Tag Archives: Jackson State

18 Oct

stunning start

There have been 75 leadoff home runs in MLB postseason history, No. 75 coming courtesy of Shohei Ohtani as part of his epic performance on Friday night. A Mississippi native hit one of those 75 homers and another Magnolia State product was victimized by a big one. But first, Ohtani. What he did Friday night — the magnum opus of his career, some are calling it — began with a first inning unlike anything ever seen. As the Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting pitcher against hapless Milwaukee, he struck out the side after issuing a leadoff walk, then grabbed a bat and belted a 446-foot homer, his third postseason leadoff blast. He would hit two more homers — including a 469-foot bomb that left Dodger Stadium — and strike out seven more batters in six-plus innings, propelling the Dodgers to a 5-1 win, a sweep of the NLCS and a berth in the World Series. “I think we’re going to be talking about this forever,” said Freddie Freeman, Dodgers first baseman and Mississippi Braves alum. Simply stunning. Back in 2017, Brian Dozier, the Tupelo native and ex-Southern Miss star, enjoyed a moment that stunned the crowd at Yankee Stadium. Playing for Minnesota, in his first postseason appearance, Dozier led off the American League Wild Card Game with a bomb off Luis Severino. However, the Yankees would rally to win the one-game showdown 8-4. Back in 1986, Boston took the field at Fenway Park for Game 3 of the World Series holding a 2-0 lead in games over the Mets. Oil Can Boyd, the Meridian native and ex-Jackson State star, was on the bump for the Red Sox, and Jackson Mets alum Lenny Dykstra yanked Boyd’s third pitch out of the park, sparking a four-run first inning and a 7-1 Mets win. New York won that unforgettable Series in seven games.

31 Aug

noteworthy

The Milwaukee Brewers, the team with the best record in the majors, got stronger on Saturday when Jackson Chourio came off the injured list. And the former Biloxi Shuckers star went 2-for-4 with a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning as the Brewers (85-52) beat Toronto 4-1. It was the 18th homer of the season for Chourio, who spent a month on the IL. The 21-year-old outfielder, currently batting .278 with 68 RBIs and 18 steals, was third in National League rookie of the year voting in 2024. Mississippi State product Brandon Woodruff, another of the many Shuckers alums on Milwaukee’s roster, starts for the Brewers today at Toronto; he is 5-1 with a 3.10 ERA. … Ex-DeSoto Central High standout Blaze Jordan extended his hitting streak to seven games with a home run — his 15th of 2025 — in Triple-A Memphis’ 8-2 win over Oklahoma City. Jordan, St. Louis’ No. 18 prospect, is batting .280 with 84 RBIs on the year with three different clubs. … In a Double-A Eastern League game at Reading, Pa., before a crowd of 7,000-plus, a couple of former Mississippi high school stars got big knocks: Bryson Ware, Germantown grad, hit a two-run homer for Reading (Philadelphia affiliate) and Tupelo alum Reed Trimble went deep for Chesapeake (Baltimore) in the Fightin Phils’ 3-1 victory. Reading managed just two hits in the game. Ware, who also played at Pearl River Community College and Auburn, is batting .279 with two homers for Reading and has eight bombs overall at two levels. Ex-Southern Miss star Trimble has nine homers for Chesapeake and 13 overall, including a couple in Triple-A. … And at Windy City in Illinois, Kyle Booker’s eighth-inning single drove in the lone run as the indy Mississippi Mud Monsters (and Jeremy Peguero) beat the Thunderbolts 1-0. The Mud Monsters (48-47) finish their inaugural season today at Crestwood, Ill. … Madison Central product Spencer Turnbull has signed a minor league deal with Kansas City and will report to Triple-A Omaha. The veteran right-hander is now with his third organization in 2025, having been released by Toronto and the Chicago Cubs. … On this date in 1990, former Jackson State standout Wes Chamberlain made his MLB debut for the Phillies. He would play six years in the majors, batting .255 with 43 homers. He batted .364 for the Phils in the 1993 NL Championship Series win over Atlanta.

17 Jul

meanwhile …

While the major and minor leagues were on hiatus for the All-Star break, there were pro games on Wednesday night in the MLB Partner leagues, aka independent ball. A host of Mississippians took the field in American Association games, with former Ole Miss catcher Hayden Dunhurst enjoying the brightest moment. He went 3-for-4 with a double and a run in Lake Country’s 8-0 win against Gary SouthShore. He also called pitches for Luke Hansel’s five-hitter. (Former big leaguer Cody Reed of Horn Lake pitches out of the bullpen for Gary SouthShore but didn’t work on Wednesday.) Ole Miss product Taylor Broadway, who has a 4.45 ERA in 21 games as a reliever for Cleburne, was in the lineup Wednesday as the DH — for the first time — and went 1-for-5 in the Railroaders’ 13-4 win over Kane County. Former Hattiesburg High star Joe Gray Jr. had a hit for Milwaukee — which only had five — in an 11-1 loss to Chicago; Gray is hitting .238 with three homers and 15 RBIs since the Milkmen picked him up on waivers in late May. (Southern Miss alum J.C. Keys pitches for Chicago but didn’t get in Wednesday’s game.) Ex-Mississippi State standout and onetime big leaguer Jacob Robson was 1-for-4 for Winnipeg in a 3-2 loss to Sioux Falls; he has hit seven homers for the Goldeyes. West Point native Steffon Moore threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in his second appearance for Kansas City, which lost to Fargo-Moorhead 4-2. Jackson State alum Jaylyn Williams, a .298 hitter for the Monarchs, was 0-for-4 on Wednesday. (Ex-Itawamba Community College star Kyle Crigger, 5-4 with 3.05 ERA for F-M, did not pitch.) … In the Frontier League All-Star Game, the Atlantic team beat the Midwest 5-4. Travis Holt of the Mississippi Mud Monsters had a hit for the Midwest. P.S. Three Mississippi high school players are among the 88 invited by USA Baseball to the Under-18 National Team Training Camp in Cary, N.C: Oak Grove outfielder Eric Booth, Magnolia Heights infielder Cole Prosek and Jackson Prep outfielder Kevin Roberts Jr. Phase 1 of the camp starts Friday. Forty players will advance to Phase 2.

12 Jul

clearing the bases

Atlanta won a one-run game Friday night — shocking! — but lost in midgame third baseman Austin Riley to “lower abdominal tightness.” The DeSoto Central High alum was listed as day-to-day, per the latest report on mlb.com/braves. He has played in all of the Braves’ 93 games, and they need him in the lineup. Riley was 1-for-2 with an RBI knock in the 6-5 win at St. Louis, continuing his recent surge: .321 with two homers, six RBIs and five runs in his last seven games. He is at .274 with 14 homers and 48 RBIs on the season. … Former Mississippi Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr., who went 3-for-5 on Friday, will not take part in Monday’s Home Run Derby over concerns about his back; Matt Olson takes his spot. … Ex-Ocean Springs High star Garrett Crochet of Boston pulled out of Tuesday’s All-Star Game, replaced on the American roster by Casey Mize. Meanwhile, Biloxi Shuckers alum Jacob Misiorowski, Milwaukee’s 6-foot-7 rookie sensation (4-1, 2.81 ERA) has been named to the National League squad. … Mississippi products Konnor Griffin (Jackson Prep), Braden Montgomery (Madison Central) and Jurrangelo Cijntje (Mississippi State) will get some national exposure today (3 p.m., MLB Network) in the All-Star Futures Game at Truist Park in Atlanta. Griffin is the No. 13 prospect in the minors, per MLB Pipeline rankings, with Montgomery at No. 32 and Cijntje No. 79. Each is currently playing in High-Class A. The Futures Game has become a big deal. Former Magnolia Heights standout Cooper Pratt, now in Double-A, played in the 2024 game. In previous years current big leaguers Colt Keith, Matt Wallner and Nathaniel Lowe particpated, along with the likes of Hunter Renfroe, Billy Hamilton, Dakota Hudson, Desmond Jennings and Ethan Small. … Dakota Jordan, the former MSU and Jackson Academy star, isn’t going to the ATL, but certainly has the credentials. He hit his 10th homer on Friday and is batting .304 with 70 RBIs and 63 runs in 79 games at Low-A San Jose (San Francisco). … Jackson State alum Robert Tate Jr. started at shortstop and went 1-for-4 with an RBI and Tigers teammate Nkosi Didder struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning to get the win as the NL squad beat the AL 7-4 in Friday’s HBCU Swingman Classic. … Arizona activated ex-MSU star Kendall Graveman from the IL; he gave up a run in an inning of work vs. the Los Angeles Angels and now has an 8.68 ERA. … Former Ole Miss slugger Tim Elko was placed on the IL (knee) by the Chicago White Sox; he is batting .145 in 62 MLB at-bats.

22 Jun

flashback

On this date in 1985, Jackson native Curtis Ford made his big league debut for St. Louis — and it was one for the scrapbook. Pinch-hitting in the ninth inning at Busch Stadium, he got a game-winning hit off Lee Smith — future Hall of Famer — of the Chicago Cubs. Ford went 6-for-12 that season and hit .245 with 36 steals in 406 games over parts of six MLB campaigns. He played in the 1987 postseason with St. Louis and batted .318, going 4-for-13 with two RBIs in the World Series loss to Minnesota. He played in Mexico and independent leagues until 1997. A Murrah High grad, Ford played college ball for Bob Braddy at Jackson State and is one of nine JSU alums to make The Show. Also on the list: Oil Can Boyd, Dave Clark, Marvin Freeman and Wes Chamberlain. Ford played for Double-A Arkansas in the Texas League and was on base in the 1984 TL All-Star Game at Smith-Wills Stadium when Jackson’s Billy Beane hit a game-winning homer. Ford’s son Curtis played at Mississippi Valley State under Doug Shanks. P.S. Nathaniel Lowe hit his 100th career homer on Saturday, then added No. 101. The Mississippi State alum contributed two solo shots to Washington’s 7-3 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With four homers in June, Lowe has 12 for the year and is batting .228 with 47 RBIs. … Ex-MSU star Justin Foscue was recalled from the minors by Texas but did not play Saturday. He was batting .269 with 10 homers at Triple-A Round Rock; he went 2-for-42 in his MLB debut last season. … Jordan Westburg, another former Bulldogs standout, left Saturday’s game with a jammed finger and is considered day-to-day by Baltimore. A 2024 All-Star, he is hitting .229 in 34 games, having recently come off the injured list. … Petal native and erstwhile big leaguer Demarcus Evans is pitching again, now in the independent American Association. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound right-hander has a 2.08 ERA in four games for Gary SouthShore. He last pitched in MLB in 2021 with Texas and has made just nine appearances, all in indy leagues, since 2022.

18 Jun

around the horn

Flushing a night of frustration, Austin Riley hit a walk-off 10th-inning sacrifice fly Tuesday that gave Atlanta a 5-4 win over the visiting New York Mets. “Hopefully it’s some momentum to carry the rest of the series,” the DeSoto Central High product said in a postgame interview. The Braves are a wobbly 32-39 with two games left in the series against the Mets, who lead the National League East at 45-28. Riley, an All-Star candidate who has had his struggles both at the plate and in the field, was 0-for-4 with a strikeout when he came up in the 10th with the bases loaded and one out. He had popped up in a similar situation in the eighth when the Braves trailed 4-1. This time — with the score knotted thanks to Marcell Ozuna’s three-run double in the eighth — he drove a fastball to the warning track in center field, scoring the game-winner. It was the fourth walk-off RBI in Riley’s career, including one in the 2021 National League Championship Series. He is batting .277 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs this season. … Jordan Westburg, the ex-Mississippi State star, went 3-for-5 with two runs in Baltimore’s 5-1 win against Tampa Bay. Westburg is batting .385 with three homers and eight RBIs in seven games since coming off the injured list. The Orioles (31-41) are 5-2 in those games. … Will Warren, the former Jackson Prep standout, struck out a career-high 11 batters in six innings but took a loss as the New York Yankees were shut out — again! — by the Los Angeles Angels 4-0 at Yankee Stadium. Warren, who gave up three early runs, is 4-4 with a 4.83 ERA. … MSU alum Nathaniel Lowe hit his 10th homer for Washington, but Colorado blasted seven bombs — seven! — all told in a 10-6 win that sent the Nationals to their 10th straight loss. … Zack Morris, who demonstrated punch-out stuff with the Mississippi Mud Monsters, has signed with the Colorado Rockies and been assigned to the rookie-level Arizona Complex League team. Left-hander Morris, 24, a former Arkansas and TCU star, posted a 3.86 ERA over 16 1/3 innings for the independent Mud Monsters with 29 strikeouts and just three walks. “This is exactly the kind of moment we coach for,” Mud-sters manager Jay Pecci said in a team release. “Zack came in, did the work, and got better every time out.” Morris had a 5.48 ERA over five college seasons and pitched in the indy Frontier League last year with New Jersey. … Jackson State will be well-represented in the HBCU Swingman Classic, with six Tigers bound for Atlanta’s Truist Park on July 11. Robert Tate Jr., Jordan McCladdie, Joseph Eichelberger, Eric Elliott, Nkosi Didder and Erick Gonzalez are among the 50 HBCU players chosen for the third annual all-star game. Jaylon Burrell of Alcorn State and Kade Wood of Mississippi Valley State also have been invited, along with Chenar Brown, who played two years at JSU before transferring. Former Alcorn star Corey Wimberly is one of the coaches for the game. … Jackson State’s Omar Johnson is on the coaching staff for the Collegiate National Team’s training camp at Cary, N.C., USA Baseball has announced. The staff will be split into two units for the Stars vs. Stripes series, set for June 29-July 3 at sites in North Carolina. The roster of players has yet to be announced.

18 May

there and here

MLB’s “rivalry weekend” featured a St. Louis-Kansas City series at Kauffman Stadium, where the Royals honored their 1985 and 2015 World Series championship clubs. There were Mississippi natives on both of those teams: Greenville’s Frank White was a slick-fielding, power-hitting second baseman for the ’85 Royals, who beat St. Louis in seven games in the memorable I-40 Series, and McComb’s Jarrod Dyson was a dash-fast outfielder for the ’15 team, which was managed by former Jackson Mets catcher Ned Yost. There are two state natives on the current Royals: Crystal Springs’ Hunter Renfroe and Tupelo’s Chris Stratton, both Mississippi State alums. … Former Ole Miss star Tim Elko had a nice debut in Chicago’s Crosstown Classic, hitting his second homer for the White Sox in their loss Saturday to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. UM product Drew Pomeranz, a Cubs reliever, did not work in the first two games of that series. … Ex-MSU star Nathaniel Lowe homered for Washington in its win over beltway rival Baltimore on Friday, then drove in two more runs in a win on Saturday in the slumping Orioles’ first game after manager Brandon Hyde’s dismissal. … Seedings and brackets are set for this week’s NCAA Division I tournaments. Mississippi State is seeded 11th in the SEC field and opens with Texas A&M in an elimination game on Tuesday at Hoover, Ala., while Ole Miss, seeded seventh, plays Wednesday against the Florida-South Carolina winner. Southern Miss is the 2-seed in the Sun Belt and will play on Wednesday at Montgomery, Ala. Jackson State is seeded sixth in the SWAC Tournament and draws Alabama State on Wednesday at Birmingham’s historic Rickwood Field. … The season is over for Delta State and Millsaps College, both of which lost elimination games in NCAA regional play on Saturday. Both were regular season champions in their respective conferences. … Pearl River Community College won the NJCAA Region 23 championship on Saturday with a 10-0 win over East Central CC in the deciding Game 3. Jacob Johnson (12-1) threw a brilliant seven innings. The No. 2-ranked Wildcats (50-8) are off to the Junior College World Series in Enid, Okla. … The MHSAA championship matchups are (almost) set: In Class 7A, it’s Madison Central-Brandon; in 6A, Saltillo-George County; in 5A Lafayette-South Jones; in 4A, it’s Purvis vs. the West Lauderdale-Newton winner from today; in 3A, Mooreville-Seminary; in 2A, East Union-Clarkdale; and in 1A West Union-Taylorsville. The seven best-of-3 series begin this week at Trustmark Park in Pearl.

05 May

frozen ropes

Belhaven University gets a second crack at the Collegiate Conference of the South championship today when the Blazers play Huntingdon (Ala.) at Maryville, Tenn. The Blazers (31-12) were unbeaten in the tournament and riding an eight-game win streak before the Hawks took them down 2-1 Sunday night. NCAA Division III Belhaven last won a conference title in 2011 when the program was in the NAIA Southern States Athletic Conference. Hill Denson was the coach. The Blazers won five titles in the NAIA-level GCAC under Denson between 2004-10. … Mississippi College eliminated Delta State 9-3 in a losers bracket game in the GSC Tournament as Jordan Evans doubled, homered, drove in two runs and scored three. MC meets Valdosta State next in Oxford, Ala. … William Carey lost to Loyola (La.) 9-7 in the SSAC Tournament title game, but the Crusaders will move on to an NAIA Opening Round tourney starting May 12 in Hattiesburg. … Capping Super Bulldog Weekend with a 6-1 win Sunday for a sweep of Kentucky, Mississippi State moved to 4-0 under interim coach Justin Parker. MSU pitchers yielded just 15 runs over the four games against Memphis and the Wildcats under their (former) pitching coach. Next up for State: Ole Miss at Dudy Noble Field. Won’t that be fun? … Ole Miss salvaged a win in the series finale at Oklahoma, climbing to 13-11 in the SEC but falling to No. 18 in the new Baseball America poll. … Southern Miss, 35-13 with a nine-game win streak, swept Arkansas State in a three-game Sun Belt set in Hattiesburg, getting its fifth walk-off win on Friday on a Matthew Russo home run. … Jackson State has won 10 in a row, including a home sweep of Mississippi Valley State; the Tigers are 27-17, 14-10 SWAC. … In MLB, DeSoto Central High alum Austin Riley hit two homers totaling 842 feet to power Atlanta past the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Riley, with 161 career homers, now ranks ninth among Mississippians on the career list. (Technically, he was born in a Memphis hospital, but he grew up in Southaven.) … Colt Keith, ex-Biloxi High star, homered for the third time in five games — and third time all year — to help Detroit beat the Angels 13-1. … Kansas City set a franchise record with seven homers in a wild win over Baltimore; former MSU standout Hunter Renfroe (192 career bombs) was not among the Royals who went yard and has yet to homer this season in 75 at-bats. … Ole Miss product Nick Fortes came off the injured list Sunday for Miami and went 1-for-3 as the starting catcher.

29 Apr

fasten your seatbelt

What was already going to be a fascinating week for Magnolia State teams got a lot more interesting on Monday, when Mississippi State decided to make “a change in baseball leadership.” Suddenly, Chris Lemonis was out as head coach. Justin Parker will make his debut as the interim coach tonight when the Bulldogs host Memphis at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville. Lemonis, who had a 232-135 record, won a national title in 2021, but the team’s results since then, especially in the SEC, have been decidedly mediocre. Ranked in the preseason, MSU takes a 25-19 record (7-14 SEC) into tonight’s game. … Also today, Jones College will host East Central Community College in a doubleheader that will decide the second seed in the MACCC playoffs. Both are ranked in the top 10 nationally in NJCAA Division II. Postseason positioning is on the line in several other MACCC games today. No. 2-ranked Pearl River already has claimed the regular season championship and will host a sub-regional starting May 5. … Jackson State completed a series sweep of Alcorn State on Monday, outscoring the struggling Braves 30-7 in the three games at Lorman. JSU, on a six-game win streak, is 23-17, 11-10 SWAC, and will host New Orleans on Wednesday and Mississippi Valley State next weekend. … In the SSAC Tournament opening round on Wednesday at Jackson, Tenn., No. 1 seed William Carey plays Tennessee Southern and No. 5 Blue Mountain Christian meets Middle Georgia. The Mississippi schools are in the same four-team pool. … Belhaven, seeded second in the CCS Tournament at Maryville, Tenn., plays Huntingdon (Ala.) on Wednesday in the first round. … Rust College will take on Wiley (Texas) on Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the HBCUAC Tournament in North Little Rock, Ark. … Delta State is the top seed and Mississippi College No. 4 in the GSC Tournament that begins Friday at Oxford, Ala. DSU meets Montevallo (Ala.) and MC gets West Alabama in first round games. … NCAA Division III rivals Millsaps and MUW, whose conference tournaments start next week, will tangle today at Twenty Field in Jackson. Millsaps, as the top seed, will host the SAA Tournament starting on May 8. MUW’s seeding in the SLIAC tourney has not been set. P.S. With Baltimore having paced ex-State standout Jordan Westburg (hamstring) on the injured list, there are now 11 Mississippians on the major league IL and 11 on active rosters. (Cleveland sent Ole Miss alum Doug Nikhazy back to the minors after his inauspicious debut.)

18 Apr

answering the bell

Southern Miss, Ole Miss and Jackson State each dealt with a sense of urgency on Thursday. Two of them — USM and JSU — got the result they needed. In Hattiesburg, the Golden Eagles faced Georgia State on Hill Denson Bobblehead Night with an announced 5,408, including the former coach, on hand at Taylor Park. If ever there was a must-win game … . USM made the Hall of Fame coach proud with an 8-1 win, belting five homers to back the brilliant pitching of J.B. Middleton. Nick Monistere hit his 13th homer — fifth in three games — and Middleton (7-1) tossed eight innings (three hits, one run, 12 strikeouts) as USM moved to 26-12, 11-5 Sun Belt. At Braddy Field in Jackson, JSU, which had lost seven of eight, rode a dominant outing from Erick Gonzalez to a 2-0 victory against Alabama A&M. Gonzalez (4-3) worked 8 2/3, allowing six hits and punching out 10. The Tigers (18-17, 6-10 SWAC) cobbled together two runs in the second inning on a sac bunt, an error and a sac fly. Alas, Ole Miss, coming off a clunky home loss to Arkansas-Little Rock, went to Columbia, S.C., and dropped a 3-2 decision to South Carolina, one of the worst teams in the SEC at 3-13. Hunter Elliott (5-2) allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings to take a hard-luck loss for the nationally ranked Rebels (27-11, 9-7 SEC). UM has lost three in a row and four of five. … Incidentally, d1baseball.com projects Ole Miss to host a regional that will include USM. The website also put Mississippi State in the 64-team field. The Bulldogs (23-14, 5-10) open a big SEC series today against Florida (25-14, 4-11) at Starkville. … Also on tap this weekend: William Carey University visits Blue Mountain Christian in an SCAC series. Ranked No. 9 in NAIA, Carey (31-9, 20-4) leads 34-8 in the all-time series with BMC. But the Toppers (21-22, 10-14) won the regular season series in 2024 before losing a league tournament game to the Crusaders. P.S. In MLB: Cool moment at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa on Thursday when Tampa Bay’s Jake Mangum faced former Jackson Prep teammate Will Warren, the New York Yankees’ starting pitcher, in the second inning. Mangum hit a high hopper that Warren fielded, but with no one covering first base for some reason, Mangum got an infield hit. That was the rookies’ only clash. Mangum had two hits to raise his average to .345; Warren (5.17 ERA) lasted just 1 2/3 innings, yielding one run. The Yanks won 6-3. … Former Jackson Mets and big league manager Clint Hurdle is the new hitting coach for Colorado, which dismissed Hensley Meulens on Thursday.