Tag Archives: Mississippi State

28 Sep

wait ’til next year

Bad day for Houston, which was eliminated from playoff contention before it took the field, but there was some consolation for Astros pitcher J.P. France. The Mississippi State alum, on the mend from shoulder surgery, got his first win since 2023, working three innings Saturday in the Astros’ 6-1 victory against the Los Angeles Angels at Anaheim. France, 30, won 11 games for the Astros in 2023 but went on the injured list after five starts last season. After nine rehab appearances this summer, he was recalled to the majors on Sept. 9 and made his first appearance in 509 days on Sept. 14, throwing a scoreless inning against Atlanta. That outing, France said, “was huge for me, mainly mentally.” He backed that up with his strong showing Saturday, yielding one run on two hits with five strikeouts. His next outing will come next year, presumably with Houston, which endured an injury-plagued season and missed the postseason for the first time since 2016. Wins by Detroit and Cleveland on Saturday KO’d the Astros. Heading into the final day of the regular season, the American League Central and East Division titles have not been settled, nor has the final National League wild card berth. … Charlie Morton, 41, who pitched for the 2007 Mississippi Braves, will get the start for Atlanta today in what is expected to be his final MLB appearance. The Braves, Morton’s original club, recently claimed him on waivers from Detroit.
A total of 32 players with Mississippi ties (natives or school alums) appeared in MLB games this season:
Hitters
Tim Anderson (East Central CC), Los Angeles Angels; Blaine Crim (Mississippi College), Texas/Colorado; Tim Elko (Ole Miss), Chicago White Sox; Nick Fortes (UM), Miami/Tampa Bay; Justin Foscue (Mississippi State), Texas; Adam Frazier (MSU), Pittsburgh/Kansas City; Colt Keith (Biloxi HS), Detroit; Nathaniel Lowe (MSU), Washington/Boston; Jake Mangum (MSU), Tampa Bay; Hunter Renfroe (MSU), Kansas City; Austin Riley (DeSoto Central HS), Atlanta; Chuckie Robinson (Southern Miss), L.A. Dodgers; Brent Rooker (MSU), A’s; Matt Wallner (USM), Minnesota; Jordan Westburg (MSU), Baltimore
Pitchers
Garrett Crochet (Ocean Springs), Boston; J.P. France (MSU), Houston; J.T. Ginn (MSU), A’s; Kendall Graveman (MSU), Arizona; Gunnar Hoglund (UM), A’s; Trevor McDonald (George County HS), San Francisco; Doug Nikhazy (UM), Cleveland; Konnor Pilkington (MSU), Washington; Drew Pomeranz (UM), Chicago Cubs; Ryan Rolison (UM), Colorado; Nick Sandlin (USM), Toronto; Justin Steele (Lucedale/George County HS), Cubs; Chris Stratton (MSU), Kansas City/L.A. Dodgers; Spencer Turnbull (Madison Central HS), Toronto; Hurston Waldrep (USM), Atlanta; Will Warren (Jackson Prep), New York Yankees; Brandon Woodruff (MSU), Milwaukee.
Note: Houston Roth (UM), Baltimore, was recalled but did not appear; James McArthur (UM), Kansas City, has been on the injured list all season.

27 Sep

the night for three dogs

One former Mississippi State standout was hunting a playoff berth on Friday night, while two others were playing spoiler roles in the American League East title race. Nathaniel Lowe and the Boston Red Sox accomplished their mission, clinching an AL wild card, but Lowe’s fellow former Bulldogs Jordan Westburg and Jake Mangum could not spark upsets for Baltimore and Tampa Bay, respectively. Lowe, who joined the Red Sox in mid-August, went 1-for-2 with a sac fly as Boston rallied from three runs down to beat Detroit 4-3 on Ceddanne Rafaela’s walk-off triple in the ninth inning. Fenway Park went nuts. The BoSox are back in the postseason for the first time in four years — and, yes, they celebrated, champagne showers and all. “Just a total team effort. That was fun to watch,” Boston manager Alex Cora told mlb.com. Meanwhile, at Yankee Stadium, Westburg gave the Orioles an early lead with a three-run homer off Will Warren, the Jackson Prep product, but the Yankees powered their way to an 8-4 win. Warren (9-8) got the W as New York remained tied atop the AL East with Toronto, which beat Tampa Bay 4-2 at Rogers Centre. Rookie Mangum, batting .299 on the year, went 1-for-3 for the Rays, who briefly led early on. Toronto holds the tiebreaker over New York. Two games left for both. … In the National League wild card battle, Cincinnati rallied past host Milwaukee — the NL’s best team, record-wise — for a 3-1 win and is now tied with the New York Mets, who crumbled against Miami, losing 6-2. The Reds have won seven of 10. “There are things that are happening with the Reds right now that make you think they are destined for the postseason,” Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley, the former MSU star, said during the game. The Reds hold the tiebreaker over the Mets for the final wild card. Two games left for both. P.S. On this date in 1935, Hughie Critz, one of Mississippi’s all-time best, played the final game of a 12-year career. The 5-foot-8 Starkville native, who attended MSU when it was called Mississippi A&M, hit .268 with 531 RBIs and 832 runs, playing for the Reds and the New York Giants. … Greenville native George Scott, another of the state’s greats, played his last MLB game on this date in 1979. “Boomer” hit .268 with 271 homers and 1,051 RBIs in 14 seasons; he spent most of his career with the Red Sox. He would play on in Mexico until 1984.

26 Sep

a crowning achievement

Enjoying an eventful third pro season, Matthew Etzel drove in three runs in the first two innings Thursday to propel Jacksonville to the championship of the Triple-A International League. Miami’s top affiliate beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7-4 in Game 3 of the title series. Etzel, 2-for-4 with a double on Thursday, hit .385 in the series with four RBIs. “He’s such a professional hitter,” Jumbo Shrimp manager David Carpenter told milb.com. “He was a huge part of us getting here.” Etzel, 23, Miami’s No. 29 prospect, batted .275 with two homers, 13 RBIs, 13 runs and nine steals in 31 games with Jacksonville. The Marlins got him in a July trade with Tampa Bay for ex-Ole Miss star Nick Fortes. Overall this season — which included two stints on the injured list — Etzel hit .248 with seven homers and 27 steals, playing at three different levels. He was originally drafted by Baltimore in 2023 and traded in July of ’24 to Tampa Bay. Ole Miss alum Kemp Alderman — the Marlins’ minor league player of the year — also got to celebrate with the Jumbo Shrimp, who’ll play Pacific Coast League champ Las Vegas on Saturday for the Triple-A National Championship. … Calvin Harris, another UM product, celebrated a Southern League title on Thursday after helping Birmingham (Chicago White Sox) win that Double-A crown 6-3 against Montgomery. Harris caught all three games of the series. P.S. J.T. Ginn, ex-Mississippi State star from Brandon, bore the brunt of the damage as Houston ended the frustration of a five-game losing streak with an 11-5 blowout of the A’s on Thursday. The Astros stayed in the chase for an American League wild card berth. Ginn, who had pitched well in his three previous September starts, was roughed up for five runs in the first two innings and seven all told in 3 2/3. Now 4-7 with a 5.08 ERA, Ginn yielded six hits, three walks and an HBP against the charged-up Astros. … Detroit and Toronto, two other AL teams needing a big win, also got one Thursday. The Tigers snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating Cleveland 4-2, tying the Guardians atop the AL Central. Houston is a game back of both, sitting at fourth in the wild card standings. Toronto beat Boston 6-1 and stayed even with the New York Yankees atop the AL East. The Red Sox, second in the wild card standings with a one-game cushion, managed just four hits on Thursday, MSU product Nathaniel Lowe going 1-for-3. Much remains unsettled — in both leagues — heading into the final weekend of the regular season. It’s gonna be fun.

25 Sep

playing pepper

Concerns about Garrett Crochet’s durability seem kinda silly now. The ex-Ocean Springs High star delivered one of his best performances of the season Wednesday night: eight innings, three hits, no walks, no runs, six strikeouts in Boston’s impactful 7-1 win at Toronto. The left-hander’s last pitch — No. 100 — hit 97 mph, a called third strike. “At this point of the year, it’s unbelievable,” Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez said in an mlb.com story. “He’s still throwing gas, everything has shape.” Crochet (18-5) reached 205 1/3 innings for the season, just his second since converting from reliever. He threw 146 innings for the Chicago White Sox last year, working very conservatively down the stretch of that team’s woeful season. Wednesday’s win reduced the Red Sox’s magic number to one for clinching an American League playoff berth. The proud franchise hasn’t been to the postseason since 2021. The bold off-season trade for Crochet has gotten them over that hump. … Following Toronto’s loss, the New York Yankees beat the White Sox 8-1 and moved into a tie with the Blue Jays atop the AL East. Former Mississippi Braves star Max Fried, in his first year in pinstripes, won his 19th game, boosted by Aaron Judge’s 50th and 51st home runs. … Former Mississippi College standout Blaine Crim hit his fifth homer in 11 games with Colorado — but who noticed? Seattle, powered by Cal Raleigh’s 59th and 60th homers, beat the visiting Rockies 9-2 to clinch the AL West crown. … Mississippi State product Brent Rooker drove in two runs — he has 89 RBIs on the year — and M-Braves alum Shea Langeliers homered in a four-hit game to power the A’s past Houston 6-0. Stumbling toward the finish line with five straight losses, the Astros are a game behind Detroit for the final AL wild card spot. Houston will face ex-MSU standout J.T. Ginn (4-6, 4.57 ERA) today in West Sacramento, Calif. … The fading Tigers, meanwhile, lost their eighth straight, 5-1 to Cleveland, which moved into first place alone in the AL Central. (Colt Keith, the ex-Biloxi High star, has been on the injured list since Sept. 19; he is typically Detroit’s leadoff batter.) … On a night when Cincinnati honored the late Dave Parker — the recently inducted Hall of Famer from Mississippi — the Reds fell to Pittsburgh 4-3 in 11 innings. The Reds remain tied with Arizona, a game back of the Mets for the final National League wild card berth. All three lost on a wild Wednesday. P.S. In the minors, both ex-Ole Miss star Kemp Alderman and ex-Southern Miss standout Matthew Etzel hit home runs to help Jacksonville beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6-4 in Game 2 of the Triple-A International League Championship Series. The deciding game is tonight.

24 Sep

bombs away

The first home run of Hunter Renfroe’s major league career sailed out of San Diego’s Petco Park on this date in 2016. The victim was San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner. Renfroe, the former Mississippi State star from Crystal Springs, had made his MLB debut three days earlier. He would go on to hit 191 more homers in a career that apparently has ended. He was released in May by Kansas City. Whether he ever plays again, the powerfully built outfielder will rate as one of the most prolific sluggers ever out of Mississippi. His 192 bombs are tied (with Brian Dozier) for the fifth-most in big league history among Mississippi natives. He also hit two homers in the postseason, one in the 2020 World Series with Tampa Bay. Among the pitchers he took deep are Jacob deGrom, Clayton Kershaw, Stephen Strasburg, Aroldis Chapman, Zack Greinke, Max Fried, Hunter Greene and Garrett Crochet. His last homer came against Atlanta’s Charlie Morton on Sept. 29, 2024, at Truist Park. Renfroe batted .236 with 510 RBIs over a 10-year career spent with seven different teams. He had a 33-homer season with San Diego in 2019 and a 94-RBI season with Boston in 2021. Also known for his strong arm, he notched 75 outfield assists. P.S. The leaders in career homers by Magnolia State natives: Ellis Burks 352, Dave Parker 339, George Scott 271, Chet Lemon 215, Brian Dozier and Hunter Renfroe 192, Mitch Moreland 186, Dmitri Young 171, Austin Riley 169, Bill Melton and Frank White 160. (Note: Riley was born in a Memphis hospital but grew up and went to school in Southaven.)

24 Sep

are you not entertained?

On a sensational Tuesday night when the New York Yankees and Seattle clinched playoff berths; Cleveland caught collapsing Detroit; the desperate Mets rallied past the Chicago Cubs; Houston lost its fourth straight; and the Los Angeles Dodgers blew a win for Shohei Ohtani against plucky Arizona, several Mississippians in pro ball deserved attention:
Nathaniel Lowe: The ex-Mississippi State star produced two hits, two walks, two RBIs and a run in Boston’s 4-1 win at Toronto. The Red Sox kept their grip on the second American League wild card and remained in the hunt for the AL East title. Lowe is batting .286 with two homers, 15 RBIs and 14 runs in 29 games since the Red Sox signed him as a free agent following his release by Washington.
Garrett Crochet: The Ocean Springs native gets the ball for Boston tonight against future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer and the AL East-leading Blue Jays. Crochet, a strong Cy Young Award candidate, is 17-5 with a 2.69 ERA in his first season with the Red Sox, who gave the big left-hander a bunch of money to do what he’s doing.
Hurston Waldrep: The Southern Miss alum improved to 6-1 in 10 appearances for Atlanta, which won for the 10th straight time by beating Washington 3-2. Rookie Waldrep pitched around nine baserunners, allowing just one run in six innings and trimming his ERA to 2.88. (Former Mississippi Braves Ronald Acuna and Michael Harris homered for Atlanta, Harris hitting two, one off ex-MSU star Konnor Pilkington.)
Calvin Harris: The former Ole Miss catcher went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs to help Birmingham beat Montgomery 7-3 and force a decisive Game 3 in the Double-A Southern League Championship Series. Harris hit .266 with three homers and 38 RBIs in his third year in the Chicago White Sox’s organization. (MSU alum Colton Ledbetter went 0-for-5 for Montgomery, a Tampa Bay affiliate.)
Kemp Alderman: The ex-Ole Miss slugger and 2023 Ferriss Trophy winner was named to the Southern League postseason All-Star team by MLB Pipeline. The Decatur native batted .282 with 15 homers and 53 RBIs for Miami’s Pensacola club and finished the season in Triple-A, where he belted seven more homers. (Incidentally, he went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts in Jacksonville’s 5-4 loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the opener of the International League Championship Series.)

22 Sep

big league chew

There was good news for Milwaukee on Sunday. A 1-0 loss by the Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati handed the Brewers the National League Central title, their third straight. But there was also bad news, a double dose: The team lost to St. Louis 5-1 and announced the loss of Brandon Woodruff, the Mississippi State product, to the injured list. Right-hander Woodruff has what has been described as a moderate lat strain that reportedly could keep him out into the postseason. Returning from shoulder surgery that cost him all of the 2024 season, Woodruff went 7-2 with a 3.32 ERA in 12 starts. “The longer you keep going, things like this can happen,” he told The Associated Press. Woodruff joins a crowd of Mississippians with season-ending injuries that includes Justin Steele, Gunnar Hoglund, Nick Sandlin, Austin Riley, Colt Keith and Matt Wallner. … The surging Reds completed a four-game sweep of the Cubs and have tied the floundering New York Mets for third place in the NL wild card standings, both at 80-76. The Reds own the tiebreaker. … Toronto also clinched a playoff berth on Sunday with an 8-5 win against Kansas City. The Blue Jays, at 90-66, lead the AL East by 2 games over the New York Yankees. Of note: A key move by Toronto at the trade deadline was acquiring Shane Bieber from Cleveland straight up for minor league prospect Khal Stephen, the former Mississippi State star who pitched in Double-A this season. Bieber is 3-2 with a 3.57 in six starts for the Jays. … Ex-Mississippi College star Blaine Crim homered Sunday for the fourth time in 31 at-bats for Colorado since he was recalled from the minors. … Atlanta, which seems to make a waiver claim every day, picked up Chuckie Robinson, the ex-Southern Miss catcher, from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Robinson, a .131 hitter in his brief MLB time, was batting .254 with four homers and 30 RBIs in Triple-A for the Dodgers, who claimed him from the Angels earlier this season. The Braves optioned Robinson to Triple-A Gwinnett. … Charlie Morton, the all-time winningest pitcher among former Mississippi Braves in MLB, was designated for assignment by scuffling Detroit. He had two wins and a 7.09 ERA in nine starts for the Tigers. He is 147-134, 4.13, lifetime. P.S. Schaumburg, with three Ole Miss alums on its roster, came up short in Sunday’s decisive Game 5 of the Frontier League Championship Series. Quebec City won the title 6-5. Former Rebels star Anthony Calarco — the independent league’s MVP — drove in 16 runs in the postseason for Schaumburg, and Banks Tolley, a St. Andrew’s and UM alum who homered on Sunday, knocked in 12. Calarco hit .347 with 24 homers and 116 RBIs on the season as the Boomers won the Midwest West Division that included the expansion Mississippi Mud Monsters. Tolley hit .313 with 12 homers, and Dallas Woolfolk, another UM product, posted a 6.00 ERA over 15 relief appearances.

20 Sep

it’s that time

Fall baseball — the college variety — is in the air. Mississippi State, now in the Brian O’Connor era, played the first of its 11 intrasquad scrimmages Friday at Dudy Noble Field. The Bulldogs’ first exhibition game is Oct. 18 against Florida State in Pensacola, Fla., and they’ll host a second fall game on Nov. 1 vs. Louisiana Tech. Southern Miss, which recently extended the contract of coach Christian Ostrander, started practice Friday and will conclude its fall season with a best-of-5 intrasquad series in early November. Ole Miss, under 25-year coach Mike Bianco, will play two exhibitions, both at Swayze Field: Oct. 4 against Arkansas-Little Rock and Oct. 18 vs. Tulane. This is a particularly significant fall season for NCAA Division I schools and players: The new 34-man roster limit goes into effect on Dec. 1. … MSU was ranked No. 4 in Baseball America’s way-too-early 2026 poll. The magazine hails the arrival from Virginia of the veteran O’Connor — who faces “perhaps the highest expectations in the country” — and several portal additions. State also welcomes highly touted freshman Jacob Parker from Purvis and returns Ace Reese, SEC newcomer of the year in 2025. Ole Miss, with Judd Utermark, Austin Fawley and Hunter Elliott back in the fold, was ranked No. 24 by BA. The ’26 season starts Feb. 13. Of note: Ole Miss is slated to play in Astros Foundation College Classic in Houston from Feb. 27-March 1. Also in the field: Ohio State, Coastal Carolina and Baylor. USM will play in the Round Rock Classic in Texas from Feb. 20-22. Purdue, Oregon State and Baylor are also in that field.

19 Sep

tapping into power

Brent Rooker hit his 30th homer of the season on Thursday, a first-inning two-run shot that helped the A’s deal playoff-chasing Boston a hard loss at Fenway Park. Rooker, the former All-America from Mississippi State, now has 99 homers in three years with the A’s. It’s weird to think that in his first three MLB campaigns (2020-22) he hit a grand total of 10 homers while barely playing with three other clubs. The A’s got the former 35th overall pick as a waiver claim from Kansas City in November 2022. Of note: Fellow MSU product J.T. Ginn pitched six effective innings Thursday to get the win; the second-year right-hander is 4-6 with a 4.57 ERA in 22 appearances this year. With the defeat, Boston fell to third in the American League wild card standings. … Former Mississippi College star Blaine Crim belted two 400-foot homers for Colorado and now has three in seven games with the Rockies. Crim, getting his first real opportunity in the big leagues in his sixth pro season, has 124 minor league homers on his ledger. … Down in the minors, Kemp Alderman, third-year pro from Ole Miss, slugged his seventh homer in 17 games since being promoted to Triple-A Jacksonville in the Miami chain. Alderman hit 15 bombs in Double-A this season. P.S. Biloxi was eliminated by Montgomery in the Southern League division playoffs. Ex-Magnolia Heights star Cooper Pratt, Milwaukee’s No. 3 prospect, hit .237 with eight homers, 62 RBIs, 71 runs and 31 steals in his first Double-A season.

18 Sep

september madness

The Chicago Cubs clinched their first playoff berth in five years, and former Ole Miss ace Drew Pomeranz played a role in Wednesday’s win and an even larger one in the team’s overall success. Acquired from Seattle in a late April trade, the big left-hander, now 36, has made 53 appearances, registering a 2-1 record, 13 holds, a save and a 2.15 ERA. He had not appeared in an MLB game in four years before the Cubs gave him this shot. The fifth overall pick in the 2010 draft by Cleveland, he has a 3.82 career ERA and a World Series ring (Boston, 2018). Pomeranz worked a scoreless eighth inning in Wednesday’s 8-4 road win against Pittsburgh. … Elsewhere on Wednesday, Brandon Woodruff, the former Mississippi State standout from Wheeler, worked five innings (one run, nine strikeouts) on 10 days rest as Milwaukee beat the Los Angeles Angels 9-2. The Brewers, who clinched a playoff berth last week, lead the Cubs by 5 games in the National League Central. The teams do not meet again this season. Woodruff, in his comeback campaign, is 7-2 with a 3.32 ERA. “I want to pitch deep into October and make a run at this thing,” he told mlb.com. … And in Kansas City, former MSU star Adam Frazier hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning as the Royals stopped Seattle’s 10-game win streak 7-5 and dropped the Mariners a half-game behind first-place Houston in the American League West. P.S. MSU product Cam Schuelke and Luke Hill, a 2025 draftee out of Ole Miss, celebrated a Carolina League title on Wednesday night as Lynchburg beat Columbia 8-2. Schuelke, a second-year pro, got the last six outs for the save. Hill hit .347 this season for the Hillcats, Cleveland’s Low-Class A affiliate. … Ex-Jackson Prep star Konnor Griffin and MSU alum Tyson Hardin were named High-A All-Stars by MLB Pipeline. Shortstop Griffin, currently in Double-A in Pittsburgh’s system, was also rated the top prospect in the South Atlantic League. Right-hander Hardin, now with Double-A Biloxi in Milwaukee’s organization, played for Wisconsin in the Midwest League.