Tag Archives: Meridian Community College

04 Aug

that sinking feeling

Garrett Crochet, the All-Star from Ocean Springs, took the mound for the Chicago White Sox on Saturday and pitched well over his four innings, allowing just a single run. The good start did not matter. The hapless ChiSox lost for the 19th straight time, 6-2 at Minnesota. Chicago (27-86) hasn’t won since July 10. Crochet (6-8, 3.19 ERA, after a no-decision Saturday) hasn’t won since June 7. Converted from reliever to starter this spring, the left-hander is having his innings limited. He hasn’t thrown more than four in his last five starts. He is at 118 1/3 innings in 23 starts on the season. Saturday’s start was his first since the trade deadline, when the constraints he placed on his availability the rest of the way likely kept him from being dealt to a contender. So he is stuck with one of the worst teams in history, a team that is threatening the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies’ record for consecutive losses (23). The White Sox rank last in MLB in runs, batting and OPS and are 19th in homers and walks. (Though he hasn’t had much to work with this year, hitting coach Marcus Thames, the ex-East Central Community College slugger, probably won’t be back in 2025.) P.S. On a more positive note: Cheers for the late Red Barber, the Columbus native who was formally inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday. Barber, the legendary voice of the old Brooklyn Dodgers (among others from 1934-66), is in the National Baseball Hall of Fame as one of the first recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award. … Biloxi High product Colt Keith of the Detroit Tigers was named the American League’s rookie of the month for July. He hit .322 (.404 on-base percentage) with seven homers and 17 RBIs. … The North Delta Dealers and HillCountry Generals will meet today for the Cotton States League title at Legion Field in New Albany. Avery Benson, an MUW alum, homered and drove in three runs and Sam Roy (Holmes CC) delivered the walk-off knock as the Dealers beat Tallahatchie 8-7 on Saturday. Benji Webb (Blue Mountain Christian) pitched a complete game, fanning 12 over the seven innings, and Joseph Rollins (Eupora High) drove in three runs for the Generals in a 5-2 win against Tupelo. … Davis Bradshaw, former McLaurin High and Meridian CC star, was released by Miami. In six pro seasons, he had a .303 career average with five homers in 379 games, only 45 above A-ball.

31 Jul

lightning strikes twice

Deadline trades — and there were a slew of them this week — can be risky, but they can also make a big difference in a team’s championship chase. To wit: Former Meridian Community College standout Cliff Lee was involved in deadline deals in back-to-back seasons that proved very rewarding. Both times the lanky left-hander helped his new club reach the World Series. In 2009, the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies traded four prospects to Cleveland for Lee, the 2008 Cy Young Award winner, and an outfielder. Lee went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA as the Phillies won the National League East. In the postseason, he was 4-0 with a 1.56 and beat the New York Yankees twice in the World Series. Alas, the Phils fell in six games. In 2010, Lee had moved on to Seattle. That July, Texas sent three prospects along with big leaguer Justin Smoak to the Mariners to get Lee for the stretch run. He went 4-6 with a 3.98 ERA for the Rangers, 2-1 with a 1.93 in four September starts, helping them win the American League West. In the 2010 postseason, Lee posted a 3-2, 2.78, ledger as Texas reached the World Series. Both of his losses came in the Series, won by San Francisco. … Lee won 143 games in a 13-year big league career and was 7-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 11 postseason starts. He did not win a ring, however. P.S. At a press conference in Pittsburgh today, Jackson Prep alum Konnor Griffin formally signed with the Pirates for a $6.5 million bonus, the highest for a Mississippi-connected player in the bonus pool era (since 2012) of the MLB draft. The consensus national high school player of the year was the ninth overall pick. “The (Pirates) team is on a great track right now hopefully getting to the playoffs,” Griffin said at his signing. “There are a lot of great things I’m seeing here.” If Griffin, an outfielder/shortstop, plays this season, it’ll likely be at Low-Class A Bradenton. The rookie league season has ended. … Former Jackson Prep standout Will Warren was optioned back to Triple-A by the New York Yankees after making an impressive MLB debut at Philadelphia on Tuesday (see previous posts). … Lance Lynn, the 37-year-old right-hander out of Ole Miss, went on the injured list with knee inflammation today, a day after notching his sixth win for St. Louis against Texas. Lynn (6-4, 4.06 ERA) is 2-0 in his last three starts while allowing just three runs in 16 innings for the Cardinals, who are still in the National League wild card race.

27 Jul

hit parade

There are still a lot of hits in Tyreque Reed’s bat. After a year on the shelf, the Houlka native has come out swinging in the independent Frontier League, batting .371 in 32 games for the Washington Wild Things. Since coming off a stint on the injured list on July 4, Reed has banged out 29 hits in 15 games. He has two four-hit games and three three-hit games in that span. He hit his sixth homer of the season on Friday night. Even after a loss in that game, his Wild Things team — based in Washington, Pa. — has the best record (41-22) in the league. Reed established himself as a hitter of note in 2017 at Itawamba Community College when he batted a ridiculous .504 with 15 homers and 15 doubles in 141 at-bats. He was drafted by Texas in the eighth round that summer, played three years in that system, then was taken in the 2020 Rule 5 draft by Boston. A first baseman/DH, he was a ranked prospect for a time in both of those organizations and batted .268 with 64 homers in 374 games in the minors. He hit .296 with 14 homers at High-Class A Greenville in 2021 and earned a promotion to Double-A, where his production began to slip. He missed a chunk of the ’22 season and all of ’23 with injuries before becoming a free agent last fall. At 26, Reed’s window of opportunity in affiliated ball has probably closed. … Also finding a home in the Frontier League this year is Delvin Zinn, another ICC product and a former Chicago Cubs farmhand. Zinn, who stole 44 bases in one minor league season, is batting .329 with 11 steals for Evansville. P.S. Hot-hitting Kemp Alderman belted a walk-off, 11th-inning homer for Jupiter on Friday night. The ex-Ole Miss star, batting .322 in July, is at .283 with four homers and 24 RBIs for Miami’s Low-A club. The Hammerheads started three Mississippi products on Friday: Alderman in left field, former McLaurin High and Meridian CC star Davis Bradshaw at DH and Mississippi State alum Tanner Allen in right field. Alderman and Allen are both Ferriss Trophy winners.

26 Jul

have a day

Scroll the ‘Sip-centric highlights from Thursday: Start in Low-Class A, where Brennon McNair — former Magee High standout — went 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs, a double and a home run in Columbia’s 4-3 win against Lynchburg. McNair, 21, a fourth-year pro in the Kansas City organization, is batting .207 with six homers, 22 RBIs and five steals. … Also in Low-A, ex-Ole Miss star Kemp Alderman went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Meridian Community College product Davis Bradshaw — who is batting .347 in 13 games — was 1-for-3 in Jupiter’s 7-1 win over Daytona Beach. Alderman, the 2023 Ferriss Trophy winner, is hitting .287 with three homers and 23 RBIs for the Miami affiliate. … In High-A, Southern Miss alum Dustin Dickerson went 2-for-3 with a walk, a run, an RBI and a steal as Quad Cities rallied past Cedar Rapids 5-3. Dickerson, a 2023 draftee by Kansas City, is batting .232 (.363 on-base percentage) with 22 RBIs and 39 runs. … Staying in High-A, Colton Ledbetter, ex-Mississippi State standout, hit his 12th homer in a 5-4 win by Bowling Green (Tampa Bay) vs. Winston-Salem. Ledbetter, also a 2023 draftee, is batting .269. … In Double-A, MSU alum R.J. Yeager — signed by St. Louis as an undrafted free agent in 2022 — hit his 10th homer for Springfield in a 3-2 victory over Corpus Christi. … At Triple-A, ex-Ole Miss star Grae Kessinger, recently demoted by Houston, reached base five times for Sugar Land in an 11-9 loss against Sacramento. Kessinger hit his third homer, walked three times and scored three times. … And in The Show: Brent Rooker continued to rake for Oakland, belting his 24th homer — 441 feet — in the A’s 6-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels. The former SEC player of the year out of MSU is batting .289 with 70 RBIs and has hit .382 with seven homers over his last 15 games. … And MSU alum Nathaniel Lowe went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run as Texas (51-52) won its fifth straight, 2-1 vs. the Chicago White Sox behind Max Scherzer. Lowe is batting .270 with a .361 OBP. P.S. Former Ole Miss standout and ex-big leaguer Chris Ellis was released from Triple-A Reno by Arizona. He was 2-7 with a 9.09 ERA.

12 Jul

a little teamwork

The Miami Marlins’ system features several Magnolia State products, and down in the Low-Class A Florida State League on Thursday, three of them teamed up to fuel a win by Jupiter. Davis Bradshaw, a minor league vet on a rehab assignment, and 2023 draft picks Kemp Alderman and Justin Storm played starring roles for the Hammerheads in a 7-3 victory over Bradenton. In the pivotal six-run sixth inning, Bradshaw singled in the game-tying run, Alderman doubled in a pair, Bradshaw scored on a sac fly and Alderman came home on a wild pitch as Jupiter went up 7-2. Storm pitched the last two innings, blanking Bradenton on one hit. Meridian Community College alum Bradshaw, who has been in the Miami chain since 2018 and is a career .304 hitter, is batting .400 in six games with the Hammerheads on a rehab assignment from Double-A Pensacola. Ex-Ole Miss star Alderman, injured at the start of this season, has a five-game hit streak and is batting .233 with two homers and nine RBIs over 20 games. Storm, a power left-hander out of Southern Miss, trimmed his ERA to 1.30 over 17 appearances. He is 4-1 with two saves. … The big league Marlins, who recently released ex-East Central CC star Tim Anderson, still have Ole Miss product Nick Fortes at catcher. Former Mississippi State standout Tanner Allen is at Pensacola (on the IL), and Corinth High and Itawamba CC alum Kyle Crigger is at High-A Beloit. P.S. Former State star Jake Mangum — who was in Miami’s system in 2023 — banged out three hits Thursday for Triple-A Durham (Tampa Bay) and jacked his average to .317. The switch-hitter, 28, hit .347 in June and is at .368 in July, though he hasn’t homered since April. Tick, tick … Mangum is still waiting for his first MLB call-up. … Ex-George County High standout Justin Steele (2-3, 2.71) won his second straight start for the Chicago Cubs, throwing seven shutout innings against mighty Baltimore in an 8-0 romp. … MSU product Dakota Hudson cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Albuquerque by Colorado. The veteran right-hander was expected to accept the assignment. Also on the Isotopes’ roster is ex-Ole Miss star Ryan Rolison, the oft-injured lefty who has a 3.52 ERA in five games, and minor league vet Hunter Stovall, an MSU alum and a .282 hitter this season.

06 May

names to know

Slade Wilks, Southern Miss: Extended his hitting streak to 21 games on Sunday, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs, to spark USM to a 6-5 curfew-shortened win over Coastal Carolina, completing a sweep of the Sun Belt Conference series.
Jordan McCladdie, Jackson State: Went 5-for-8 with six RBIs and four runs to pace JSU (29-16, 12-11) to a SWAC sweep, 22-3 and 7-4, over Mississippi Valley State. Game 3 is today in Jackson.
Noah Magee, Delta State: Threw four shutout innings in relief as the Statesmen, who scored four times in the first inning, held off top-seeded Lee 5-3 to stay alive in the GSC Tournament at Oxford, Ala. DSU, now 30-21, gets Valdosta State today.
Blaise Priester, Meridian Community College: Banged out four hits, including a homer, and knocked in four runs to propel MCC to a 15-8 win over Copiah-Lincoln CC and into the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament. (No. 1-ranked East Central and No. 13 Jones face winner-take-all Game 3’s today.)
Andrew Fischer, Ole Miss: Drove in five runs, three on a clutch double in the ninth inning, but couldn’t prevent the Rebels from suffering a brutal 10-9 loss at Auburn. (The Tigers, 4-20 in SEC play, scored the winning run on a wild pitch, a steal and a passed ball.)
Khal Stephen and Jurrangelo Cijntje, Mississippi State: Each notched his seventh win, combining to strike out 14 batters while allowing just four runs over 12 innings, as the Bulldogs took the first two games of their weekend series vs. Alabama. (Alas, State could not complete the sweep, falling 10-5 on Sunday.)

01 May

big wednesday

The Mississippi Braves play an 11 a.m. matinee today at Trustmark Park in Pearl, the pro game against Pensacola serving as an appetizer of sorts for tonight’s Ole Miss-Mississippi State clash at the same venue. The televised non-conference game (6:30 p.m./ESPN2) between the Rebels (23-20, 27th in ncca.com’s RPI) and Bulldogs (29-15, 28th in RPI) could have implications for their NCAA Tournament chances. UM took two of three from State in their SEC series last month. … Meanwhile, in Jackson, Tenn., William Carey University and Blue Mountain Christian will begin play today in the SSAC Championship. Carey (30-14) is the No. 2 seed and will open Pool B play against Thomas U. BMC (29-19) is the 8-seed and draws top-seeded Faulkner to start Pool A play. The winners of the two four-team pools will meet for the championship, with both getting bids to the NAIA Tournament. … The Belhaven University-MUW game originally scheduled for tonight in Clinton has been cancelled. The Blazers (23-15) have finished their regular season and will compete in the CCS postseason next week. P.S. The pairings are set for the MACCC’s best-of-3 play-in series, which begin Friday: East Central, ranked No. 1 in NJCAA Division II, hosts Northeast; No. 12 Northwest hosts Hinds; No. 13 Jones hosts East Mississippi; and Meridian hosts Copiah-Lincoln. The series winners advance to the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament next week in Poplarville, home of regular season champion Pearl River, ranked No. 2 nationally. … Eli Huebner of Meridian was named the MACCC hitter of the week after batting .500 with three homers, including two grand slams in one inning, in four games, while PRCC’s Caleb Dyess earned pitcher of the week honors following his six-hitter in the championship-clinching 7-1 win against Northwest on Saturday.

13 Mar

head of the class

The first test for East Central Community College since it jumped to the head of the class could be a challenging one. The undefeated Warriors, ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA Division II poll released on Monday, take on No. 15 Meridian today in a doubleheader at the Clark/Gay Complex in Decatur. Of course, the Warriors are fairly accustomed to big games. ECCC is 25-0, 2-0 in the MACCC, and was ranked 10th in the preseason poll coming off a state and region championship season that ended in the juco World Series. Brady McGee, from Lake, leads the attack with a .439 average, seven homers, 28 RBIs, 36 runs and 13 steals. Barret Rogers is at .414 with four homers and 33 RBIs and Brandon’s Mo Little checks in at .390 with six homers, 36 RBIs and 11 bags. On the bump, Waynesboro’s Luke Cooley is 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA and 13.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Marbin Lezcano, from Panama, is 2-0 with a 3.58. Meridian (17-7, 2-0) is led by Blaise Priester (.393, five, 27) and Grenada’s Landon Waters (4-0, one save, 1.33). … Pearl River (22-5, 2-0) is ranked No. 5 in the new poll and will host Southwest today. Jones (20-4, 2-0), unranked in preseason, is now 13th as it heads into a twinbill at Hinds. P.S. Lewisburg High, the top-ranked prep team in the state, will play in the Southeastern High School Baseball Classic, a four-team event which starts Friday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Oak Grove will play Christian Brothers from Memphis in Friday’s opener at 4 p.m., and at 6:30, Lewisburg takes on Houston, another Memphis school. The winners will play Saturday, with the winner there advancing further in the tournament. Nationally ranked Lewisburg features preseason All-America and pro prospect Samuel Richardson.

03 Oct

just rewards

Former Biloxi High star Colt Keith had a game on May 16 he’ll surely never forget. And now he has an award to commemorate it. Keith, playing for Double-A Erie in the Detroit system, went 6-for-6, hitting for the cycle, with two home runs and seven RBIs. Keith received MLB Network’s award for Best Single-Game Performance, announced during Monday night’s MiLB Awards Show. In his third pro season, Keith — Detroit’s No. 2 prospect — reached Triple-A and finished 2023 with a .306 average, 27 homers and 101 RBIs. An all-Mississippi minor league All-Star team would have to include Keith, who could slot in at second base, his secondary position. Here’s a position-by-position roster:
Starting pitcher: Will Warren (Jackson Prep), 10-4, 3.35 ERA, at Double-A and Triple-A (New York Yankees system)
Relief pitcher: Landon Harper (Southern Miss), 6-3, five saves, two holds, 3.34, in Low-Class A (Atlanta)
Catcher: Chuckie Robinson (USM), .290, 13 homers, 74 RBIs, at Triple-A (Cincinnati)
First base: Blaine Crim (Mississippi College), .289, 22 homers, 85 RBIs, at Triple-A (Texas)
Second base: Keith
Third base: Blaze Jordan (DeSoto Central High), .296, 18 homers, 86 RBIs, at High-A and Double-A (Boston)
Shortstop: Grae Kessinger (Ole Miss), .283, six homers, 32 RBIs, at Triple-A (now with Houston)
Outfield: Jake Mangum (Mississippi State), .298, five homers, 52 RBIs, 16 steals, at Triple-A (Miami); Emaarion Boyd (South Panola High), .262, 36 RBIs, 68 runs, 56 steals, in Low-A (Philadelphia); Davis Bradshaw (Meridian Community College), .314, .383 OBP, four triples, 47 runs, at High-A and Double-A (Miami)
DH: Tim Elko (UM), .295, 28 homers, 106 RBIs, in A-ball and Double-A (Chicago White Sox)
Utility: Justin Foscue (MSU), .266, 18 homers, 84 RBIs, in Triple-A (Texas)
P.S. The best season by a player drafted from the state this year was posted by USM product Matthew Etzel, a 10th-round selection by Baltimore who batted .323 with two homers, 25 RBIs and 21 steals in 30 games over three levels, topping out in High-A. Former Magnolia Heights star Cooper Pratt, a sixth-rounder by Milwaukee, hit .356 in 12 games in rookie ball and won a championship. Kellum Clark, the last player picked (20th round) from the state out of MSU, hit .262 with a homer and eight RBIs in 22 games at the rookie and Low-A levels in the Mets’ system.

02 Oct

into the mist

In what was probably — probably — the last game of Buck Showalter’s managerial career, the New York Mets’ disappointing season ended with a blowout loss — 9-1 to Philadelphia at CitiField. Former Mississippi State star Showalter announced before Sunday’s game that he would not be returning for a third season with the Mets. He was greeted with a standing ovation from Mets fans when he took out the lineup card pregame. A 101-win playoff team in 2022, the Mets suffered some key injuries and tumbled to 74-87 this year. “It’s not the ending I wanted, but I still love the city and the players,” Showalter told The Associated Press. He has won 1,726 games (.509 win percentage) over 22 years with five different clubs, claiming four manager of the year awards, including in 2022. His teams went 0-for-6 in postseason series, bowing out last year in a wild card series against San Diego. … The question about Showalter’s future in New York was one of several involving Mississippians in the majors headed into the off-season. To wit: Will East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson be back with the Chicago White Sox? The team holds an option on his contract, but the combustible former batting champ hit just .245 with one home run and scuffled on defense at shortstop. … Will ex-Mississippi State star Hunter Renfroe and Meridian CC product Corey Dickerson land jobs for 2024? Renfroe, who belted 20 homers in 2023, was waived in August by the Los Angeles Angels, claimed by Cincinnati and then released before season’s end. Dickerson, who hit .250 in 50 games, was released by last-place Washington in August. … What’s next for Spencer Turnbull? The former Madison Central High standout, who threw a no-hitter for Detroit early in 2021, missed all of 2022 after elbow surgery and endured more injury issues this season, which he finished in the minors. He was 1-4 with a 7.26 ERA for the Tigers, 0-1, 6.23, in the minors, pitching just twice in September. … Is Drew Pomeranz done? The Ole Miss product, 34, who has a 3.91 career ERA and a World Series ring, hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2021 because of injuries and made just seven minor league appearances this year. He is a free agent for 2024. … Two players who finished strong and possibly solidified their jobs for 2024: Ex-MSU star Brent Rooker and former Ole Miss standout James McArthur. Journeyman Rooker, an All-Star in his first year with Oakland, belted his 30th homer on Sunday; he hit. 306 with six bombs over his last 15 games. McArthur, a rookie in his first year in Kansas City’s system, notched a two-inning save against the Yankees on Sunday. In his last seven appearances, the tall right-hander went 1-0 with four saves and did not allow a run in nine innings.