debut, an 8-1 loss to the White Sox, his original team.

19 Mar

musical chairs

The No. 1 vs. No. 4 showdown Tuesday in the state junior college ranks resulted in a split between top-ranked Pearl River Community College and East Central CC. That opened the door for Jones College, ranked sixth in NJCAA Division II, and unranked Meridian to jump to the top in the MACCC, both with 5-1 records. (Yes, the musical chairs in the state standings and the national poll will continue into next week.) PRCC, 23-5 overall, is now 3-1 in the league and ECCC (22-6) is 4-2. In their twinbill at Decatur, ECCC won the opener 10-0 and PRCC roared back to take the nightcap 11-1, boosted by a Nico Williams grand slam. Meanwhile, surging Jones (19-6) swept struggling Hinds 11-9 and 11-3. T.J. Dunsford continues to be an offensive catalyst for the Bobcats, and Chase Russell and Josh Lee have emerged as stalwarts on the mound. The most intriguing team at the moment might be Meridian (18-10), which took two Tuesday from 21st-ranked Gulf Coast, 9-8 and 3-0. The Eagles have won five straight after a six-game losing streak. Connor Gehr, the ace of the Eagles’ pitching staff, got a walk-off hit in the 13th inning to beat Gulf Coast in Game 1 at Scaggs Field. Peyton Fowler (2-1) then went out and threw a two-hitter in the second game. Brennon Wright (.373), Tyrus Williams (.289, five homers) and Brayden Martin (.310, 19 steals) have paced Meridian’s hitters. MCC is at Delta on Saturday, while Jones visits Northeast. Pearl River goes to Holmes and ECCC to Itawamba. … The MACCC weekly honors went to East Miss’ Trace Tingle, a Pascagoula native who beat then-No. 1 East Central with a two-hitter last week, striking out nine batters, and Pearl River’s Topher Jones (Hernando), a Mississippi State transfer who hit .583 with a homer and nine RBIs.