Tag Archives: Jackson State

25 Sep

campus notes

Ole Miss fans of a certain age will remember John Shaw, a star second baseman for the Rebels from 1968-70. Shaw is among the five athletes being inducted into the Ole Miss M-Club Alumni Hall of Fame this weekend. Shaw led the SEC in stolen bases three straight years, twice earned all-league honors and helped Tom Swayze’s team win the SEC championship in 1969. … Southern Miss will again host the C-USA Tournament at Taylor Park. Dates are May 25-29, 2016. USM has hosted the tournament five times previously but never won the title as the host school. The Golden Eagles’ lone tournament championship came in 2010, when the event was in Houston. … USM started fall ball on Sunday, with 16 newcomers joining a crop of returnees that includes five regulars – second-team All-C-USA pick Tim Lynch among them — from a 36-win team. … Mississippi State needed to do some rebuilding after last year’s disappointing finish, and coach John Cohen may have the parts to put together a better club in 2016. State’s recruiting class was ranked No. 3 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. Among the 22 newcomers are three players who were drafted by MLB clubs and three state players of the year. Here’s one to watch: Nate Lowe, a first-team NJCAA All-America pick and the Florida juco player of the year. He hit .373 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs at St. Johns River State College. … Ole Miss’ recruiting class was rated No. 23 by Collegiate Baseball, USM’s was not in the Top 25. … One of Jackson State’s big signees for 2016 was C.J. Newsome, a 5-foot-7 outfielder from Columbia High. Newsome, who batted .350 and stole 25 bags as a senior, was drafted by Miami in the 38th round in June. There must have been a big sigh of relief at J-State when Newsome didn’t sign.

11 Sep

campus notes

Wes Thigpen, a former Mississippi State catcher, was recently hired as the new pitching coach at Hinds Community College, replacing former big leaguer Chad Bradford. Thigpen was a graduate assistant at State the past two seasons. He played at Meridian CC before starting for the Bulldogs in 2010 and ’11. He also played pro ball in the Detroit Tigers’ system. … Southern Miss has announced it will play host to two games against longtime coastal rivals at MGM Park in Biloxi next season. The Golden Eagles will meet South Alabama on March 2 and Tulane on March 22. MGM Park, home of the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers, formally opened on June 6. … When fall ball starts at Mississippi State, outfielder Brent Rooker might have a little swagger in his walk. He was named the New England Collegiate Baseball League Most Valuable Player and its second-best prospect by Baseball America. He finished first in the league in home runs (10), RBIs (33) and runs (36) and third in batting (.360). Rooker hit .257 with two homers in 74 at-bats for the Bulldogs in 2015. … Ole Miss shortstop Errol Robinson is also coming off a strong summer. Playing in the top-drawer Cape Cod League, he hit .312 with 25 runs and 15 steals, made the All-Star game and was rated the No. 9 prospect. … Jackson State’s Jamal Wilson, a senior right-hander, was rated among the Valley League’s top prospects. He went 2-3 with a 5.16 ERA during the summer league’s regular season and 1-1, 2.25 in the playoffs. … William Carey may have made a key pick-up for 2016 when it added former Petal High and Jones County Junior College catcher Tyler Graves to its roster. As a sophomore at JCJC in 2014, Graves was named NJCAA D-II Spalding National Defensive Player of the Year and was a third team All-America pick. He had 28 assists and batted .371. He signed with Delta State out of JCJC but didn’t play there in 2015.

08 Sep

first steps

Austin Riley was the first Mississippian picked in this year’s MLB draft, going higher than projected as a supplemental first-rounder to Atlanta. His performance as a rookie pro makes Braves brass look pretty sharp. The DeSoto Central High product, a third baseman, batted .304 with 12 homers and 40 RBIs over 60 games at two levels; he hit .351 with five homers at Danville. Austin’s debut was easily the best among Mississippians drafted this June. LeDarious Clark, after a spectacular start (see previous posts), faded in rookie ball for Texas. The former East Mississippi Community College standout finished at .276 with eight homers, 24 RBIs and 29 steals, still not a bad first step on what is a long road to the big leagues. Other good starts from 2015 draftees: Southern Miss alum Cody Carroll put up a 1.75 ERA with three saves in rookie ball for the New York Yankees; ex-Ole Miss star Scott Weathersby went 3-1 with a 2.48 in low Class A for Houston; and Northwest Mississippi CC product Dalton Dulin went 4-for-5 in his last game to finish at .273 with 27 runs in short season A-ball for Washington. The second Mississippian drafted, right-hander Jacob Taylor from Pearl River CC, made just one appearance in Pittsburgh’s system, then had Tommy John surgery. Among those who had a tough time on the field, Melvin Rodriguez, the SWAC player of the year from Jackson State, hit .200 with no homers in short season A-ball with Washington; ex-UM slugger Sikes Orvis hit .231 with four homers in 42 games in rookie ball with the Chicago White Sox; and former USM standout James McMahon, the 2015 Ferriss Trophy winner, had a 6.44 ERA at the rookie level for Colorado. P.S. Former Vancleave High star Colin Bray started his pro career in 2013 after Arizona made him a sixth-round pick out of an Alabama junior college. His older brother and fellow VHS alum Tyler was signed a year later by St. Louis, which drafted him in the 23rd round out of Louisiana-Monroe. The Bray brothers, whose father Scott played minor league ball, both were in the Class A Midwest League this summer and crossed paths in a series at Peoria, Ill., in late May/early June. On June 1, with family and friends in the ballpark, Tyler, a pitcher for Peoria, worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning but did not face Colin, who started in right field for Kane County. Colin, 22, had a good full season in the MWL, batting .308 with 52 RBIs, 78 runs and 27 stolen bases. Tyler, 23, had his moments, as well, going 2-2 with two saves and a 4.97 ERA in 24 games after being promoted to Peoria. Perhaps the brothers will hook up again someday, maybe in the big leagues.

24 Aug

touching the bases

Sikes Orvis, the power-hitting prospect out of Ole Miss, has belted two home runs in his last three games at rookie-level Great Falls in the Chicago White Sox’s system. He now has four homers for the season in 34 games and is batting .240. … Mississippi State product Chris Stratton, a first-round pick by San Francisco in 2012, has won three of his last five starts at Triple-A Sacramento. He is 3-4 with a 3.78 ERA. … Silento Sayles, the record-setting base stealer from Port Gibson High, recently earned a promotion from Cleveland, moving up to Class A Lake County in the Midwest League. Sayles is 2-for-8 with a steal in three games. … Jackson State alum and 2015 SWAC player of the year Melvin Rodriguez is batting .211 through 29 games at Auburn in the short season Class A New York-Penn League in Washington’s system. … West Lauderdale High product Blake Anderson, the first Mississippian drafted in 2014, is 3-for-11 since coming off the disabled list for Miami’s Batavia club in the NYPL. He is batting .226. … James McMahon, the 2015 Ferriss Trophy winner from Southern Miss, has a 3.60 ERA over his last 10 appearances, all in relief, at Grand Junction in the rookie Pioneer League. He has four holds and a 6.55 ERA on the season for the Colorado farm team. … JaCoby Jones, a former Mr. Baseball from Richton, has six homers in 21 games (76 at-bats) for Double-A Erie in the Detroit system. … Alcorn State alum Angel Rosa, in his third pro season, is getting a look at Triple-A in the Los Angeles Angels’ system. The infielder is 2-for-6 in two games for Salt Lake; he was hitting .252 in A-ball. … Auston Bousfield, one of the stars of Ole Miss’ strong 2014 team, is 1-for-18 at Double-A San Antonio since San Diego promoted him. Bousfield was batting .273 in A-ball.

26 Jul

fun facts

Did you know that Rust College has produced one and only one professional baseball player? His name is Otis Edwards; he played one season in the minors in 1991. Stumbled across this fascinating bit of data on the wonderful web site baseball-reference.com. Atop the list of most pro players produced by a Magnolia State college is Mississippi State, with 196, including 49 major leaguers. Ole Miss is second (at 193 and 48), Southern Miss third (109/23) and Jackson State fourth (62/9). The rest: Delta State 47/10, William Carey 39/1, Mississippi Valley State 21/0, Alcorn State 16/1, Mississippi College 15/7, Belhaven 10/0 and Millsaps 8/4. More on Edwards: Undrafted out of NCAA Division III Rust, he signed with Cleveland and played 29 games at the rookie and short-season Class A levels, batting .152 with seven RBIs, eight runs and three steals. He also pitched a scoreless inning for Burlington of the rookie Appalachian League. The one Carey player to make The Show? John Stephenson, the ex-Crusaders coach. The one Alcorn player? Al Jones, a pitcher in the mid-1980s. … Stumbled across a couple more interesting items in the July/August issue of Baseball Digest. To wit: Don Kessinger was a six-time All-Star and a career .252 hitter with 1,931 hits over 16 years in the majors. But as a pinch hitter, he was 0-for-37, the worst drought of any player in MLB history with at least 20 pinch-hit appearances. Kessinger did draw four walks as a pinch hitter, but still, it makes you wonder, when he reached 0-for-36, why in the world did his manager send him up there again? Also on the list of pinch-hit futility: former Jackson Mets standout Stanley Jefferson, who was 1-for-32. Then there’s this: The dubious distinction of worst-hitting Gold Glove winner in any season belongs to Greenville native George Scott. “Boomer” hit .171 as the Boston Red Sox’s first baseman in 1968, his third year in the big leagues. Scott, a career .268 hitter with 271 home runs, won eight Gold Gloves over his lengthy career. P.S. The current issue of Sports Illustrated (July 27) has a cool photo essay and brief article on the Anderson Monarchs’ Civil Rights Barnstorming Tour that made a stop for a game at Jackson State’s Braddy Field last month. The 23-day, multi-state trip was a living history lesson for the Philadelphia (Pa.) area youth team, which included 2014 Little League World Series star Mo’ne Davis. It’s unclear whether any of the pictures were taken in Mississippi.

21 Jul

more field notes

Auston Bousfield, the ex-Ole Miss standout, extended his hitting streak to eight games on Monday with a single for Class A Lake Elsinore in the San Diego system. Bousfield, batting leadoff and playing center field for the California League club, is at .294 for the season with three homers, 30 RBIs, 45 runs and 18 steals in 79 games. He was a fifth-round pick by the Padres in 2014, one of the nine Rebels drafted that year. … Mississippi State product Hunter Renfroe, another Padres farmhand, saw his six-game hit streak end on Monday but, with 10 hits in his last seven games, has boosted his average to .269 at Double-A San Antonio. Renfroe, the first Mississippian picked in the 2013 draft, has 10 homers and 38 RBIs in 86 games. Renfroe, an outfielder, finished the 2014 season with San Antonio, hitting .232 with five homers in 60 games. … Bradley Roney, the former Southern Miss closer, has allowed just one run while notching three saves in his last five appearances for Class A Rome in Atlanta’s system. Roney, a 2014 fifth-rounder, missed a month with an injury. He has a 4.07 ERA and four saves in 16 combined games at rookie-level Danville and low-A Rome. … Jovany Felipe, Jackson State’s catcher in 2015 who signed as a free agent with Tampa Bay, is 3-for-16 with an RBI in seven games for the rookie Gulf Coast League Rays. He hit .317 with five homers and 54 RBIs for the Tigers. P.S. East Mississippi Community College alum LaDarious Clark is surging again with 10 hits in 24 at-bats over his last five games. Clark, a 12th-round pick this year by Texas, is playing at short-season Class A Spokane, where he is batting .367 with six homers, four triples and 14 steals.

14 Jul

field notes

Hot-hitting Adam Frazier, the former Mississippi State standout, is on the West Division roster for Wednesday night’s Eastern League All-Star Game at Portland, Maine. Frazier, playing shortstop for Pittsburgh’s Double-A Altoona club, is batting .373 with 16 RBIs and 33 runs in 51 games. He got a delayed start due to a spring injury this season, his third in pro ball. … Southern Miss’ Dylan Burdeaux was named the New England Collegiate Baseball League player of the week on Monday. Burdeaux, hitting .303 with three homers and 16 RBIs for the summer, will be joined by Golden Eagles and Ocean State teammates Tim Lynch and Chuckie Robinson in this Sunday’s NECBL All-Star Game at Sanford, Maine. … Matt Tracy, the former Ole Miss left-hander who was in the big leagues for one day in April, is back in Double-A and trying to find his form. Tracy, in the New York Yankees’ system, has a 2.89 ERA in four games at Trenton, including a quality start (one run in six innings) on Saturday. He was scuffling at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with a 5.79 in 12 appearances over two stints there. He has a career 3.95 ERA working mostly as a starter. Tracy got a call-up from the Yankees on April 11, when they needed an extra arm. He pitched two innings against Boston at Yankee Stadium, allowing two hits, two walks and three runs (all unearned) in an 8-4 loss. … Melvin Rodriguez, the SWAC player of the year at Jackson State, is just 1-for-12 in his pro debut with Washington’s Auburn team in the New York-Penn League. Rodriguez batted .422 for the Tigers in 2015 with seven homers and 65 RBIs. P.S. Southwest Mississippi Community College alum Kade Scivicque already has earned a promotion from the Detroit Tigers. The fourth-round pick from LSU, who was hitting .406 at Connecticut in the short-season Class A New York-Penn League, has been bumped to West Michigan in the Class A Midwest League.

08 Jun

draft notice

The major league draft often produces surprises, but it’s safe to assume that the Mississippi benchmark set 30 years ago by Will Clark will go unchallenged today. Former Mississippi State star Clark was the second overall pick in 1985 by San Francisco. No Mississippi-connected player before or since has gone No. 1 overall, though the state has had its fair share of first-rounders, including a No. 3 (B.J. Wallace of State by Montreal in 1992), a No. 5 (Drew Pomeranz of Ole Miss by Cleveland in 2010) and two No. 8’s (Kirk Presley of Tupelo High by the New York Mets in 1993 and Paul Maholm of State by Pittsburgh in 2003). Just last year, Blake Anderson, a catcher from West Lauderdale, went in the supplemental phase of Round 1, No. 36 overall to Miami. MSU alum Hunter Renfroe (13th overall) and East Central Community College product Tim Anderson (17th) were first-round picks in 2013, and Stone County’s D.J. Davis (17th) and State’s Chris Stratton (20th) went in Round 1 in 2012. Other first-rounders (including supplemental picks) over the last 30 years include ex-State star Rafael Palmeiro (No. 22 in 1985), Jackson State’s Earl Sanders (1986), Steve Pegues of Pontotoc (1987), Stone County’s Sam Hence (1990), State’s Carlton Loewer (1994), ex-Bulldogs star Eric DuBose (1997), Oak Grove’s Donnie Bridges (1997), Matt Ginter of State (1999), Michael Rosamond of Ole Miss (1999), UM’s Chris Coghlan (2006), Wendell Fairley from George County (2007), State’s Ed Easley (2007), former Rebels star Lance Lynn (2008) and Madison Central’s Ryan Bolden (2010). Lynn, Easley, Coghlan and Pomeranz are currently in the big leagues. The first round of the draft will be televised tonight on MLB Network. No Mississippians are expected to be picked – but you never know. Anderson wasn’t projected to go on the first day last year.

02 Jun

that’s a wrap

Ole Miss went a long way for its short stay in the NCAA Tournament. Losses to Maryland and Cal State Bakersfield in the Los Angeles Regional over the weekend ended the Rebels’ season – and put a lid on the college season in the state. A year after making a deep run at the College World Series, a rebuilt UM team finished 30-28. Not a glittery record, but, yes, it did come against a tough slate. Reliever Wyatt Short (4 wins, 11 saves, 1.38 ERA) emerged as a Big Man on Campus (subcategory: pitcher) for the Rebels. The Rebs’ BMOC hitter was Sikes Orvis, who belted 16 homers, drove in 53 runs, scored 41 and slugged .587. … Southern Miss had a good year – a 35-16-1 regular season and a third-place finish in C-USA – that ended on a sour note. After going 1-2 in the league tournament in Hattiesburg, the Golden Eagles did not get a bid to the NCAAs. This year marked the 25th anniversary of USM’s first regional appearance; it would have been sweet if the current bunch could have duplicated the feat. Right-hander James McMahon (11-1, 1.56 ERA) was perhaps the biggest man on any campus in the state, winning the Ferriss Trophy as the state’s best player at a four-year school. Tim Lynch (.313, nine homers, 32 RBIs, 38 runs) was USM’s best all-around hitter. … Mississippi State endured what was likely the most disappointing season among the state’s four-year colleges. The Bulldogs, nationally ranked early in the year and 13-0 at one point, finished 24-30, 8-22 in the SEC. BMOCs for the Bulldogs were Jacob Robson (.324, 41 runs) and Trevor Fitts (2-4, 2.03, six saves). … Jackson State could not manage a third straight SWAC championship but wound up 32-25, getting a monster year from Melvin Rodriguez (.422, seven homers, 65 RBIs). The Tigers’ other BMOC: Vincent Anthonia (5-3, 4.45). … Alcorn State went 16-41 but did make the SWAC Tournament. BMOCs: Scotty Peavey (.345, 11 homers, 46 RBIs) and Cedric Walker (6-3, 7.59). In Aaron Stevens’ first year as coach, Mississippi Valley State ended 8-35-1, an improvement on 2014 (4-38). BMOCs: Kalik May (.335, four homers, 22 steals) and Tyler Case (3-10, 7.20). Delta State overcame a slow start to wind up 25-18, falling short, however, of a Division II regional bid. The Statesmen were led by BMOCs Jacob Swiney (.396, 35 RBIs, 32 runs) and Jonathan Moody (5-2, 4.04). In its first year back in D-II, and in Brian Owens’ final season as coach, Mississippi College finished 12-34. BMOCs: Hunter Bolin (.342, 24 RBIs, 24 runs) and Brooks Fortenberry (2-6, 5.87). New coach on campus: Jeremy Haworth. Southern Athletic Association player of the year Keith Shumaker (.390, 52 runs; 8-3, 2.48) led Millsaps to a 29-14 mark and a trip to the D-III regionals. Adam Kowalczyk, an All-Southern States Athletic Conference selection, hit .329 with 14 home runs and 66 RBIs as a BMOC for Belhaven (33-24). The Blazers’ best pitcher was Ben Allison (7-4, 4.15). William Carey wound up 30-23, led by All-SSAC picks Tyler Richardson (.385, 50 runs) and Gavin Culpepper (9-2, 2.75). Seth Davis (.396, eight homers, 40 RBIs) was an All-SSAC performer for Blue Mountain, which finished 17-27. The Toppers’ other BMOC: Dylan Earnest (4-6, 4.52). Tougaloo went 7-40 in Earl Sanders’ first year as coach. BMOCs: Lige Mims Jr. (.305, four homers, 28 RBIs) and Bennie Warner (2-7, 8.10).

15 May

one, meet two

This should be good. Hinds Community College and LSU-Eunice, ranked 1-2 in the NJCAA Division II poll, will meet tonight in a winner’s bracket game in the Region 23 Tournament at Eunice, La. The Eagles (42-5) clubbed East Mississippi 12-1 on Thursday, and LSU-E (42-9) routed Northwest Mississippi 12-0. Hinds and LSU-E did not meet in the regular season, though the Bengals did play a couple of MACJC schools. Randy Bell got the win against EMCC and moved to 12-0 for Hinds. Jonathan Washam went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs, and Tyler Cox belted a two-run homer. LSU-E was powered by Steven Sensley, who hit his 18th homer, and Madison Nickens, who had three hits. The Bengals threw ace Mitch Sewald (12-1) on Thursday, so the Eagles might face lefty Ben Braymer, who has 113 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings. P.S. Jim Page notched his 700th win as Millsaps coach on Thursday when the Majors held off Whitworth 7-6 in the first round of the NCAA Division III West Regional. Annon Etheridge and Andy Page had two RBIs apiece for Millsaps. The Majors’ next game is today against old rival Trinity (Texas) in the weather-plagued tournament at Tyler, Texas. … Omar Johnson got win No. 300 at Jackson State when the Tigers beat Prairie View 10-1 in a SWAC Tournament elimination game. Jevon Jacobs threw a six-hitter with 13 strikeouts. The Tigers play Alabama State today. Alcorn State also stayed alive on Thursday, beating Alabama A&M 13-3 behind Cedric Walker’s complete game. The Braves earned a rematch with Texas Southern, which beat them on Wednesday. … Northeast Mississippi CC announced that assistant Richy Harrelson will replace Kent Farris as head coach. Farris is now the school’s athletic director. Harrelson was a legendary prep player at Iuka and Tishomingo County before going on to star at Ole Miss. He also worked as an assistant at Southern Miss.