Tag Archives: juco baseball

10 Mar

movin’ on up

The NJCAA’s first Division II regular season poll is out, and there is a new No. 1: East Central Community College, up from preseason No. 2. New at No. 2 is Pearl River CC (previously No. 5) and jumping up to No. 4 is Jones College (previously ranked 12th). Northwest (21) and Holmes (24) are also in the Top 25 released today. Conference play starts this week in the MACCC, which figures to be another eight-week dogfight. East Central (18-4) visits East Miss (13-7) for a doubleheader on Wednesday, while Jones (14-5) is at Northwest (17-4) and Holmes (17-4) hosts Hinds (5-14). Pearl River (19-4) opens league play at home on Friday against Northwest. Of note: ECCC and PRCC will hook up March 18 in Decatur. ECCC’s Warriors are led offensively by, among others, Barret Rodgers, batting .419 with five homers and 27 RBIs; the team’s top pitcher has been Chris Bilingsley, 3-0 with a 2.59 ERA. For PRCC, Caston Thompson is batting .346 with four homers and 18 RBIs, while on the bump K.K. Clark is 4-0, 1.33. Jones’ T.J. Dunsford is raking at .441 with four homers and 17 RBIs; Brycen Smith leads Bobcats pitchers with a 3-0 record and 4.15 ERA. P.S. Alcorn State’s Jermel Ford, a senior from Hattiesburg, put up six hits, nine RBIs, six runs and eight steals in back-to-back games at Alabama A&M over the weekend, leading the Braves (2-10) to their first wins of the season. Alcorn plays at Louisiana-Monroe on Tuesday, then starts SWAC play at Bethune-Cookman on the weekend. … The Mississippi Mud Monsters, the new independent team in Pearl, recently signed three more players, veteran minor league pitchers Tyree Thompson and Rodney Theopile and outfielder Basiel Roberts. The season begins in May.

09 Mar

worth noting

After 10 losses to open the season, Alcorn State finally put one in the win column on Saturday. It did not go down smoothly. The Braves blew a late 12-5 lead, as host Alabama A&M scored five in the eighth and two in the ninth to tie. Alcorn then scored three times in the 11th — on a passed ball, a sac fly and an error — to pull out a 15-12 victory. Jermel Ford, a senior from Hattiesburg, went 2-for-5 with four RBIs, two runs and four steals. Ford, who pitched and took the loss in the series opener, entered the game batting .278 with no RBIs in 18 at-bats. New coach Carlton Hardy’s team will go for win No. 2 today at Huntsville, Ala. Reminder: The Braves went 6-43 in 2024. … Mississippi College swept a three-game Gulf South series against Auburn-Montgomery, the Choctaws’ first league sweep since 2021. MC is 13-8, 8-4 GSC, with six straight wins overall. … Tristan Pearson went 9-for-13 with five RBIs and J.D. Weed was 7-for-15 with six RBIs as Belhaven University (9-5) took two of three from LeTourneau at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The Blazers are 6-2 at Trustmark, now their permanent home. … Rigoberto Hernandez, from Panama, went 8-for-13, including a four-hit, four-RBI game, and William Carey University (18-4, 10-2) got strong pitching from Matthew Davis, Luke Lycette, Conner Wilson and Bobby Magee in an SSAC series sweep over Point U. Carey is ranked 12th in NAIA. … Matthew Russo’s walk-off homer — his fourth bomb of the year — gave Southern Miss (10-5) a 2-1 win against visiting UNC-Wilmington. … Rust College’s five-game win streak ended Friday with a thud, 21-8 at Wiley College. Game 2 of the HBCUAC series on Saturday was suspended because of rain. … Pearl River Community College (19-4) has won seven straight, three by shutout, and allowed only nine runs all told during the streak. The Wildcats, fifth-ranked in NJCAA Division II, have a 2.27 staff ERA.

06 Mar

midweek madness

In the second game of their home-and-home series, Mississippi State got sweet revenge against Southern Miss with an 18-3 massacre Wednesday night at Dudy Noble Field. State (8-4) racked up 20 hits and six walks in just six innings. Five of those hits left the yard, two struck by Nolan Stevens. USM (9-4) shut down the Bulldogs 3-0 on Feb. 18 in Hattiesburg. In the rematch, the Golden Eagles used eight arms to get 18 outs, and seven of those pitchers allowed two runs or more. Go figure. … A six-run inning gave Murray State a 7-4 lead through seven innings in Oxford, but Ole Miss (11-1) rallied for its 10th straight win, 8-7 in 10 innings. Hayden Federico got the walk-off knock for the Rebels. Judd Utermark hit two more homers, giving him seven on the year. … Jackson State moved its home game against UNO to New Orleans, where the Privateers took a 16-10 victory in a game that “featured” 20 hits, 21 walks and seven errors. A reported 289 fans sat through — maybe — the 3-hour, 43-minute game. The Tigers’ Jordan McCladdie drove in three runs and scored three more as JSU slipped to 9-3. … At Poplarville, pitching was the story. Yay! Pearl River Community College beat Meridian 3-1 and Copiah-Lincoln 4-0 in a round-robin. K.K. Clark, from Brandon High (via MSU), threw seven innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts in the opener, and Camden Clark, out of West Jones, tossed six shutout frames with 10 K’s in Game 2. No. 5-ranked PRCC is 16-4.

27 Feb

heat check

Something’s burning in Cleveland. And in Hattiesburg. And Goodman, too. Red-hot Delta State has racked up 11 straight wins, boosting its record to 12-3 and its ranking to No. 19 in the NCBWA’s NCAA Division II poll. William Carey University (13-6) has reeled off six straight victories, and Holmes Community College (12-3) is on a five-game tear. DSU’s Statesmen take a 6-0 Gulf South Conference record into this weekend’s league series at West Florida. Drake Fontenot is the BMOC in Cleveland at the moment, having won back-to-back GSC pitcher of the week honors. The senior right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.09 ERA in four starts. Josh Hill has chipped in with six saves in seven appearances. At the plate, Brett Burrell is batting .500 with four home runs and 18 RBIs. Jacob Hill is batting .367 with 18 runs, and Dylan Coleman is at .309 with three homers and 18 RBIs. In the Hub City, Carey is 5-1 in SSAC heading into a league series at Tennessee Southern. On Tuesday, Cory Cook (1-0) fired a seven-inning no-hitter against John Melvin U. in Game 2 of a twinbill after the Crusaders torched the visitors for 17 runs in the opener. Bridley Thomas has been hot stuff in Carey’s attack with a .404 average and 21 steals. Preston Ratliff has provided power with four homers and 20 RBIs, and Josh Alexander has four homers among his 10 hits. On the bump, Matthew Davis is 3-0 with a 1.85. In Goodman, Holmes CC’s hot start has been fueled by Hunter Azemar (four homers, 17 RBIs), Amari Conley (.394) and John Paul Buckner (2-0, 2.08, 22 K’s in 13 innings).

19 Feb

juco snapshot

And then there were none. East Central Community College, the last unbeaten team in the state juco ranks, lost to Northeast CC 10-8 in a round-robin event Tuesday at Decatur. ECCC, No. 2 in the NJCAA Division II poll, is now 8-1, including a 13-5 win over No. 12 Jones College earlier Tuesday. Jayden Adcox hit a big home run for ECCC against Jones, and Langston Cotten went yard against Northeast. But the visiting Tigers prevailed as Drake Douglas and Carter Wells combined for five RBIs and Wells notched the save. Fifth-ranked Pearl River (10-2) beat Holmes and East Miss in a three-way at Poplarville. Jackson Hood homered in both games for PRCC, and Carson Fair closed out the win against Holmes for his fifth save, which leads the nation. Meridian, ranked 20th, moved to 10-3 with a sweep of Gulf Coast and Southwest on Monday at Summit. Chris Fox got a walk-off hit in a 1-0 win against Gulf Coast and Hampton Ross drove in four runs vs. Southwest. At Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium on Tuesday, Northwest (9-3) beat Hinds and Coahoma. … Gulf Coast’s Samuel Marsh was named the MACCC pitcher of the week after throwing a 13-strikeout complete game last week vs. Northwest Florida State. East Miss’ Hugh LeMasters (Bay Springs) took hitter of the week honors; he batted .429 (6-for-14) with eight RBIs and four runs in a 4-0 week for the Lions. P.S. Have a day, Judd Utermark. The Ole Miss junior stole home and hit a walk-off bomb in the 10th inning Tuesday as the Rebels (3-1) beat Arkansas State at Swayze Field. … Mississippi State (3-1) had as many errors as hits (four) in a 3-0 loss at Southern Miss (5-0). Joey Urban homered for the Golden Eagles, and five pitchers combined on the shutout. … Left-hander Brandon Mitchell, who won 22 games over five seasons at New Orleans, is the latest addition to the Mississippi Mud Monsters’ inaugural roster. He was 5-2 with a 7.28 ERA in the indy Pioneer League in 2024. The Mud-sters, of the indy Frontier League, have announced 17 player signings to date. The season starts in May.

05 Feb

in the spotlight

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College is off to a 6-1 start under first-year coach Zach Allen. The Bulldogs swept Reid State Technical College 18-8 and 4-2 on Tuesday in Perkinston as Kaden Irving banged out four hits, including a homer and a triple, drove in three runs and scored five. Irving, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound first baseman from Gautier, is batting .579 with nine steals, nine RBIs and 13 runs. Dom Jackson, who hit 13 homers last season, already has three in 2025. Six different pitchers have recorded a win, including Samuel Marsh and Tyler West in Tuesday’s sweep. The Bulldogs have missed the NJCAA Division II Region 23 postseason the past two years. … Holmes CC is 4-0, led by former Brandon High star Xavier Myles, who is hitting .571 (8-for-14) with a homer and seven RBIs. … Northwest is also 4-0, fueled by Rob Hayes (Southaven), who is 7-for-12 with two homers and eight RBIs. … Second-ranked East Central, coming off a juco World Series appearance, opens Thursday against South Arkansas in Decatur. … Pearl River’s Max Miller (Vancleave) was named the MACCC pitcher of the week after working 3 1/3 hitless innings with seven strikeouts while recording a save and a win for the No. 5 Wildcats (3-1). P.S. Former Jackson Prep standout Konnor Griffin, yet to make his pro debut, has been given a non-roster invite to Pittsburgh’s major league spring camp. Griffin was the ninth overall pick in the 2024 draft. David Mershon, drafted out of Mississippi State by the Los Angeles Angels last summer, is going to that club’s big camp; he batted .254 in 29 games in Double-A last summer.

01 Feb

fast starts

Names to know from Friday, the first day of college games:
Eli Collins (from Laurel via Southern Miss) went 4-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs to pace NAIA No. 9 William Carey to a 13-3 win against visiting Pikeville (Ky.).
Austin Garrison (East Mississippi CC transfer from Gulfport) got six hits in eight at-bats with a pair of homers and seven RBIs as Blue Mountain Christian swept William Woods (Mo.) 12-8 and 9-1 at Millington, Tenn.
Wes Warnock (from Vicksburg via Mississippi Delta CC) went 3-for-6 with two RBIs and a run to lead Delta State to a 6-5 win over Palm Beach Atlantic at West Palm Beach, Fla.
Jordan Evans homered in a 2-for-5 game for Mississippi College in a 3-2 loss to Arkansas-Monticello at Houston.
Kyrent Cole was 2-for-3 with an RBI, four runs and two steals as Rust College fell to Miles (Ala.) 12-11 in New Orleans.
Jaxon Milam was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a steal for fifth-ranked Pearl River Community College in a 6-4 victory vs. Northwest Florida State at Panama City, Fla.
P.S. In the Caribbean Series, former Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton went 1-for-3 with two walks, two runs, two steals and an RBI as Mexico beat Puerto Rico 8-1 in the opening round at Mexicali, Mexico. Hamilton, 34, an 11-year big league veteran, is a free agent who played in the Mexican League last summer and in the Mexican Pacific League this winter.

22 Jan

polling strong

Four Mississippi junior colleges are ranked in the top 20 of the NJCAA Division II preseason poll, led by East Central Community College at No. 2. Pearl River, the defending state (MACCC) champion, is ranked fifth, Jones College 12th and Meridian 20th. ECCC won 55 games in 2024 and reached the semifinals of the D-II World Series in Enid, Okla. The Warriors open the season Feb. 6 at home against South Arkansas. Pearl River, 49-10 last season, opens Jan. 31 against Northwest Florida in a multi-team event in Panama City Beach, Fla. Mississippi has produced two national champions in the last 10 years: PRCC in 2022 and Jones in 2016. Hinds was runner-up in 2014. … Ranked No. 1 in the first NJCAA D-II poll of 2025 is Brunswick (N.C.) CC. Of note: Defending Region 23 and national champ LSU-Eunice has moved to Division I.

10 Jun

wrapping it up

The college season in the Magnolia State was tinged with disappointment. To paraphrase the Billy Beane character from “Moneyball,” If you don’t win the last game of the season, the rest is irrelevant. Winning the last game is what every team is gunning for. But while no school from Mississippi won a national championship, there was plenty of stuff to be proud of. William Carey made yet another trip to the NAIA World Series. The Crusaders won the SSAC Tournament, then hosted and won an NAIA regional before ending their run at 37-16. R.J. Stinson was a Ferriss Trophy finalist and John Snyder a second-team All-America. Southern Miss, under first-year coach Christian Ostrander, won the Sun Belt Tournament and got an NCAA Tournament bid, finishing 43-20, the program’s eighth straight 40-win season. Mississippi State rallied from a sluggish start to earn an NCAA bid and finish 40-23. The Bulldogs’ Dakota Jordan won the Ferriss Trophy, and Connor Hujsak made the SEC All-Tournament team after delivering two game-winning knocks. Delta State reached the GSC Tournament championship round and earned an NCAA Division II regional spot. Led by All-GSC third baseman Dylan Coleman, the Statesmen finished 33-24. Jackson State reached the title game of the SWAC Tournament and was three outs from winning it. The Tigers finished 36-20 and were ranked No. 2 in Black College Nines’ final HBCU Large School poll. Belhaven — led by CCS pitcher of the year Brett Sanchez and player of the year Owen Abney — reached the semifnals of the CCS Tournament and ended the season with a 25-17 mark. The Blazers also swept all three games from Maloney Trophy rival Millsaps. Blue Mountain Christian reached the SSAC Tournament final — losing to Carey — and earned the school’s first NAIA Tournament bid. The Toppers, who finished 31-23, beat Carey in a three-game series for the first time, and Arderrius Townsend was a first-team All-America choice. MUW went 22-15, setting a school mark for regular season wins. Southeastern Baptist of Laurel posted a 17-15 record, including a win over Division I Alcorn State. It was an especially tough year for Ole Miss, which wobbled in at 27-29, 11-19 in the SEC. The Rebels’ season ended in gut-wrenching fashion: a walk-off loss to Mississippi State in the SEC tourney. Mississippi College‘s season also ended with a thud: a three-game sweep at the hands of rival Delta State. The Choctaws wound up 20-25, 10-20 in the GSC. Millsaps endured a 14-27 campaign that ended with two one-run losses to Centre (Ky.) in the SAA postseason. Both Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State struggled again, the Braves going 6-43 (5-25 SWAC) and the Delta Devils 12-34 (4-26). NAIA member Rust finished 16-33 overall (10-11 GCAC) but did win a couple games in the GCAC Tournament. Tougaloo went 13-35, 8-13 GCAC. P.S. Seven players from Mississippi jucos earned All-America honors in NJCAA Division II. Pearl River Community College first baseman Hollis Porter — the MACCC player of the year — was a first-team pick, along with Meridian catcher Blaise Priester. PRCC outfielder Bryce Fowler, Hinds outfielder Thomas Marsala and Jones infielder Brady Thomas made the second team, and East Central pitcher Luke Cooley — the conference pitcher of the year — and outfielder Mo Little were on the third team. ECCC got an at-large bid to the juco World Series and reached the semifinals, finishing 55-9.

28 May

circle the wagons

The resilience of the East Central Community College Warriors will be tested today in Enid, Okla. In its opener Monday at the NJCAA Division II World Series, ECCC squandered a 10-1 lead and lost to Madison (Wisc.) College 12-10. The third-seeded Warriors (51-8) play an elimination game today against Southeastern Iowa. Powered by home runs from Mo Little, Barret Rodgers and Cyrus Rone, ECCC led 10-1 after five innings with ace Luke Cooley on the bump. Cooley departed in the sixth after throwing 110 pitches (just 61 strikes), and six relievers were unable to close the door on Madison. The WolfPack (39-12) scored six times in the sixth, once in the seventh and four more in the ninth to steal the game. ECCC did not manage a hit over the last four innings. If there is a silver lining for the Warriors, they do have Marbin Lezcano (8-1, 3.17 ERA) available for today’s game. … Meanwhile, in San Diego, one of East Central’s most famous alums also had a rough day. Tim Anderson — who led the Warriors to a state title back in 2013 — committed two errors at shortstop in a pivotal seventh inning that cost Miami in a 2-1 loss to the Padres. Anderson also went 0-for-2 at the plate, dropping his average to .203. “I can’t be worse than that,” Anderson told mlb.com after the game. “So I can only get better, so that’s a positive.” The Marlins signed Anderson — .279 career hitter, 98 homers, 120 steals — to a one-year, $5 million deal in the off-season, hoping he could reverse a troubling trajectory. It hasn’t happened. A batting champion with the Chicago White Sox in 2019 and an All-Star in 2022, he slumped to .245 with just one homer last year. The White Sox declined an option in his contract and cut him loose. In 40 games for Miami, the 30-year-old Alabama native has yet to homer and has just three extra-base hits. Never a great fielder, he has six errors and .959 fielding percentage this season, both poor numbers.