Tag Archives: Jackson State

22 Feb

heat check

No college team in the state is hotter at the moment than Mississippi State. While the weather of late has been anything but consistent, the Bulldogs (6-0 as of this morning) have been steadily pounding the ball, scoring 72 runs all told, including 18 in a rout of overmatched Alabama State on Saturday. State is batting .343 as a team, led by Jacob Robson, whose .667 mark leads the regulars.
Also hot: Ole Miss’ J.B. Woodman (.429) and Christian Trent (2-0, 1.64 ERA in two starts) have carried the Rebels to a 3-1 start. … William Carey had a 10-game win streak stopped on Saturday in a loss to Loyola of New Orleans. The Crusaders are 10-1 and 5-1 in the Southern States Athletic Conference, led at the plate by Tyler Richardson (.435, 20 runs). … Keith Shumaker, Millsaps’ NCAA Division III All-American, is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in his two starts for the 3-1 Majors. Shumaker beat D-III No. 8 Webster on Saturday. … Southern Miss has three players hitting over .350 — Dylan Burdeaux, Connor Barron and Tim Lynch — and a staff ERA of 2.29, but the error-prone Golden Eagles are 0-3-1 after a 3-0 start.
Also not-so-hot: Mississippi College coach Brian Owens notched career win No. 200 on Thursday in a 16-inning battle against Union, but the Choctaws dropped the last two games of that Gulf South Conference series. MC is 7-4 and 2-4 in the conference. … Belhaven was swept by Mobile in a three-game SSAC series at home this weekend, scoring only eight runs. Ranked No. 14 in the NAIA preseason poll, the Blazers (10-7) have a staff ERA of 5.08. … Pitching has also been an issue for Delta State, which is off to a 2-5 start. The Statesmen’s ERA is 6.38. DSU, 1-2 in the Gulf South, will try to play a home-opening doubleheader today against GSC foe North Alabama at Ferriss Field in Cleveland. … Jackson State has lost three of four after a 3-1 start. The Tigers also have had pitching issues: 6.24 ERA. … Blue Mountain pitchers yielded eight home runs in a doubleheader against NAIA No. 5 Faulkner on Saturday and were swept in the SSAC series by a 32-7 margin. The Toppers are 7-7, 1-5.

16 Feb

number crunching

1 — Career wins for Aaron Stevens, the new Mississippi Valley State coach who notched his first on Saturday, an 8-7 defeat of Illinois-Chicago in the Delta Devils’ second game of the year.
2 — Career wins for Earl Sanders, the new Tougaloo coach whose Bulldogs swept Rust on Friday after dropping their first seven games.
2 — Wins shy of 1,000 career for William Carey coach Bobby Halford, whose Crusaders have won six straight after an 0-5 start. They play a doubleheader today against Saint Joseph in Hattiesburg.
3 — Hits in each of Southern Miss’ first three games, all wins, by Dylan Burdeaux, who is batting .692.
4 — RBIs apiece by Jackson State’s Tilur Smith, Dylan Parker and Jovany Felipe in the Tigers’ 20-10 win over UT-Martin on Saturday.
5 — RBIs apiece by Millsaps’ William Chenowith and Isaac Glenn in a 16-3 victory over Schreiner on Saturday.
7 — Home runs by Belhaven hitters in 12 games, matching the Blazers’ total from all of 2014.
8 — Strikeouts, in six innings of work, by Ole Miss’ Brady Bramlett, in a 16-2, series-clinching victory over William and Mary on Saturday.
9 — Hits in four games, all wins, by Mississippi State’s Seth Heck, who is batting .563.
12 — Hitting streak for Belhaven’s Adam Kowalczyk, a junior transfer from Delaware Tech.
14 — Runs, in eight games, scored by Mississippi College’s Colton Johnson, a freshman from West Jones High.

05 Jan

totally random

Someone asked recently about details from the career of Jim Joe Edwards, a little-known pitcher from Banner who played in the majors in the 1920s. There is a fantastic website, baseball-almanac.com, that can take you at the click of a button to a box score from the debut of any MLB player. With a little imagination, you’re almost there for Edwards’ first game. It’s May 14, 1922, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. The 27-year-old Edwards, a 6-foot-2 left-hander, starts for Cleveland against a Senators lineup that includes some familiar names: Donie Bush, Bucky Harris, Sam Rice, Joe Judge, Goose Goslin and Roger Peckinpaugh. Taking the field behind Edwards are the likes of Joe “Doc” Evans (a Meridian native), Tris Speaker, Stuffy McInnis, Joe Sewell and Bill Wambsganss. Edwards gives up a couple of runs in the second inning and leaves after five, trailing 4-0. He allowed nine hits and a walk and took the loss in a 4-3 game. Edwards, a Mississippi College alum, went on to have a decent career, going 26-37 with a 4.37 ERA over six seasons in the big leagues. He won 10 games for the Indians in 1923 and pitched his last game in 1928 for Cincinnati. He died 50 years ago this month. P.S. Came across a Howard Farmer baseball card (Donruss 1992) in one of those odd-ball assortment packages. Remember him? Farmer was a star at Jackson State (and at Utica Junior College before that) and a promising prospect in the minors whose brief fling in the big leagues didn’t go so well. Farmer, a seventh-round draftee in 1987 by Montreal, pitched in six games for the 1990 Expos and went 0-3 with a 7.04 ERA. He never got another shot, though his minor league numbers were good: 59-43, 3.33 ERA. He was out of the game by 1996.

12 Nov

sad news

Former Jackson State standout Kelvin Moore, who played three big league seasons, has died, various media outlets reported today. Moore, an Alabama native, was a sixth-round draft pick by Oakland in 1978. The left-handed hitting first baseman made the majors in 1981 and played in the A’s American League Championship Series loss to the New York Yankees that season. He batted .223 with eight home runs and 25 RBIs in 76 MLB games all told. He played in the minors until 1985, including a stint with El Paso (Milwaukee system) in the Texas League in 1984. Moore was 57.

06 Oct

thinking october

Dennis Boyd, better known as “Oil Can,” celebrates his 55th birthday today. The colorful and controversial Meridian native and ex-Jackson State star was a respectable 78-77 with a 4.04 ERA in 10 big league seasons, from 1982-91. His best year was 1986, when he won 16 games for the Boston Red Sox. Boyd won a game in the ’86 American League Championship Series against California but lost his only start in the World Series, which the BoSox infamously dropped in seven to the New York Mets. Boyd put a stain on his own career when he claimed in a recent biography that he frequently pitched under the influence of cocaine, even in 1986. … More deserving of an October shout out is Chad Bradford, the Jackson native of “Moneyball” fame. Bradford pitched in seven different postseasons for five different teams. In 23 1/3 innings over 24 appearances, he allowed one run. That’s a 0.39 ERA. In the October spotlight. Bradford made it to only one World Series and was on the losing end with Tampa Bay in 2008. The former Byram High, Hinds Community College and Southern Miss star put up a 3.26 ERA in 561 MLB games. He is now the pitching coach at HCC. … Another October achievement to marvel at was accomplished by Mississippi State product Will Clark. Clark was 29-for-62, a .468 batting average, in League Championship Series play. That’s a record by a wide margin for players with at least 50 LCS at-bats. Clark also came up short of winning a World Series ring. His only appearance in the Fall Classic came in 1989, when his San Francisco club lost to Oakland in the Earthquake Series.

30 Sep

a touch of history

The last time before today that the Kansas City Royals were on the field for a postseason game was Oct. 27, 1985. It was Game 7 of the World Series, and Greenville native Frank White was playing second base for the host Royals when Bret Saberhagen got the final out of an 11-0 win against St. Louis. White batted fifth that day, behind George Brett, and went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run. The eight-time Gold Glove award winner also had five assists. White, a five-time All-Star, spent all 18 of his MLB seasons with the Royals, from 1973-90, batting .255 with 160 home runs and 168 stolen bases. He is currently living in the KC area and running for a seat in the county legislature, according to a recent New York Times story. McComb native Jarrod Dyson will be on the roster for the Royals’ wild card game in KC today against Oakland. Dyson, a left-handed hitter, won’t start vs. A’s lefty Jon Lester, but he’s likely to get in the game as a defensive replacement or pinch runner. P.S. Former Ole Miss standout Drew Pomeranz, a lefty who can start or relieve, has a good chance to make Oakland’s postseason roster. He put up a 2.38 ERA in 20 games. … There are a handful of managers and coaches with Mississippi ties involved in the postseason. Former Mississippi State standout Buck Showalter manages Baltimore, ex-Jackson Mets star Ned Yost Kansas City and former JaxMets skipper Clint Hurdle Pittsburgh. Jackson native and MSU alumnus Chris Maloney is St. Louis’ first-base coach; Tupelo native and Jackson State product Dave Clark is Detroit’s third-base coach; Waynesboro native Jeff Branson is the Pirates’ hitting coach; Laurel resident (and former Southern League manager) Bobby Dickerson is the Orioles’ third-base coach; and Southern Miss product Jim Davenport is a special assistant with San Francisco. Davenport, in his 50th year with the organization, is a former Giants player, coach and manager. … Sad to see former JaxMets infielder Ron Gardenhire ousted as Minnesota’s manager, but he had a good run with six division titles during his 13-season stint.

27 Jun

season in review

Whappp. Hear that? It was the book closing — a bit belatedly — on the college season in the Magnolia State. It was a page-turner, from beginning (Belhaven lost to LSU-Alexandria on Jan. 31) to end (Ole Miss fell to Virginia in the College World Series on June 21). Lots of good stuff for the highlight pen. Each of the state’s Big Four NCAA Division I schools posted winning seasons, and three of them made the NCAA postseason. Ole Miss might have had the best season — and best team — its ever had. The Rebels, who featured good power, speed and pitching, went 48-21 and had nine players drafted by MLB clubs. Mississippi State finished 39-24 and fell in the NCAA regional at Lafayette, La. Jackson State (32-25), which won the SWAC Tournament, made the same regional, beating No. 1-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette in its first game. Southern Miss (35-25) saw its season end in the Conference USA Tournament, one win shy of playing for the title. Alcorn State (9-40) and Mississippi Valley (4-38) endured tough years, though the Braves beat JSU four of six times and the Delta Devils also took a series from the Tigers. Delta State went 38-13, finished first in the Gulf South Conference race and played in a D-II regional. Belhaven finished 42-21 and hosted an NAIA regional. William Carey (31-26), Millsaps (23-19) and Mississippi College (21-19) posted winning seasons; the Choctaws had a winning record in the American Southwest Conference in their last season in D-III. Blue Mountain (12-36), still a fledgling program, scuffled in its first year in the Southern States Athletic Conference, and Tougaloo, also in a building mode, went 12-31-1. The junior colleges also provided some compelling storylines. Jones County JC held the NJCAA No. 1 ranking for a big chunk of the year, and East Mississippi enjoyed one of its best seasons on record. And then there was Hinds, which could hardly have scripted a more exciting season. The Eagles won the Region 23 Tournament, beating the top two teams in the nation, and then marched all the way to the juco World Series championship game. All in all, the 2014 campaign had the feel of a best seller.

31 May

wow

Jackson State — No. 271 in the RPI — beats No. 1-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette 1-0 in the NCAA regionals at Lafayette, La., on Friday night. Biggest win in Tigers history. Definitely. … Hinds Community College beats Madison (Wis.) 12-6 in the NJCAA Division II World Series. The Eagles play for the national championship tonight against No. 1 Mesa (Ariz.). Only two Mississippi colleges have ever won national baseball titles: Delta State in 2004 and William Carey in 1969. … The Mississippi Braves sweep a doubleheader (7-0 and 7-0) from Pensacola — completing a sweep of the five-game series at Trustmark Park — and are now just 1 game back of first-place Mobile in the Southern League South.

27 May

senators vs. m-braves

On this date in baseball history, Carl Hubbell notched his 24th straight win, the oversized catcher’s mitt for knuckleballs debuted, a Boston-Cleveland game was fogged out – and, in central Mississippi, the Jackson Senators and Mississippi Braves played at home on the same day for the first time. The independent Senators, playing at Smith-Wills Stadium, and the Southern League’s M-Braves, playing at Trustmark Park in Pearl, coexisted for only one season — 2005. On May 27, a Friday, they went head-to-head for fans for the first time. The M-Braves drew an announced crowd of 5,747 — their biggest since opening day at the brand new TeePee — for a 9-4 loss to Montgomery. The Senators, who were in their fourth season, drew an announced crowd of roughly 2,500, which was much better than what they averaged that season (about 1,500). The Sens did win, however, beating Shreveport 2-1 in a 15-inning affair that ended after midnight. The Senators ceased operations after the 2005 season. P.S. Props to Jackson State for being the only four-year school in the state to win a conference tournament title. Condolences to the SWAC champs for drawing Louisiana-Lafayette — the No. 6 national seed and the No. 1 team in the country in Baseball America’s new poll — in the first round of the NCAA regionals. Nationally ranked Mississippi State and a surging San Diego State are also in the Lafayette Regional. JSU’s postseason figures to be short-lived. … Hinds Community College is 2-0 in the NJCAA Division II World Series and plays Pasco-Hernando (Fla.) State tonight in Enid, Okla.

14 May

it could happen

Funny things do happen in tournament baseball, and unlike last year, that might be Jackson State’s best hope in the SWAC Tournament that started today in New Orleans. J-State was the league’s best team heading into the 2013 event and then won it, earning an NCAA regional berth. Omar Johnson’s Tigers go in this year as a No. 4 seed. They went just 9-15 in the league (27-23 overall). They open with West Division champion Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and looming large over the entire field is East champ Alabama State, which went 21-3 in the league (5-1 vs. JSU) and recently beat nationally ranked Miami. JSU features league newcomer of the year Tilur Smith, a first baseman from Richton, who batted .340 with three homers and 26 RBIs. Desmond Russell (7-4, 3.44 ERA) is the ace of a staff that put up a respectable 4.17 ERA. Third baseman Melvin Rodriguez batted .298 with three homers and 40 RBIs and made All-SWAC first team. The Tigers could use some production from Charles Tillery, the preseason player of the year who has struggled (.219). They could also use some funny bounces that go their way.