12 Mar

crooked numbers

Here’s a cool statistical oddity from Tuesday night on the Mississippi college scene: Delta State pounded Arkansas-Monticello 20-11 as three different players — Brett Burrell, Bo Rock and Brendan McCauley — got three hits with a home run and drove in five runs. The Statesmen, ranked 13th in the latest NCBWA NCAA Division II poll, improved to 17-5. … DSU put up an eight-run inning, but Jackson State did the Statesmen one better, scoring nine in the first inning of a 15-3 win against visiting Tougaloo. Arjun Huerta drove in three of the nine runs. JSU, heading into SWAC play this weekend, moved to 11-3 with a twinbill sweep of the Bulldogs. … Mississippi State (12-4), ranked No. 22 by Baseball America, beat Old Dominion 9-4 at Biloxi’s Keesler Federal Park. The Bulldogs hit six doubles, drew six walks and used six pitchers to overthrow the Monarchs. State will play Nicholls State in Biloxi today, then welcomes No. 9 Texas to Starkville to begin SEC play this weekend. … Mississippi College (14-8) won its seventh straight game, beating Ouachita Baptist 10-0 on the road. The Choctaws, who had a seven-run inning, were sparked by Korey Cooper, who drove in four runs, and got a combo four-hitter from five pitchers. … Belhaven University rallied from 4-1 down to beat MUW 5-4 at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Trey Fletterich drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth for the Blazers (10-5). MUW slipped to 3-9. … Josh Alexander doubled and tripled and knocked in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as William Carey University won at West Alabama 4-2. Carey, ranked 12th in NAIA, is 19-4.

14 Sep

welcome back … ?

The Pittsburgh Pirates and fans at PNC Park gave Adam Frazier a warm “welcome back” on Friday night. The Pirates played a video tribute to their former star on the stadium scoreboard and the crowd gave him a standing ovation before his first at-bat. “Appreciate them doing that,” the Mississippi State product said in a postgame interview. “Then you gotta lock back in, that’s all I was trying to do right there … .” He did, helping visiting Kansas City — fighting for a playoff berth — roll to an 8-3 victory. Frazier scored twice and hit his fourth home run as the Royals improved to 81-67, second in the American League wild card standings. Frazier was drafted by the Pirates in 2013 and spent his first six MLB seasons in a Pittsburgh uniform. He was traded in mid-2021, which was the last time he played at PNC. He has bounced to four other teams the past four years. A .264 career hitter, Frazier’s first year in KC hasn’t been great — .205, four homers, 20 RBIs, 32 runs over 244 at-bats — but he plays hard and plays anywhere in the field he is needed. He also has postseason experience — with Baltimore in 2023 and Seattle in 2022. P.S. Saucier native Brandon Parker, back near his old stomping grounds at Biloxi’s Keesler Federal Park, homered for the second straight night as the Mississippi Braves beat the Shuckers 7-0 in a Double-A Southern League game. Parker has eight homers on the season. At Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Perkinston, Parker belted 38 homers in two seasons, setting the school record with 24 as a freshman in 2018. … Ole Miss alum T.J. McCants doubled home the winning run in the 11th inning as Low-Class A Kannapolis beat Charleston 2-1 to advance to the Carolina League Championship Series. McCants, who finished his college career at Alabama in 2024, hit .230 with two homers and four steals this season for the Chicago White Sox affiliate.