Tag Archives: Meridian Community College

28 Aug

welcome to the club

It’s not a record, but Billy Hamilton swiped his 50th base on Wednesday in Cincinnati’s 7-5 win over the Chicago Cubs. “It’s just what I do: Steal bases,” Hamilton told The Associated Press. The rookie from Taylorsville High joins an exclusive fraternity of Reds in the 50-bag club. Among the group: Bobby Tolan, Joe Morgan, Eric Davis, Barry Larkin and Deion Sanders. The Cincinnati record for steals by a rookie is within Hamilton’s reach: 54, by Bob Brescher in 1909, back in the deadball era. Brescher also holds the overall franchise record with 81, which he set in 1911. Hamilton has some other nice numbers, too: 126 hits, 66 runs, 24 doubles, seven triples and eight assists. … Also on Wednesday, Corey Dickerson belted his 20th home run, joining a whole lot of players in Colorado’s 20-homer club. However, the ex-Meridian Community College standout hit his milestone bomb into McCovey Cove in San Francisco for the 100th splash hit in AT&T Park’s history. (Barry Bonds hit most of them.) Dickerson has a few other numbers of note, as well: 109 hits, 60 runs, 63 RBIs, 23 doubles, four triples and eight stolen bases. P.S. Worth noting from Wednesday: Jarrod Dyson, the Southwest Mississippi CC product, put down a nifty bunt to squeeze home a run as first-place Kansas City rallied late for a 6-1 victory against Minnesota. It would have been Dyson’s seventh sac bunt of the year, but he beat it out for a hit, his 65th of the season.

24 Aug

star turns

Take 1: What will Gustavo Nunez do today? The Mississippi Braves infielder has had quite the weekend so far. On Friday night at Trustmark Park, he hit an inside-the-park home run — his first homer of the season — and also scored the game-winning run on a sac fly in the eighth inning. On Saturday night, Nunez hit an 11th-inning, walk-off homer. With the 6-5 win over Birmingham, the M-Braves, winners of five straight, kept a grip on first place, by a single game over Jacksonville, in the Southern League South. The win was also the M-Braves’ 77th of the year, most in a season since the team moved to Pearl in 2005. Nunez, a 26-year-old Dominican signed by Atlanta in the off-season, doesn’t typically garner a lot of attention, but he has had a good year. The switch-hitter, whose walk-off on Saturday came from the left side, is batting .302 with 29 RBIs and 43 runs in 85 games. He has played shortstop, second base and some outfield. This is his eighth pro season. … Take 2: Corey Dickerson’s dream season for Colorado continued on Saturday when he hit a game-tying homer — third deck in right field at Coors Field — in the ninth inning and then slapped a game-winning single in the 13th as the Rockies beat Miami 5-4. Meridian Community College alum Dickerson, in his second MLB season, is batting .322 with 19 homers and 61 RBIs. His homer on Saturday was just the 33rd to reach the third deck at Coors in the ballpark’s 20 seasons. “It was pretty awesome that it went that far,” Dickerson, a lefty hitter, told mlb.com. P.S. Brian Dozier, the former Southern Miss star, has scored six runs in the last two days (three games) for Minnesota to run his American League-leading total to 91. The Twins have put up 38 runs the last two days against slumping Detroit, winning two of the three games. Dozier is batting just .235 but has a .341 on-base percentage. He also has 20 homers and 20 steals, the first 20-20 season by a second baseman in Twins history.

19 Aug

ouch

The Mississippi Braves’ hopes for a second-half championship took a blow on Monday when Jose Peraza was placed on the disabled list with a groin injury. The 20-year-old second baseman is the team’s best player, batting .341 with 25 steals since his mid-June promotion. He played in the MLB All-Star Futures Game and was the Southern League player of the month for July. The second-place M-Braves (33-24) are battling Jacksonville (34-23) and Mobile (33-22) for the SL South second-half title; the BayBears won the first half, so the wild card could also come into play for the second postseason berth. The M-Braves, currently at Mobile, have 13 games left, only five of those at home (starting Friday) and none with Jacksonville. If Peraza, who hasn’t played since Aug. 14, is shut down for the rest of the season, the M-Braves’ task will be that much tougher. P.S. Kudos to ex-Meridian Community College star Corey Dickerson for winning National League player of the week honors. Dickerson, with Colorado, batted .393 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in seven games last week. For the year, he is at .326 with 17 homers and 57 RBIs.

13 Aug

rising above it

While the Colorado Rockies are sinking like a stone in the standings, Corey Dickerson’s star continues to rise. The Meridian Community College alum from McComb extended his hitting streak to seven games in the Rockies’ 4-1 loss at San Diego on Tuesday. (Colorado is an MLB-worst 46-73.) Dickerson, who homered for the third straight game, is 12-for-28 (.429) with the three bombs, 10 RBIs and seven runs during his hit streak, which began with a 4-for-4 effort on Aug. 6. His season numbers are outstanding: .321, 16 homers, 50 RBIs, 51 runs, 19 doubles and four triples. That’s 101 runs accounted for in 94 games. Yes, Coors Field is a hitter’s dream, but Dickerson’s road numbers are also good: .271, eight homers, 20 RBIs. The 25-year-old lefty-hitting outfielder has emerged as a leading candidate for allmississippibaseball’s Cool Papa Bell Award. P.S. There was nothing lucky about T.J. House’s 13th big league appearance. The former Picayune High star threw three shutout innings for Cleveland against Arizona on Tuesday before the game was washed out. The rookie left-hander, who can’t seem to catch a break, is 1-3 with a 4.13 ERA in 12 games, 11 starts.

07 Aug

number crunching

18 — Stolen bases by Brian Dozier. The Southern Miss product got No. 18 on Wednesday against San Diego and, with 19 home runs, is fast approaching a 20-20 season.
12 — Home runs for Seth Smith. The ex-Ole Miss star belted his 12th, a 10th-inning game-winner for San Diego, against Minnesota.
12 — Number of Mississippi-connected players currently in the big leagues. A total of 24 have appeared in MLB games this season; four are on the disabled list, one (Joey Butler) is in Japan and the others are in the minors.
10 — Starts for T.J. House. The rookie left-hander out of Picayune High will make No. 11 today for Cleveland against Cincinnati. He has a respectable 4.09 ERA but just a 1-2 record.
4 — Hits by Corey Dickerson. The Meridian Community College alumnus, now batting .320, came up a home run shy of the cycle for Colorado against the Chicago Cubs.
3 — Hits by Chris Coghlan. The former Ole Miss standout, now batting .302, also came up a homer shy of the cycle for the Chicago Cubs against Colorado.
3 — Home runs for Zack Cozart. The UM product hit his third for Cincinnati against Cleveland. He hit 12 homers in 2013.
1 — Errors by Seth Smith. The Jackson native, who flips between left and right field for San Diego, committed his first of the year against Minnesota.

02 Aug

hard knock life

It has been a season of hard knocks for many Mississippi-connected pitchers in the big leagues. Former Mississippi State standout Paul Maholm is the latest to suffer misfortune; he tore an ACL trying to make a play at first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night and has landed on the disabled list, possibly done for the year. He wasn’t having a very good year, either: 4.84 ERA in 30 games. Cliff Lee, the Meridian Community College product with Philadelphia, also may be done for the year with his latest elbow problem. On Friday, Washington sent Ole Miss alum Aaron Barrett to the minors. Barrett has a 3.21 ERA overall but an ugly 9.45 over his last 10 appearances since being called for a controversial balk and altering his mechanics (see previous post). Ex-UM star Drew Pomeranz of Oakland broke his right (non-throwing) hand punching a chair on June 16 and is now in the minors despite his 2.91 ERA. Former Picayune High standout T.J. House has been up and down a dizzying number of times for Cleveland. The lefty (4.50 ERA) is back on the Indians’ roster today to start against Texas. Louis Coleman, the Pillow Academy product, has put up a 7.48 ERA in a couple of stints with Kansas City and is now back in the minors. And Ole Miss alum Phil Irwin got one start for Texas last month, yielded three runs in four innings and was shipped out again.

01 Aug

home cooking

The Mississippi Braves are surging. Sorta. Having limped in last Saturday after a rough road trip, the M-Braves have won five of six during the current homestand. But … they’ve gained no ground in the Southern League South during this stretch. At 23-18, the M-Braves are 3 games behind Jacksonville, which has displaced Mobile at the top of the standings. Still, Thursday’s 7-4 win over Mobile was significant. The BayBears, first-half champs in the division, took a series at Trustmark Park in mid-July, winning three straight after dropping the first two. In the opener of the new series on Thursday, the M-Braves got home runs — a rarity at the TeePee — from Cedric Hunter and Rich Poythress and some nice pitching — a regular occurrence — from J.R. Graham and Jason Hursh. Hunter, a one-time big leaguer, leads the M-Braves with 12 bombs. Poythress, the big first baseman signed recently to replace injured slugger Seth Loman, hit his first homer with the club. Graham, still on the mend from arm issues, threw two scoreless innings before giving way to Hursh, who worked six strong to get the win. The 2013 first-round pick by Atlanta out of Oklahoma State is now 10-6 with a 3.56 ERA. His future looks bright. P.S. Philadelphia did make a move on Thursday with ex-Meridian Community College star Cliff Lee. The Phillies put the veteran left-hander back on the disabled list after he experienced elbow discomfort during his start against Washington. Lee only recently returned from a two-month stint on the DL with the same problem. The chances he might be traded now look rather slim. In fact, his season may be over.

23 Jul

passion for the game

It’s not always about numbers in Major League Baseball. The MLB Players Alumni Association announced its annual Heart & Hustle Award winners on Tuesday, and Mississippi natives Brian Dozier and Corey Dickerson and ex-Mississippi Braves star Jason Heyward were among the 30 honorees (one for each club). The award recognizes players “who demonstrate a passion for the game of baseball and best embody the values, spirit and tradition of the game.” An overall winner will be announced on Nov. 18. Each of the honored Mississippi three went out Tuesday night and, as if to celebrate, put up some numbers. Tupelo native and former Southern Miss star Dozier went 3-for-5 and belted his 19th home run — topping his career-high 18 of 2013 — for Minnesota. Dickerson, from McComb and Meridian Community College, went 2-for-5 and hit homer No. 12 for Colorado. And Heyward, M-Braves Class of 2009, went 2-for-3 with three RBIs for Atlanta. Unfortunately for all three, they wound up on the losing end of their games.

23 Jul

in the crystal ball

Trying to picture Cliff Lee in an Atlanta Braves uniform. … Not seeing it. The former Meridian Community College star would certainly be an upgrade for the Braves’ rotation, taking the spot of either struggling Mike Minor or young swingman Alex Wood. Atlanta is one of the nine teams Philadelphia can send Lee to without the left-hander’s approval. (Washington is another.) And the Braves have some expendable prospects they could deal, including former or current Mississippi Braves like Elmer Reyes, Aaron Northcraft, Kyle Kubitza, Phil Gosselin and Todd Cunningham. But Lee makes a lot of money, and the Braves just swallowed Dan Uggla’s big contract. That’s a snag. Lee is going to go somewhere, just don’t see Atlanta as a destination. Lee, 35, has already been traded four times in his 15-year pro career and been with five organizations, including Montreal, which drafted him out of Arkansas in 2000. That’s a lot of movement for a pitcher with his pedigree. Lee had a rough return Monday from a two-month stint on the disabled list, but his career record is 143-91 with a 3.52 ERA. He is 7-3, 2.52 in 11 postseason games, including two wins in the 2009 World Series, which his Phillies lost to the New York Yankees. Lee is going to go somewhere — and he is going to help somebody make a run at the playoffs.

20 Jul

from the top

Jarrod Dyson, the former Southwest Mississippi Community College standout from McComb, got a rare start in the leadoff spot for Kansas City on Saturday. He went 1-for-3 with a triple, a walk and the only run the team scored in a 2-1 loss to Boston. Just looking at his stats — .294 average, 18 stolen bases in 68 games, few of them starts — it would seem that Dyson should lead off more often for the Royals, who are chasing an elusive playoff berth. At any rate, it is interesting to note that seven different Mississippi-connected players have hit leadoff for their MLB club just over this weekend. Interesting, too, is that they don’t all have the same skill set. Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton (Cincinnati) and Itawamba CC product Desmond Jennings (Tampa Bay) have, like Dyson, sprinter’s speed. Brian Dozier, the ex-Southern Miss star, can run a little but what he does best is get on base and get home for Minnesota; he leads the American League in runs with 71. Meridian CC alumnus Corey Dickerson (Colorado) is a .332 hitter who has more pop (11 homers) than speed, similar to Ole Miss alum Seth Smith (San Diego), who is batting .278 with 11 bombs. Former UM star Chris Coghlan (Chicago Cubs), enjoying a resurgent season, has modest power and speed but is hitting .273 for a Cubs team that is searching for answers. P.S. Regardless what he does the rest of his career, Chasen Shreve should always remember what he did in his big-league debut for Atlanta on Saturday. The former Mississippi Braves closer — the 88th alum to make The Show — struck out Philadelphia slugger Ryan Howard in a lefty-on-lefty matchup in a one-run game.