Tag Archives: Jackson State

26 Sep

how’s the view?

Former Ole Miss pitcher Mickey Callaway and ex-Jackson State slugger Dave Clark will have a great view of what could be great series at Comerica Park over the next four days. Callaway is the pitching coach for Cleveland, which needs one win to clinch the American League Central title. Clark is the third-base coach for Detroit, which probably needs to sweep the series – and get some help down the road – to earn a playoff berth. The Tigers, 2-13 against the Indians, trail the Tribe by 7 games in the division and are 1.5 games out in a wild card race that has five teams still in contention for two spots. Callaway’s pitching staff has the sixth-best ERA, the fourth-best batting average against and the fourth-most strikeouts in the majors. Detroit has an impressive array of hitters – Miguel Cabrera, Justin Upton, Victor Martinez, J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler, etc. – but the Indians actually have outscored the Tigers 751-719. On the Tigers’ bench is former Richton High star JaCoby Jones, batting .222 in his 12 big league games. Maybe he’ll be an unexpected star. That kind of thing does happen, ya know.

28 Jun

luminosity

Mississippi State product Hunter Renfroe, Dansby Swanson of the Mississippi Braves and recently promoted Biloxi Shuckers standout Josh Hader have been named to the All-Star Futures Game, set for July 10 at Petco Park in San Diego. MLB Network will televise the game (at 6 p.m. CDT) as part of All-Star Weekend. … Fan voting for the July 12 MLB All-Star Game ends on Thursday; the teams will be announced next Tuesday (on ESPN). Ole Miss alumni Zack Cozart (Cincinnati) and Drew Pomeranz (San Diego) have outside chances at being selected to the National League squad, though both face very strong competition at their spots, shortstop and starting pitcher. Former M-Braves Julio Teheran, Freddie Freeman and Arodys Vizcaino are also regarded as viable candidates. … Former Jackson State coach Bob Braddy formally enters the National College Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday when the organization holds its Night of Champions in Lubbock, Texas. Braddy, one of the nicest people you could hope to meet, won a SWAC record 824 games at JSU and claimed 12 conference titles in 24 years with the Tigers. He steered more than 50 players into pro baseball, several reaching the big leagues, including Dave Clark, Oil Can Boyd, Wes Chamberlain and Marvin Freeman. JSU’s field is named in Braddy’s honor. He is still involved in youth baseball in Jackson. … In Omaha on Sunday, Ole Miss’ Colby Bortles and State’s Brent Rooker will take part in the TD Ameritrade College Home Run Derby. The event will be aired on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m.

24 May

dream team

Props to Jake Mangum for winning the Ferriss Trophy as Mississippi’s top college player for 2016. The former Jackson Prep star is the first freshman and fifth Mississippi State player to win the award named for the great Boo Ferriss. An outfielder, Mangum leads the SEC in hitting at .427 and has 25 RBIs and 36 runs for the SEC regular season champs. Mangum certainly is a fitting winner, but the Ferriss voters couldn’t have gone wrong with any of a number of other candidates. It’s been that kind of year for college ball in the state. Just imagine the all-star team you could put together from the NCAA Division I programs. A weekend rotation of Dakota Hudson, Brady Bramlett and Kirk McCarty, the aces from State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss? Wyatt Short of UM and Nick Sandlin from USM in the pen? Yes, Team Mississippi would be well-armed. Behind the plate: Henri Lartigue, batting .348 for Ole Miss. Put Southern Miss’ Tim Lynch (.367, nine homers, 53 RBIs) at first base, UM’s Tate Blackman (.332, 42 runs) at second and State’s Gavin Collins (.301, nine homers) at third. At shortstop, Jackson State’s Cornelius Copeland, who doesn’t get the recognition of players from the Big 3, hit .422 and scored 62 runs. Mangum has been a regular headliner in the outfield, but Ole Miss’ J.B. Woodman (.319, 13 homers, 49 RBIs) and USM’s Jake Sandlin (.354, 44 runs) also are wearing it out. For a DH, pick from USM’s Dylan Burdeaux (.345, 11 homers), State’s Jack Kruger (.358, seven homers) or JSU’s Jesus Santana (17 homers, 67 RBIs). Hard to find a flaw in that dream team. P.S. Delta State threw its vaunted 1-2 punch at Nova Southeastern on Monday. The Sharks survived and won the NCAA Division II South Region title, earning a berth in the D-II World Series. DSU won Game 1 of the championship round 3-1 behind Dalton Moats (12-3) but lost 3-1 in Game 2 with Tre Hobbs (13-2), the region and Gulf South Conference pitcher of the year, on the bump. The Statesmen finish 42-17.

18 May

here and there

Brian Snitker, the manager of the first Mississippi Braves team in 2005 and a veteran of 40 years in the Atlanta organization, deserved the opportunity to manage in the big leagues. Just not sure if he deserved this: a 9-29 team that can’t seem to do anything right. It was difficult to watch on Tuesday night as the Braves, in Snitker’s debut as Fredi Gonzalez’s replacement, gave up seven runs to Pittsburgh in the first inning. Atlanta battled back – thanks in part to two homers by former M-Braves star Mallex Smith – but still lost 12-9. The Braves are last in MLB in runs, 25th in ERA and 29th in fielding percentage. How much difference can Snitker make? … Hunter Renfroe, the former Mississippi State star from Crystal Springs, homered for the third straight game with El Paso on Tuesday night. Renfroe, a right fielder, is batting .313 with eight bombs and 28 RBIs in 36 games for San Diego’s Triple-A club. The Padres, the worst hitting team in baseball, are last in the National League West. Seems like they could use some help. … Jackson State, which begins SWAC Tournament play today against Texas Southern, leads the SWAC in hitting and homers, but the Tigers do have some arms. While Alabama State’s pitching is far and away the best in the league, JSU’s ERA of 5.31 ranks second. Miguel Yrigoyen, an All-SWAC second-team pick, is 8-3 with a 5.16 ERA, and Jevon Jacobs (3.99), Jamal Wilson (4.42) and Vincent Anthonia (4.73) can get people out. … William Carey University faces an elimination game today in its NAIA regional at Santa Barbara, Calif. The Crusaders beat College of Idaho 7-6 (on Mitch Little’s two-run hit in the seventh) but lost to top-seeded Westmont (Calif.) 14-1 on Tuesday. … At the Clark/Gay Baseball Complex in Decatur on Thursday they can say with literal certainty that it gets no better than this: No. 1-ranked LSU-Eunice vs. No. 2 Jones County Junior College in the first round of the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament. The undercard isn’t bad either: MACJC champion East Central, ranked 14th, and Northwest.

16 May

numbers to crunch

13 – Wins in 13 weekend series finales by Southern Miss, which beat Louisiana Tech 2-0 on Sunday to improve to 36-15 on the season, 20-7 (first) in Conference USA.
30 – Runs, on 45 hits, piled up by Mississippi State in its weekend sweep at Auburn, coached by former State pitching coach Butch Thompson. The Bulldogs are 37-14-1, 18-9 SEC.
26 – Home wins, in 32 games, for Ole Miss (39-13, 17-10 SEC), which finished a sweep of Kentucky with Henri Lartigue’s walk-off home run on Saturday.
4 – Delta State’s seed in the NCAA Division II South Region tournament at Tampa, Fla. The Statesmen, 38-15 and Gulf South Conference champs, play 5-seed Lynn University on Thursday.
3 – Consecutive years William Carey has earned an NAIA regional bid. The Crusaders (37-19) play College of Idaho on Tuesday in Santa Barbara, Calif.
60 – Runs, leading the SWAC, by Jackson State’s Cornelius Copeland, who also is batting a league-high .421 for the Tigers (32-24) heading into the SWAC Tournament.
84 – Runs in five postseason games by East Central Community College, which won its fourth MACJC championship and will host the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament this week in Decatur.

15 May

moving on

Buckle up. Big week ahead on many fronts. East Central Community College, continuing its ’27 Yankees impression, beat Jones County Junior College 13-12 on Saturday to win the MACJC title and will host the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament in Decatur. No. 2-ranked Jones will be there, as well as No. 1 LSU-Eunice (50-4) and Northwest Mississippi. … William Carey University is off to Santa Barbara, Calif., for NAIA regional play. The 25th-ranked Crusaders (37-19), led by All-SSAC first-team picks Adrian Brown and Tyler Odom, take on College of Idaho on Tuesday in the five-team opening round tournament. The top seed there is Westmont (Calif.). … Jackson State and Alcorn State, the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds from the SWAC East, start play on Wednesday in the conference tournament at Barrow Stadium in New Orleans. Alabama State dominated the league with a 24-0 mark, but JSU (32-24 overall) certainly has the hitters (see Cornelius Copeland, Carlos Diaz, Jesus Santana) to make a run. … Delta State will learn tonight where it is heading for NCAA Division II regional play. The Statesmen (38-15) earned an automatic bid by winning their 13th Gulf South Conference championship last week. … And the MHSAA finals matchups are set: Madison Central-George County in Class 6A, Oxford-Hattiesburg in 5A, Houston-Newton County in 4A, Kossuth-St. Andrews in 3A, East Union-Loyd Star in 2A and Tupelo Christian Prep-Ethel in 1A. The games in the best-of-3 series begin Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl.

09 May

here and there

Dansby Swanson, Atlanta’s No. 1 prospect, is expected to make his home debut tonight when the Mississippi Braves host Mobile. Interested to see what kind of crowd they get at Trustmark Park. Swanson, hitless in his last three games, is batting .310 over his nine Double-A games. The shortstop out of Vanderbilt homered in his M-Braves debut on April 30 and had a four-hit game May 4. … Brett Phillips, Milwaukee’s No. 2 prospect, had a three-homer game for Biloxi on Saturday and is batting .260 with five bombs for the season. The Shuckers also open a homestand tonight. … Mississippi State is No. 3, Ole Miss No. 6 and Southern Miss No. 19 in the new Baseball America poll. State’s Dakota Hudson is listed as the No. 19 draft prospect in BA’s latest rankings. … After rallying to beat West Georgia 8-7 on Sunday, Delta State is 2-0 in the Gulf South Conference Tournament. Ace Tre Hobbs had an off day, but DSU got three RBIs from Trent Giambroni, a three-run homer from Ethan Gill and a clutch sac fly by Will Robertson to secure the W, its 36th of the year. … Jackson State, looking to gather some momentum for the SWAC Tournament, swept Mississippi Valley State in a three-game set at Braddy Field over the weekend. The Tigers are 14-10 in the league and 6-0 against MVSU. The tournament is slated to start May 18. … The MACJC final four is set. Jones County Junior College, the regular season champ, will host the double-elimination tournament starting Thursday. Also in are 3-seed East Central, which beat Gulf Coast 27-21 on Saturday to advance from the best-of-3 round; Meridian, the second seed; and 4-seed Northwest. … The Houston Astros optioned former M-Braves star Evan Gattis to Double-A? Reportedly, he was sent down just to brush up on his catching skills; he hasn’t caught in an MLB game since 2014.

20 Apr

campus notes

The Jones County Junior College express just keeps rolling on. The Bobcats, ranked fourth in the nation, beat Holmes Community College in Goodman 15-13 and 5-4 on Tuesday, improving to 18-2 in the MACJC and 35-3 overall under new coach Chris Kirtland. Over just its last 11 games, JCJC has won by scores of 11-1, 12-2, 13-3, 9-1, 13-3, 14-3, 20-1 and 8-3 before the sweep of Holmes. … Mississippi Gulf Coast CC’s Brian Lane was named MACJC player of the week after batting .571 with a homer and six RBIs and extending a hitting streak to 11 games in four contests last week. The Delta State signee is batting .411 on the year with 29 RBIs. … In Cleveland on Tuesday, DSU’s Will Robertson, having a monster season, went 4-for-6 with two doubles and a homer in a sweep of Ouachita Baptist. Robertson’s 26th double broke the school record held by, among others, Statesmen coach Mike Kinnison. Robertson, a redshirt senior from Falkner, is batting .451 with six homers and 59 RBIs for the 30-13 Statesmen, ranked 15th in NCAA Division II. … Logan Ferrell, Caleb Upton and Hunter Bolin combined for 10 hits as Mississippi College beat Belhaven University 13-9 on Tuesday at Smith-Wills Stadium in a game between Maloney Trophy Series combatants. MC went 2-0 against BU this season and beat Millsaps in their only meeting. … Millsaps (19-19), which wound up fourth in the Southern Athletic Association regular season, will play No. 5 seed Berry in the first round of tournament play on Friday at Birmingham-Southern. BSC, the regular season champ, opens with Sewanee in one of the two four-team, double-elimination pods. The winners from the two pods meet in a best-of-3 series for the SAA championship. … Here’s an interesting stat on Jackson State’s Jesus Santana. Of his 33 hits, 10 have left the park; he also has eight doubles. The Tigers (21-17) host the University of New Orleans tonight at Braddy Field. … Tate Blackman got a hit for Ole Miss on Tuesday, extending his streak of reaching base to 22 of 23 games as the Rebels whipped Memphis 7-0 at AutoZone Park. The nationally ranked Rebels (27-10) also blasted three homers in the minor league ballpark. … Southern Miss, also ranked in some polls, lost at Tulane 12-0 on Tuesday, perhaps looking ahead to the huge series against Rice this weekend in Hattiesburg. The Golden Eagles (27-11) and Owls are tied for first in C-USA at 12-3. … Mississippi State (24-12-1) takes its various national rankings to Biloxi tonight to play Louisiana-Monroe at MGM Park. ULM’s roster includes seven Mississippi juco products, among them ex-Hinds CC star Keller Bradford, son of former big leaguer Chad. Keller has a 2.78 ERA in 23 relief appearances for the Warhawks.

15 Apr

on the run

Funny, isn’t it, that leading scorers aren’t talked about in baseball the way they are in basketball, hockey or even football. Today, we fix that. Runs are the focus in previewing a weekend that’s practically overrun with big series. The leading scorer in the state among college players is Delta State’s Brandon Cummins, who has touched home plate 50 times in 38 games. The Drew native will lead the Statesmen into a key series in Cleveland this weekend, when DSU and West Florida, Gulf South Conference co-leaders at 18-6, meet at Ferriss Field. There’s another big series in Starkville, where Jacob Robson, with his 32 runs, will lead Mississippi State against Texas A&M in a battle of highly ranked SEC clubs. Nationally ranked Southern Miss — and leading scorer Dylan Burdeaux (34 runs) — takes its 11-1 C-USA record to Alabama-Birmingham. Will Golsan, who has 28 runs, leads nationally ranked Ole Miss (just 6-6 in the SEC) against Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Jackson State will count on a big weekend from leading scorer Jesus Santana (36 runs) when it plays a four-game SWAC set against Alcorn State, which is led by Wallace Rios (22 runs). Game 1 of the series is tonight at Biloxi’s MGM Park, the other three are at JSU’s Braddy Field. Both teams are 6-6 in the SWAC East. Tyler Richardson has scored 42 runs for NAIA nationally ranked William Carey, which travels to Bethel in Tennessee aiming to move up in the Southern States Athletic Conference standings. Millsaps, with Isaac Glenn (25 runs) fronting its charge, ends its regular season with a trip to Hendrix in Arkansas. The Majors are 17-18 and 10-8 in the Southern Athletic Association, which starts its postseason next week.

04 Apr

come together

Players roll out from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Curacao, South Africa, Venezuela, the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands. Sounds like a World Baseball Classic event has convened, but it’s just an everyday occurrence at Jackson State. Coach Omar Johnson’s multicultural team, which also includes eight players from good ol’ Mississippi, is showing signs of coming together after an uneven start. The Tigers, who take their show on the road to Biloxi tonight for an exhibition game with the minor league Shuckers, blew away Mississippi Valley State in a three-game series over the weekend. By beating the Delta Devils 10-3, 16-5 and 19-9, JSU moved its SWAC record to 6-3 (after an 0-3 start). Overall, the Tigers are 17-11. Jesus Santana (Puerto Rico) hit three home runs, two of them grand slams, in the Valley series and leads the team with nine homers and 37 RBIs. Such production was expected from Santana, a preseason player of the year candidate in the SWAC. Also contributing good stuff is catcher Carlos Diaz, another Puerto Rico product who is raking at a .451 clip; pitcher Miguel Yrigoyen, a Venezuela native who is 4-2; Canadian Jesse Anderson, who has three saves; and C.J. Newsome, who hails from Columbia, the city in south Mississippi. Newsome was drafted by Miami out of CHS last summer but elected to play at JSU. Tiger Nation should be thrilled. The 5-foot-9 outfielder, who had eight hits, six RBIs and six runs in the Valley series, is hitting .382 with 31 runs.