Tag Archives: MACCC

21 Jan

spotlight on …

Jackson State’s baseball team will get some prime exposure on MLB Network next month. The Tigers are playing in the annual Andre Dawson Classic, a showcase event for HBCU programs, and will face SWAC rival Southern University on MLB Network on Feb. 19 (1 p.m.). The Andre Dawson Classic runs Feb. 18-20 in New Orleans and features seven HBCUs in its eight-team field. JSU is playing in the event for the first time. The Tigers open on Feb. 18 against Grambling State and will play Prairie View on Feb. 20. JSU went 24-0 in the SWAC and 34-9 overall in 2021 but lost in the ninth inning of the league tournament title game and missed out on an NCAA bid. JSU returns Nik Galatas and Chenar Brown, picked by Collegiate Baseball Magazine as the preseason pitcher and player of the year in the SWAC. P.S. The start of the college season is less than two weeks away. On Feb. 2, NAIA member Rust College visits Tuskegee for a doubleheader. William Carey University, another NAIA program, opens at home in Hattiesburg on Feb. 4 against Lindsey Wilson. NAIA Tougaloo College starts Feb. 5 with a twinbill at Xavier in New Orleans. … Defending MACCC champion Pearl River Community College starts its season on Feb. 9 at home against Baton Rouge CC. PRCC is one of four state jucos ranked in Collegiate Baseball’s Division II Top 20. East Central (the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament runner-up) is No. 6, Pearl River No. 9, Meridian No. 14 and Itawamba No. 17. Jones College has a new coach for 2022 with Wes Thigpen moving to Ellisville after a stint at Gulf Coast. The Bobcats open on Feb. 7 at Shelton State (Ala.). Bob Keller is the new coach at Gulf Coast, which opens Feb. 5 in a tournament at Bay Minette, Ala.

28 Jun

to cap it off

As it turns out, an undefeated record, a state championship, MACCC pitcher of the year honors and an All-America nod were just appetizers for Pearl River Community College redshirt freshman Landon Gartman. The season’s entrée arrived today when Gartman was named the winner of the NJCAA Division II Pitcher of the Year award. Gartman, a Memphis signee, went 9-0 with a 1.95 ERA for the 36-9 Wildcats. He struck out 81 batters, 12.2 per game. A four-time winner of the MACCC weekly top pitcher award, Gartman won his only start for the regular season champs in the Region 23 Tournament. The former Enterprise High standout will move on to Memphis, which is coached by Daron Schoenrock, a former pitching coach under Ron Polk at Mississippi State. Memphis, in the American Athletic Conference, went 18-39 in 2021.

10 May

juco brackets set

Five of the top 18 teams in the new NJCAA Division II poll will clash next week in a loaded regional tournament with a berth in the juco World Series on the line. Brackets are set for the first day of the double-elimination Region 23 Tournament in Poplarville. On May 17, Pearl River Community College, the host and No. 1 seed, opens with Hinds; No. 2 Meridian meets Itawamba; and 3-seed LSU-Eunice takes on East Central. PRCC (34-7), ranked third in the nation, won the MACCC regular season title with a 23-5 record, 3 games better than Meridian, which had to win a play-in series to make the regional. Hinds, ICC and ECCC also advanced via that route. LSU-E is 42-5 and ranked No. 2 in the national poll. Meridian, ICC and ECCC are also ranked. Hinds, the outlier, went 18-10 in the league, has won eight of its last 10 and owns victories against Meridian and ECCC. “All of the top seeds in the MACCC advanced this past weekend,” Pearl River coach Michael Avalon said in a school release. “Add LSU-Eunice to the tournament field, and again this will be one of the most competitive regionals in the NJCAA. There is no doubt fans will see good players, well-coached teams and enjoy the awesome atmosphere that Dub Herring Park provides.”

10 May

here and there

William Carey University earned a bid to the NAIA national tournament by winning its first Southern States Athletic Conference championship on Sunday. Blake Freeman hit a pair of three-run homers and John Snyder delivered some clutch relief pitching to pace the Crusaders past Faulkner 11-7 Sunday at Mobile, Ala. Carey (34-10) won four straight in the SSAC Tournament, beating top seed Loyola (New Orleans) twice. The NAIA field will be announced Thursday; the Opening Round is set for May 17-20. … Delta State, 2-0 in the GSC Tournament, plays Alabama-Huntsville today in Oxford, Ala., for a berth in championship series. … In the junior college playoffs, Meridian, Itawamba, East Central and Hinds advanced to the NJCAA D-II Region 23 Tournament, which will start May 17 at Pearl River’s Herring Park. PRCC, the MACCC regular season champion, and LSU-Eunice are also in the six-team field. … MUW (20-9) will play in the USCAA Small College World Series in Dubois, Pa., beginning May 17. … The Texas Rangers claimed former Mississippi State catcher Jack Kruger off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels. He goes on the 40-man roster and will likely be assigned to Triple-A Round Rock. Kruger made one appearance, on defense, for the Angels before being squeezed out of a roster spot because of a trade.

08 May

winner, winner

Hats off to William Carey University, which beat top-seeded Loyola (New Orleans) 9-6 on Friday in a winners’ bracket game in the SSAC Tournament at Mobile, Ala. R.J. Stinson drove in two runs and Patrick Lee scored four and the Crusaders profited from five Loyola errors. John Snyder got the last 11 outs for the win. Carey (32-10) will play tonight against the winner of an elimination game between the two teams it has beaten, Loyola and Mobile. … Delta State, behind the pitching of Hunter Riggins and the mashing of Kirkland Trahan and Jake Barlow, beat Valdosta State 12-2 in the GSC Tournament in Oxford, Ala. The Statesmen’s reward is a game against top-seeded Lee University today. … Jackson State moved to 22-0 in the SWAC with a 6-0 victory against visiting Mississippi Valley State. … Winners of the MACCC playoff openers were Meridian, Itawamba, East Central and Jones, the only visitor (at Hinds) to win. Games 2 and 3 (if necessary) are set for today. P.S. The season is over for Blue Mountain, which lost twice in the SSAC tourney, and Belhaven, which went 0-2 in the ASC Tournament in Marshall, Texas.

07 May

into the juco minefield

It’s do-or-die time for eight Mississippi junior colleges who battled through 28 regular season games to reach this stage. The four winners of the best-of-3 playoff series that start today will advance to the NJCAA D-II Region 23 Tournament, where third-ranked Pearl River Community College, regular season champion in the MACCC, and No. 2 LSU-Eunice, six-time NJCAA national champ, await. In the conference playoffs, Meridian hosts Copiah-Lincoln, Itawamba hosts Gulf Coast, East Central hosts Northwest and Hinds hosts Jones. Meridian (29-11), ranked 10th in the latest NJCAA poll, surged at season’s end to claim second place in standings and the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. The Wildcats lost their last game but won eight straight before that, including two big ones against Itawamba, the 3-seed. Meridian is hitting .352 as a team, best in the MACCC. Banks Tolley has carried a big stick, batting .429 with 12 homers. Alec Sparks has been the staff ace, with a 7-1 record and 3.16 ERA. Pearl River, the top slugging (87 homers) team in the state, also leads in pitching (3.90 ERA), but both Hinds and Jones also rank among the top 15 nationally in staff ERA. The six-team region tournament is set for May 17-22 at Herring Park in Poplarville. P.S. Three former major league players were inducted into the Mississippi Community and Junior College Sports Hall of Fame in ceremonies last week in Pearl. Hinds Community College alum Chad Bradford, Pearl River’s Wendell Magee and Meridian’s Tyler Moore were among a large group of inductees from various sports. Bradford, who also pitched at Southern Miss, posted a 3.26 ERA over 12 MLB campaigns and famously pitched for the “Moneyball” Oakland A’s in 2002. Magee, a two-sport star at PRCC and Samford, spent seven years in the majors and batted .247 with 24 home runs. Moore, a Mississippi State alum, belted 30 homers over his five-year career. Current Auburn coach Butch Thompson, who pitched at Itawamba CC, also entered the juco Hall.

26 Apr

a few atta boys

Brandon Woodruff, the former Mississippi State standout from Wheeler, threw six shutout innings to beat the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sunday. The Milwaukee ace is 2-0 with a 1.55 ERA and has yet to allow a home run in 29 innings this season.
Pearl River Community College wrapped up the junior college state championship with a sweep of Northeast on Sunday. Gulfport’s Tate Parker hit two homers, a grand slam and then a seventh-inning game-clincher, Nos. 14 and 15 on the year, in a 13-5 win in Game 1 at Poplarville. The third-ranked Wildcats are 33-7 and 23-5 MACCC.
Decatur’s Kemp Alderman, a freshman, blasted a walk-off bomb for Ole Miss on Saturday as the Rebels salvaged the third game of their SEC series against LSU.
Collinsville’s Ben Ethridge threw a three-hit, 11-strikeout shutout at Western Kentucky on Saturday, helping Southern Miss take three of four in the C-USA series.
Lucedale’s Logan Tanner hit a two-run homer off Jack Leiter on Saturday as Mississippi State handed the Vanderbilt ace — and potential No. 1 MLB draft pick — his first loss of the season. Rowdey Jordan’s leadoff blast got the Bulldogs rolling.
Brandon High took down previously undefeated Madison Central 7-6 on Friday. The Jaguars, No. 3 in the latest MaxPreps national poll, are now 24-1. The Bulldogs are 20-7.
Three former Mississippi Braves pitchers notched wins as MLB starters on Friday: Huascar Ynoa for Atlanta, Mike Minor for Kansas City and Alex Wood for San Francisco. A fourth, John Gant, got a W for St. Louis on Saturday.

22 Apr

juco numbers

There are four Mississippi junior colleges in the latest NJCAA Division II Top 20 poll, led by No. 3 Pearl River (31-7), which leads the MACCC standings at 21-5. Itawamba, ranked 11th, is 19-7 in the league, No. 9 Meridian 18-8 and No. 19 East Central 17-9. A bunch of individuals also show up in the national stat charts, most notably perhaps Jones College left-hander Dalton Rogers, who leads the nation with 91 strikeouts over 57 innings. The Northwest Rankin High product is 3-4 with a 3.16 ERA for the 22-18 Bobcats. The top-ranked hitter from the state is Mississippi Delta’s Gage Little, batting .481, ninth in the D-II stats. Pearl River’s Graham Crawford stands tied for second nationally with 14 home runs; teammates Tate Parker and Kasey Donaldson have 13 each for the power-laden Wildcats, who top the country with 80 homers. Parker is fifth in D-II with 53 RBIs. Jones’ Murray Hutchinson leads the state with 25 stolen bases, ranking ninth in the nation. Pearl River’s Landon Gartman has eight wins (and no losses), tied for second in the national stats, and a 1.87 ERA, which ranks third. Meridian’s Alec Sparks has seven wins. Northeast’s Alex Potter has five saves, tied for third in the country. Jones’ Garrett Langrell and Gulf Coast’s Alex McWhorter have four saves each. P.S. Hinds has named Dan Rives, a former Eagles assistant and Delta head coach, as the 2022 successor to Sam Temple, who has taken the Clinton High job for next season. Temple has 439 wins over 16 seasons in Raymond, with three state championships and two juco World Series trips on his ledger.

09 Apr

clash of titans

It’s not exactly King Kong vs. Godzilla, but Saturday’s doubleheader at Cresap Field in Fulton throws together the two current behemoths of Mississippi juco baseball. Pearl River Community College, ranked No. 2 in NJCAA Division II, is 14-4 in the MACCC standings, tied for first with Itawamba, ranked 11th. Not surprisingly, both of these clubs are loaded with hitters and hurlers boasting great numbers. The host Indians are led by Riley Davis, batting .484 with 24 RBIs and 28 runs, and Lane Domino, who has nine homers, 28 RBIs, 35 runs and a .398 average. On the mound, Brady Davis is 4-0, Will Armistead 3-0 and Collin Babin 4-2. PRCC features Tate Parker, hitting .398 with 10 homers and 41 RBIs, and Graham Crawford, .349 with nine bombs and 33 RBIs. Wildcats ace Landon Gartman is among the nation’s leaders at 6-0 with a 1.71 ERA. Sam Hill is 4-0, 3.18. … East Central is third in the league at 14-6 but coming off a crushing sweep at the hands of Hinds, which outscored the Warriors 21-3 behind five homers on Tuesday. ECCC visits Northwest (13-11) on Saturday. Meridian and Gulf Coast are both 12-6.

29 Mar

laser show

The tone was set on opening day at Dub Herring Park in Poplarville. The Pearl River Community College Wildcats slugged five home runs in a doubleheader sweep of East Central CC on Feb. 3, and the laser show has continued all season for a team that has climbed to first place in the state standings and to No. 2 in the national poll. PRCC (21-5, 11-3 MACCC) has 53 home runs, third-most in NJCAA Division II. They hit eight in one game in February. The Wildcats are slugging .577 as a team. They take a seven-game win streak into today’s big doubleheader at Hinds (14-10, 12-6). Pablo Lanzarote leads the Eagles with eight homers. PRCC has four players with eight or more. Kasey Donaldson and Graham Crawford each hit their ninth on Friday, two of the four the team belted in a 10-0, 5-inning win against Holmes. Tate Parker also has nine; Von Seibert sits at eight and Eric Newsom at five. That makes for a pretty scary lineup. But the Wildcats can also scratch out a win, as they did in Game 2 against Holmes on Friday. They got just five hits, pushed across the winning run in the sixth on a sac fly and used some gritty pitching from Dakota Lee to close it out. “What makes this league so tough and people don’t understand about junior college baseball is you play a doubleheader and there is no guarantee Game 1 is going to be like Game 2 and vice versa,” PRCC coach Michael Avalon said in a school release. Landon Gartman tops the team’s pitchers with a 4-0 record and 2.10 ERA; the other three regular starters are a combined 10-1. P.S. East Central is second in the league standings at 14-4, and Itawamba is third at 10-4, percentage points ahead of Hinds.