Tag Archives: Itawamba Community College

30 Oct

there and here

In light of Trey Yesavage’s dominant start for Toronto in World Series Game 5 on Wednesday night, mlb.com compiled a list of other outstanding performances by postseason rookies in other organizations. Brandon Woodruff, who debuted with Milwaukee in 2017, was still technically a rookie in 2018 when the Mississippi State product shined during the Brewers’ run to a Game 7 in the National League Championship Series. Woodruff made four appearances all told in the playoffs, yielding three runs in 12 1/3 innings with 17 strikeouts. He got the win in Game 1 of the NLCS with two hitless innings and famously homered off Los Angeles ace Clayton Kershaw. … Tim Elko, the ex-Ole Miss star who made his MLB debut in 2025, will miss the start of the 2026 season after having surgery to repair a torn ACL, according to an mlb.com report. He could be sidelined several months. Elko, 26, hit just .134 with four home runs in 23 games with the Chicago White Sox this season. He batted .292 with 26 homers and 70 RBIs in Triple-A in his fourth pro campaign. Elko suffered an ACL injury to the same knee during his senior year in Oxford before returning to help the Rebels win the national championship. … The MLB Players Association has named Ronald Acuna Jr. its NL comeback player of the year and Drake Baldwin the NL’s outstanding rookie. Both are former Mississippi Braves stars. … Former MSU standout Eric Cerantola, a prospect in Kansas City’s system, is pitching in the Dominican Winter League and has a 2.25 ERA in four appearances for Cibaenas. A fifth-round draft pick in 2021, he went 2-2 with a 4.04 era and a save in 38 games at Triple-A Omaha this past season. … Coming Nov. 7, MSU’s annual alumni game — the Diamond Dawg Classic — that will bring an impressive list of ex-Bulldogs to Starkville, including current big leaguers Adam Frazier and Jake Mangum. Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro will serve as managers of the two squads. Expected to participate are Mitch Moreland, Jonathan Papelbon, Hunter Renfroe, Tyler Moore, Reid Humphreys, Tanner Allen and current minor leaguers Dakota Jordan and Connor Hujsak. … Colt Keith, former Biloxi High star, is expected to again play a utility role for Detroit in 2026. The second-year big leaguer did time at first, second and third base as well as DH while batting .256 with 13 home runs. “The fact that he can play all three positions gives us a real advantage,” Detroit’s president on baseball operations, Scott Harris, recently told the Detroit Free Press. … Born on this date in 1986: Desmond Jennings, the ex-Itawamba Community College two-sport star who played seven years in the big leagues, all with Tampa Bay. He hit .245 with 55 homers and 95 steals; he also batted .303 in 11 postseason games.

24 Aug

touching the bases

His Boston teammates call Garrett Crochet “Beast,” and on Saturday at Yankee Stadium he showed why. The former Ocean Springs High star overpowered the New York Yankees in the Red Sox’s 12-1 victory: seven innings, five hits, one run, one walk, 11 strikeouts. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound left-hander is 14-5 with a 2.38 ERA; he is 2-0, 2.96, in three starts vs. the Yankees, all wins by Boston. He went over 200 strikeouts for the season and passed 500 for his career; he has only been a starter for two of his five seasons. While Crochet was sharp in the Red Sox’s eighth straight win over the Yanks, Jackson Prep product Will Warren was not. He was charged with five runs in four innings and fell to 7-6, 4.47. … The Milwaukee Brewers will honor the late Bob Uecker today at American Family Field. Brewers broadcaster Tim Dillard, the ex-Itawamba Community College star who pitched for the Brewers from 2008-12, said this about Uecker, aka Mr. Baseball: “He made everybody better. Whether it was with his knowledge or his wit, his storytelling, just his voice, all of it. That was his gift, and he shared it with the world.” … Matt Wallner hit his 17th homer in Minnesota’s loss on Saturday. The former Southern Miss slugger, batting just .210, has 33 extra-base knocks among his 55 hits. … Seattle has designated former Mississippi Braves shortstop Dylan Moore for assignment. With the Mariners since 2019, the versatile Moore is hitting .193 this year. … Former Atlanta Braves scout Roy Clark — responsible for the drafting of Austin Riley, Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward and Adam Wainwright, among others — has died at age 68. … Justin Foscue, the ex-Mississippi State standout, is itching for a call-up with Texas, which has suffered a rash of injuries lately. Foscue hit his 15th homer for Triple-A Round Rock on Saturday and is batting .292 with four bombs and 17 RBIs in August. He is 3-for-51 in his brief MLB time the last two years. … The Mississippi Mud Monsters’ Frontier League playoff hopes took a hit on Saturday when Washington rallied for six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning en route to an 8-6 win. Former ICC standout Tyreque Reed hit a game-tying three-run homer in the pivotal frame, his 13th of the season for the Wild Things. … Christopher Sargent Jr. continues to put up staggering stats in the independent Pioneer League: The USM alum, who had two hits in Ogden’s win on Saturday, is batting .384 with 35 homers, 130 RBIs and 94 runs in 80 games.

29 Jul

on the move

Former Madison Central High standout Braden Montgomery has been promoted to Double-A Birmingham in the Chicago White Sox’s system. The 12th overall pick last year (out of Texas A&M by Boston), the 22-year-old Montgomery, a switch-hitting outfielder, hit .269 with 11 homers, 57 RBIs, 50 runs and 11 stolen bases over two levels of A-ball. He is the ChiSox’s No. 2 prospect and No. 26 overall in the minors, per MLB Pipeline. … Michael Fowler, a Southern Miss product, has signed with the Milwaukee Brewers, the independent Mississippi Mud Monsters announced. Fowler, who only recently joined the Mud-sters’ roster, went 2-1 with a 1.92 ERA in seven games, striking out 15 in 9 1/3 innings. This is his first pro season. … Will Verdung, the MACCC’s player of the year for 2023 at Itawamba Community College, has been placed on the injured list at High-Class A Rome by the Atlanta Braves. The third baseman is batting .279 with no homers and 22 RBIs. Verdung mashed 25 homers in two years at ICC and went deep in his first pro at-bat in 2023 but has hit just two homers since. … Oak Grove outfielder Eric Booth Jr., Magnolia Heights infielder Cole Prosek and Jackson Prep outfielder Kevin Roberts Jr. have advanced to Phase 2 of USA Baseball’s U18 National Team Training Camp in Cary, N.C. There will be a second cut to 20 players, who will compete in the U-18 Baseball World Cup in Okinawa, Japan. … Nick Fortes, just acquired by Tampa Bay from Miami, is in the Rays’ lineup at catcher for tonight’s game at Yankee Stadium, facing New York ace Max Fried.

07 Jul

arrivals and departures

July 7 is a red-letter date for a large number of players with Mississippi ties. On this date in 2011, former Ole Miss standout Zack Cozart made his MLB debut with Cincinnati. He went 1-for-3 against Milwaukee, launching a nine-year big league career that saw him bat .247 with 85 homers and make the 2017 All-Star Game. Three former Jackson Generals debuted on July 7 (per Baseball Almanac): Todd Jones in 1993, Trent (Trenidad) Hubbard in ’94 and Wade Miller in ’99. Jones and Miller debuted with the Double-A Gens’ parent Houston Astros, Hubbard with Colorado. On July 7, 2005, former Mississippi Braves star Jeff Francoeur crashed The Show with Atlanta, homering in his first game. Two years later, M-Braves alum Jo-Jo Reyes got the call from the big Braves. Also on July 7, in 1990, former Jackson Mets ace Jay Tibbs threw the final pitch of his seven-year MLB career, and in 1996, Jeff Ware — a player/coach for the 2002 Jackson Senators — threw his last MLB pitch, capping an 18-game career. Most notably, July 7, 2012, marked the final game of Tim Dillard’s major league career — but not his pro career. The former Itawamba Community College standout posted a 4.70 ERA over four seasons with Milwaukee. The colorful right-hander, now a Brewers TV analyst, would continue pitching in various leagues until 2020, working 18 pro seasons overall. P.S. Konnor Griffin, the former Jackson Prep star, swiped three bases for High-Class A Greensboro on Sunday, running his season total to 40 over two levels in the Pittsburgh system. He is batting .333 overall with a .532 slugging percentage and 13 homers, but speed might be his best tool. He swiped a jaw-dropping 85 bases at Prep last year, when he won Gatorade national player of the year honors. … Former Southern Miss and Meridian CC star Dalton McIntyre was recently promoted by Atlanta from rookie ball to High-A Rome, where he joins forces with ex-ICC standout Will Verdung. McIntyre hit .388 at USM in 2024 and is batting .259 with 18 steals in his first pro season. Verdung, a 2023 Braves draftee after earning MACCC player of the year honors, is hitting .285 for the Emperors.

04 Jul

taste of home

The Mud Monsters aren’t the only ones coming home to Mississippi today. Tyreque Reed, a Magnolia State native, is on the roster of the Washington Wild Things, who are visiting Trustmark Park this weekend for a Frontier League series. Reed, 28, who starred at Houlka High and Itawamba Community College before launching his pro career, is the Wild Things’ cleanup batter and certainly a hitter to keep an eye on this weekend. He won the FL batting title last year with a .341 average for a Washington club that posted the indy league’s best record. Currently, Reed is hitting .240 with 10 homers and 46 RBIs. In 2017 at ICC, the right-handed hitting Reed batted a ridiculous .504 with 15 homers and 15 doubles. He played in both the Texas and Boston systems in affiliated ball, batting .268 with 64 homers in 374 games and reaching the Double-A level with the Red Sox in 2021. He missed much of the ’22 and ’23 seasons with injuries. (Of note: Madison Central High alum Regi Grace began this season with Washington but is now pitching in Mexico.) Washington is 26-22, first in the FL’s Midwest Conference Central Division. The Mud Monsters, fourth in the Midwest West, are 23-25 but coming in hot, having won three straight at Evansville. Kyle Booker, a DeSoto Central product, went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in Thursday’s win and is batting .303. Travis Holt leads the club in homers and RBIs with seven and 29. P.S. Former Meridian CC standout Cliff Lee was in the news on Thursday. Zack Wheeler, named the National League’s pitcher of the month for June, became the first Philadelphia Phillies pitcher since Lee to win two monthly awards. Wheeler also won in May of 2022. Lee, one of the most underrated pitchers of recent times, won twice in 2011, going 5-0 with a sub-0.50 ERA in both June and August. The left-hander, a four-time All-Star, also won two POMs with Cleveland in 2008, when he won the Cy Young Award, and another with Seattle in 2010. He went 143-91 with a 3.52 ERA for his career. … Ex-Ole Miss star Doug Nikhazy was recalled (again) from Triple-A by Cleveland on Thursday but did not pitch. His only MLB appearance to date was his rocky debut on April 26. … Mel Rojas Jr., who played for the Mississippi Braves in 2016, has set the Korean Baseball Organization career record for homers by a foreign player. He hit No. 175 on Thursday for the KT Wiz.

03 Jul

a quick trip

It takes a dash of speed and a pinch of luck to hit an inside-the-park home run. Jake Mangum had both going for him on Wednesday. The former Mississippi State star from Flowood banged a high fly ball off the wall in center field at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. Denzel Clarke, the A’s remarkably athletic center fielder, just missed making the catch, crashed into the wall and fell to the ground in a heap as Mangum flew around the bases and scored standing up. It was just the third IPHR of the MLB season — the 24th in Rays history — and it contributed to a 6-5 win that moved the team within a half-game of first place in the American League East. Mangum was timed at 14.98 seconds making the circuit. The record in the Statcast era (since 2015) is Byron Buxton’s 13.85 in 2017, per mlb.com. Known more for his speed than power, Mangum has two homers and 11 steals in 51 games in his rookie season. In 437 minor league games, Mangum hit 24 homers and stole 81 bags. He said after Wednesday’s game that he doesn’t recall ever hitting an inside-the-park homer, even in his amateur days. They are rare. Consider that former Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton, regarded as one of the fastest ever to play the game, never hit one in his 11-year big league career. (He reportedly circled the bases in a hand-timed 13.8 seconds on an IPHR in Double-A.) McComb native Jarrod Dyson, another well-known speedster, hit one IPHR in his 12-year MLB career. Gulfport’s Matt Lawton, another fast man who played from 1995-2006, never got an IPHR. A little research in Baseball Almanac records indicates that Greenville native Frank White recorded three inside-the-parkers back in the 1970s, and Vicksburg’s Ellis Burks tallied two in the mid-’90s. P.S. Kudos to Slater Lott, new coach at Itawamba Community College. The former Pearl River CC hitting coach — he was NJCAA Division II assistant of the year in 2022 — replaces Rick Collier, who retired after 23 highly successful years at ICC. Lott, a former Clarkdale High player, also coached at Meridian CC and Delta State. He joins Brian O’Connor (Mississippi State) and Patrick Robey (Belhaven) as new coaches for 2026.

15 Jun

fathers and sons

There have been a fairly amazing number of father-son duos in major league history — more than 250, according to Baseball Almanac. The Griffeys and the Boones. The Bells and the Alous. More recently, the Guerreros, Witts and Hollidays. As you might figure, several of these father-son duos have had a Mississippi connection. Current Pittsburgh third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes is the son of ex-big leaguer Charlie Hayes, a Mississippi native who starred at Forrest County AHS in the early 1980s. Harry Walker, Pascagoula native who played 11 years in the big leagues between 1940 and ’55, was the son of Ewart “Dixie” Walker, a Pennsylvania native who pitched in the majors from 1909-12. Crawford native Sam Hairston, one of the first black Mississippians to play in MLB, was the father of two big leaguers and the grandfather of two more. Former Ole Miss star and coach Don Kessinger, an All-Star shortstop in his day, is the father of ex-big leaguer Keith Kessinger, who also played at UM, and the grandfather of Grae Kessinger, an Oxford native and UM alum who was in The Show in 2023-24. Ex-big leaguer Steve Dillard, another former Ole Miss standout, is the father of Tim Dillard, who played at Saltillo High and Itawamba Community College before enjoying a four-year MLB career. Del Unser, who played at Mississippi State en route to a 15-year major league career, is the son of Al Unser, who played four seasons in The Show in the 1940s. (Worth noting is the Magnolia State connection of Boston pitcher Hunter Dobbins, who has been in the news a lot of late after “dissing” the New York Yankees and then beating them twice, including on Saturday. Dobbins’ father, Lance, never made The Show but did pitch for the independent Meridian Brakemen some 30 years ago.) P.S. Konnor Griffin, the ex-Jackson Prep star, hit his first homer in High-Class A on Saturday and is batting .435 in five games since his promotion. Overall, Pittsburgh’s No. 2 prospect is batting .348 with 10 bombs, 41 RBIs and 31 steals in his first pro season. … Tim Elko, the former Ole Miss slugger, was sent back to Triple-A by the Chicago White Sox. Elko was hitting just .155 in 58 at-bats, though four of his nine hits were homers.

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.

11 Jun

whatever happened to …

Cody Reed, 32-year-old left-hander from Horn Lake, is pitching in the independent American Association, four years after he last worked in the big leagues. He has been an effective reliever for the Gary SouthShore RailCats, putting up a 2.38 ERA in 11 2/3 innings over 12 games. Is this a path back to MLB? Teams are always looking for lefty relievers, it seems. Reed was drafted out of Northwest Mississippi Community College in the second round in 2013 by Kansas City. A highly rated prospect, he was traded to Cincinnati in 2015, reached the big leagues in 2016 and made 65 appearances (5.22 ERA) over the next six seasons. Reed was a solid reliever for Tampa Bay in 2021 before an injury (and surgery) halted his season in May. He re-signed with the Rays in 2022, then got hurt again in the spring. He pitched briefly in the minors that season, not at all in 2023 and in Mexico last year. … Scanning the pitching leaders in the AA, there is also Kyle Crigger, an Itawamba CC alum from Corinth who is 4-1 with a 2.16 for Fargo-Moorhead; J.C. Keys, a Hattiesburg native and ex-Southern Miss star who has a 3.86 and one save for Chicago; and Taylor Broadway, a former Ole Miss standout who has a 3.45 for Cleburne. All three pitched in the affiliated minors with some success. P.S. On the subject of pitching, Mississippi State product Khal Stephen made MLB Pipeline’s list of top performers from Tuesday’s games. Currently at High-Class A Vancouver in Toronto’s organization, he threw six shutout innings with nine strikeouts on Tuesday. In his first pro season, the second-round pick from 2024 is 5-0 with a 2.25 ERA, an 0.98 WHIP and 73 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings over 12 games in A-ball.

31 May

good news and …

Good day for Mississippi State and Pearl River Community College. While rumors percolate about who’ll be coaching them in 2026, the ’25 MSU team upended Northeastern 11-2 Friday in the opener of the Tallahassee Regional. Joe Powell and Noah Sullivan hit home runs and Ben Davis and Ryan McPherson combined on a five-hitter as the Bulldogs set up a winners bracket meeting today with Florida State, the top seed in the regional. Pearl River got a brilliant two-hitter from K.K. Clark — an MSU transfer — and beat East Central CC 10-0 in five innings to advance to the championship game of the NJCAA Division II World Series. Second-seeded PRCC, which won the title in 2022, faces No. 1 Pasco-Hernando State (Fla.) today in Enid, Okla., for the crown. ECCC ends its season at 46-16. … Bad day for Ole Miss and Southern Miss. Pitching let both of the regional hosts down. The Rebels were shocked by Murray State 9-6 in Oxford, while the Golden Eagles got pummeled 11-4 by Columbia in Hattiesburg. Ole Miss gets 3-seed Western Kentucky today. Former Hinds CC star Thomas Marsala is on the Hilltoppers’ roster. USM plays an elimination game against 2-seed Alabama, upset by Miami on Friday. There are several familiar names on the Crimson Tide roster: Bryce Fowler, who played at USM two years ago before transferring to Pearl River CC; Will Hodo, a former Wayne Academy star; Beau Bryans, a Madison Central and Jones College alum; and Jack Ketchum, a freshman out of Heritage Academy. P.S. Jake Mangum, out since April 24, returned to Tampa Bay’s roster on Friday. The rookie out of MSU, batting .338 when he was hurt, went 0-for-3 in a 2-1 loss to Houston. (Fun fact: Yainer Diaz, who hit the walk-off homer for the Astros, is the older brother of the Mississippi Mud Monsters’ Victor Diaz. Both are catchers.) … Rick Collier, who won more than 700 games in 23 years at Itawamba Community College, has retired. A three-time coach of the year in the state, his teams were a regular in the NJCAA national rankings and made the postseason 18 times. Under Delta State alum Collier, the program had more than 20 players drafted by MLB clubs, among them Tim Dillard and Desmond Jennings. … Happy trails, also, to Bill Blackwell, who has retired as executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, where he had served since 2016. Blackwell, who played baseball at Southern Illinois, was a longtime general manager of the Double-A Jackson Mets and Generals at Smith-Wills Stadium. … Today is opening day for the Cotton States League, the New Albany-based college summer loop that’s been around since 2009. The league will field four teams, stocked mostly with small college and juco players.