Mississippi Valley State Archives - Page 3 of 4

04 Apr

come together

Players roll out from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Curacao, South Africa, Venezuela, the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands. Sounds like a World Baseball Classic event has convened, but it’s just an everyday occurrence at Jackson State. Coach Omar Johnson’s multicultural team, which also includes eight players from good ol’ Mississippi, is showing signs of coming together after an uneven start. The Tigers, who take their show on the road to Biloxi tonight for an exhibition game with the minor league Shuckers, blew away Mississippi Valley State in a three-game series over the weekend. By beating the Delta Devils 10-3, 16-5 and 19-9, JSU moved its SWAC record to 6-3 (after an 0-3 start). Overall, the Tigers are 17-11. Jesus Santana (Puerto Rico) hit three home runs, two of them grand slams, in the Valley series and leads the team with nine homers and 37 RBIs. Such production was expected from Santana, a preseason player of the year candidate in the SWAC. Also contributing good stuff is catcher Carlos Diaz, another Puerto Rico product who is raking at a .451 clip; pitcher Miguel Yrigoyen, a Venezuela native who is 4-2; Canadian Jesse Anderson, who has three saves; and C.J. Newsome, who hails from Columbia, the city in south Mississippi. Newsome was drafted by Miami out of CHS last summer but elected to play at JSU. Tiger Nation should be thrilled. The 5-foot-9 outfielder, who had eight hits, six RBIs and six runs in the Valley series, is hitting .382 with 31 runs.

01 Oct

three of a kind

At some point during Instructional League in Florida, the Toronto Blue Jays could trot out an outfield of three Mississippians. (Since no box scores are available from this league, it may already have happened.) The Blue Jays have former Petal High star Anthony Alford, Stone County product D.J. Davis and Mississippi Valley State alum Kalik May in their Dunedin camp this fall. All three have multiple tools and, presumably, bright futures. Alford, a third-round pick in 2012 who gave up football last year, is the most advanced. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound right-handed hitter batted .298 with four homers, 35 RBIs and 27 steals at two levels of A-ball. He was anointed by Baseball America as the best player in the Toronto system. Not far behind is Davis, 6-1, 180, a left-handed hitter drafted in the first round in 2012. He had a strong second year at low Class A Lansing: .282, seven homers, 59 RBIs and 21 bags. He is rated the No. 12 prospect in the system by mlb.com; Alford is No. 3. May, 6-2, 205, was just drafted in June, in the 33rd round. More project than prospect at this time, the switch-hitter batted .261 with two homers, 12 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in the Gulf Coast League — not a bad start. As a senior at Valley in 2015, May hit .335 with four homers, 33 RBIs and 22 steals. He was a standout at East Central Community College in 2012-13 (where he played with Chicago White Sox prospect Tim Anderson). Obviously, the odds of Alford, Davis and May reaching the big leagues with the Blue Jays at the same time would have to be pretty long. But, hey, stuff like that happens in baseball. The three Alous in San Francisco. The Young, Frank and Stynes outfield in Cincinnati. … Note, also, that the Blue Jays have a fourth Mississippi-connected outfielder in their system but not in the IL: Alcorn State alum Earl Burl III, a 30th-round selection in June who batted .216 at short season Class A Vancouver.

28 Aug

field notes

Hunter Renfroe isn’t a one-trick pony – he can run and throw a little, too – but his power just keeps grabbing attention. The ex-Mississippi State star from Crystal Springs launched his fourth homer in nine games for Triple-A El Paso on Thursday. Renfroe, playing right field and hitting second for the Chihuahuas, is 12-for-36 with 11 RBIs and eight runs since San Diego promoted him to the Pacific Coast League on Aug. 19. … Southern Miss product Cody Carroll, drafted in the 22nd round in June by the New York Yankees, has a 1.82 ERA through 13 games for Pulaski in the rookie-level Appalachian League. Carroll notched the save, with three innings of work, in a division-clinching win earlier this week. He was 5-5 with a 3.08 ERA as a starter for USM last season. … Despite a recent slump, former Ole Miss standout Braxton Lee is batting .269 with 21 steals and 44 runs in 108 games for Tampa Bay’s Class A Port Charlotte team. The left-handed hitting center fielder, in his second pro season, got 12 bags in 51 games in 2014. … First-year pro Kalik May, a Mississippi Valley State alumnus, is holding his own in the Gulf Coast League, batting .257 with two homers, 12 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Toronto took May, a switch-hitting outfielder who goes 6 feet 2, 205 pounds, in the 33rd round. The Jays have three other Mississippi-produced outfielders playing at different levels in their system: Anthony Alford (Petal), D.J. Davis (Stone County) and Earl Burl III (Alcorn State).

09 Jul

thermometer, please

Taking a temperature reading of various Mississippians in the minors, we find no one hotter at the moment than rookie pro LaDarious Clark. The East Mississippi Community College product from Meridian went 4-for-5 (with two homers) on Wednesday to boost his average to .436 in short-season A-ball for Texas. Also hot: Adam Frazier (Mississippi State) is hitting .488 over his last 10 games and .382 for the year in Double-A with Pittsburgh. … Anthony Alford (Petal High) is hitting .364 in 12 games at the high Class A level for Toronto. … Kalik May (Mississippi Valley State) has nine hits in his last four games to spike his average to .352 for Toronto’s rookie Gulf Coast League club. … Cody Reed (Northwest Mississippi CC) has a 2.25 ERA over 12 innings in his first two Double-A starts for Kansas City. … Chris Stratton (State) took a loss on Wednesday but has a 2.23 ERA in seven Triple-A starts for San Francisco. … Austin Riley (DeSoto Central High), the top pick from the state in last month’s draft, is hitting just .182 overall but is at .304 in July for Atlanta’s rookie GCL club. Not so hot: Ferriss Trophy winner James McMahon (Southern Miss) has an 11.81 ERA in three starts in rookie ball for Colorado. … Bobby Bradley (Harrison Central High) is in a 5-for-40 slump that has dropped his average to .245 (with 13 homers) in low Class A ball for Cleveland. … Blake Anderson (West Lauderdale High), the first Mississippian drafted in 2014, has seen his average slide to .250 from .321 on June 29 with Miami’s short-season A team. … Sikes Orvis (Ole Miss) is hitting .190 with no homers at the rookie level in the Chicago White Sox system. … Silento Sayles (Port Gibson High), the prep stolen base king, is batting .156 with one steal in short-season A-ball with Cleveland. … Ed Easley (State) has scuffled since St. Louis shipped him back to Triple-A Memphis in mid-June; his average has dipped from .295 to .257. P.S. Riley and Jason Barber of Oxford High have been named to the MaxPreps High School All-America team. Both were two-way stars on state championship teams. Barber, a junior in 2015, was the state’s Gatorade player of the year.

23 Jun

life of riley

Austin Riley, the first Mississippian picked in this year’s MLB draft, made his pro debut today for the Gulf Coast League Braves. The former DeSoto Central High star, a supplemental first-round pick by Atlanta, was the DH and batted fourth for the rookie-level club, which rallied to beat the GCL Yankees 8-7 in 10 innings in Florida. Riley struck out in his first two at-bats, was hit by a pitch (and later scored) in his third and grounded out in his fourth. The play-by-play on milb.com indicates that Riley pinch hit for himself (?) in the eighth inning and walked, then struck out again in the 10th. So, he was either 0-for-3 or 0-for-4. … Also debuting today in the GCL: Mississippi Valley State alum Kalik May, who went 2-for-2 with a walk, a run and a steal for the GCL Blue Jays, whose game was suspended by rain in the seventh inning.

22 Jun

touching the bases

Hunter Renfroe, the ex-Mississippi State standout, hit a pair of home runs in a game for Double-A San Antonio on Sunday. San Diego’s 2013 first-round pick, Renfroe is batting .343 over his last 10 games and is at .244 with five homers and 26 RBIs on the season. This is his first full year in the Texas League. … JaCoby Jones, the former Richton High star, had a two-run triple in Saturday’s Florida State League All-Star Game. The Pittsburgh shortstop prospect is in his first full year at high Class A Bradenton. … Jacob Lindgren’s season may be over. The State product, who made his big league debut for the New York Yankees this season, is having elbow surgery and is expected to be down about 12 weeks. The left-hander had a 5.14 ERA in seven MLB innings. … Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn is slated to come off the DL and start Thursday for St. Louis at Miami. Lynn, out two weeks with a forearm strain, is 4-4 with a 3.07 ERA. … The Mississippi Braves lost 12 of their last 15 to finish 33-35 in the first half of the Southern League season. Following the SL All-Star break, the M-Braves begin the second half at home on Thursday. … Ole Miss’ Errol Robinson is among the Cape Cod League batting leaders with a .322 average over nine games; he has scored 10 runs and stolen five bags. His Hyannis team is 8-3. Robinson hit .297 as a sophomore for the Rebels this year. … Blue Mountain College’s Dylan Earnest threw a five-hitter with six strikeouts to lead the Tupelo Thunder to a 4-1 win over the Tallahatchie Rascals on Sunday in Cotton States League play. Tupelo is 5-3, a half-game back of the Tippa Tribe (6-3) in the Deep South Division of the New Albany-based college summer circuit. The Golden Triangle Jets (6-4) lead the Rascals (5-3) in the Delta Division. … Zach Penprase, the onetime Mississippi Valley State star, is now playing his eighth season for Fargo-Moorhead in the independent American Association and hitting .292. Shortstop Penprase, 30, had a brief fling in affiliated ball; he was drafted by Philadelphia in 2006.

02 May

meanwhile …

While the focus of the sports world this weekend will be elsewhere — in places like Las Vegas, Louisville, Ky., Chicago and Talledega, Ala. — there will be some relatively significant stuff going on in Jackson and Lorman, specifically at Braddy Field and Rat McGowan Stadium. Jackson State, third in the SWAC East with a 14-7 mark, hosts first-place Alabama State (16-5) in the final regular season conference series. The Tigers, led by Melvin Rodriguez (.448, 68 RBIs) could steal the crown (with some help) in this three-game set. JSU’s pitching hasn’t been so great (6.36 ERA), but the club has found compensation in a .310 team batting average. Meanwhile, Mississippi Valley State will visit Alcorn State in a battle for fourth place in the East Division — and a SWAC Tournament berth. Neither the Delta Devils (9.21) nor the Braves (8.82) scare you much with their arms, but they trot out some hitters of note. Valley’s Brady McBride is batting .352, and Alcorn’s Scotty Peavey is at .345. The Braves’ Collin Carroll has bashed 10 homers, tied for the SWAC lead with JSU’s Jesus Santana. P.S. William Carey was bounced from the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday and joins Belhaven, which went 2-and-out, on the sidelines. The Crusaders are 30-23 and the Blazers 33-25, but neither is going to get an NAIA postseason bid.

17 Apr

coming attractions

Starkville’s Dudy Noble Field is a hot spot in the state this weekend — weather permitting, as always — with Mississippi State hosting SEC foe Florida as part of Super Bulldog Weekend. At Braddy Field in Jackson, Jackson State faces a SWAC showdown with Alabama A&M. Down in Hattiesburg at Taylor Park, Southern Miss has a big C-USA series against Florida Atlantic. Up in Cleveland, Ferriss Field will fill up for Delta State’s Gulf South Conference battle with Shorter. Mississippi Valley State will host Belhaven in Itta Bena today and then travel to Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium on Saturday for a twinbill against the Blazers. And on Sunday at Smith-Wills, perhaps the most compelling matchup of the weekend will see NJCAA Division II No. 1-ranked Hinds Community College take on No. 16 Northwest Mississippi CC. The doubleheader begins at 2 p.m. Hinds dropped a pair to Southwest at Smith-Wills on Thursday, falling into a tie atop the MACJC standings with Northwest at 16-4. Hinds (29-4 overall) has gotten prolific production from Jonathan Washam (.402 entering the Southwest set), Madison’s Matt Jones (.394, 34 runs), Cleveland’s Marshall Boggs (.349) and Clinton’s Chase Lunceford (.353, five home runs). Randy Bell (7-0, 2.36 ERA) of Woodville and Houston Case (6-1) of Brookhaven are the top winners on the mound for the Eagles, and Madison’s Austin Sanders has nine saves. Northwest (25-8) has won 12 straight games, including a sweep of Northeast on Tuesday in which the Rangers scored 21 runs on 29 hits. Clay Casey, the former DeSoto Central star, has swung a mighty bat, with a .358 average, eight homers, 28 RBIs and 30 runs. Ole Miss transfer Dalton Dulin leads the Rangers with a .382 average and has a school-record 36 stolen bases. Coldwater’s LeeMarcus Boyd is batting .320 with 30 runs. Myrtle’s Colt Smith is Northwest’s ace, having posted a 6-0 record with a 0.54 ERA, and Tupelo’s J.G. Lipscomb is 4-1, 1.48.

26 Mar

Delta State is moving in the right direction heading into a Gulf South Conference series against West Georgia this weekend in Cleveland. The Statesmen have won six of eight to climb to 7-10 overall. They are 6-5 in the GSC after taking two of three from NCAA Division II No. 6 Alabama-Huntsville last weekend. Jacob Swinney (8-for-13, five RBIs) and Jonathan Moody (10-strikeout complete game) were named GSC players of the week after their performance in the UAH series. Swinney, a Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College transfer out of St. Martin, is hitting .370, second on the club to Brandon Cummins (.382). … Also riding a wave into the weekend is William Carey, which took two of three games from NAIA No. 2 Faulkner at Montgomery, Ala., last weekend. The Crusaders, who started slow this season, are 17-15 and 9-6 in the Southern States Athletic Conference with Blue Mountain coming to Hattiesburg for a three-game league series. In the rubber game of the Faulkner series — a 9-5 win against Eagles ace Kurt Lipscomb — Tyler Richardson scored four runs and Alex Buechler and Michael Wells drove in three apiece. Even bigger: Larson Barkum delivered seven strong innings in relief to get the win. … Melvin Rodriguez, a senior from Puerto Rico, has been a driving force for Jackson State, which has won three straight to move to 15-8. Rodriguez went 3-for-5 with three RBIs in a win over Southern University at Braddy Field on Tuesday night. For the year, the left-handed hitting second baseman is batting .444 with nine doubles, a homer and 30 RBIs. … Millsaps, 15-4 and on a seven-game win streak, hosts Southern Athletic Association rival Centre this weekend. … Either Alcorn State or Mississippi Valley State, both struggling, will get a lift when the rivals play a SWAC series in Itta Bena this weekend. The Braves, 7-19 and 2-6 in the league, took a 10-game losing streak into a Wednesday twinbill with Tougaloo, which the Braves swept. The losing skid started with 13-0 and 21-0 losses at Oklahoma State in early March. The Delta Devils, under first-year coach Aaron Stevens, are 4-14-1, 1-7 with six consecutive losses, including a couple to JSU. P.S. The outcome was predictable when East Mississippi CC met Coahoma on Wednesday in Scooba — the first-place Lions took two from the last-place Tigers — but there is a wow factor in the details. EMCC, now 10-0 in the MACJC, won by scores of 31-2 and 13-2. The Lions scored 14 runs in the first inning of the first game. Drew Standland drove in six runs in the opener, and Kyle Liberto and David Pimentel picked up seven RBIs apiece on the day. Coahoma dropped to 1-19, 1-9.

16 Feb

number crunching

1 — Career wins for Aaron Stevens, the new Mississippi Valley State coach who notched his first on Saturday, an 8-7 defeat of Illinois-Chicago in the Delta Devils’ second game of the year.
2 — Career wins for Earl Sanders, the new Tougaloo coach whose Bulldogs swept Rust on Friday after dropping their first seven games.
2 — Wins shy of 1,000 career for William Carey coach Bobby Halford, whose Crusaders have won six straight after an 0-5 start. They play a doubleheader today against Saint Joseph in Hattiesburg.
3 — Hits in each of Southern Miss’ first three games, all wins, by Dylan Burdeaux, who is batting .692.
4 — RBIs apiece by Jackson State’s Tilur Smith, Dylan Parker and Jovany Felipe in the Tigers’ 20-10 win over UT-Martin on Saturday.
5 — RBIs apiece by Millsaps’ William Chenowith and Isaac Glenn in a 16-3 victory over Schreiner on Saturday.
7 — Home runs by Belhaven hitters in 12 games, matching the Blazers’ total from all of 2014.
8 — Strikeouts, in six innings of work, by Ole Miss’ Brady Bramlett, in a 16-2, series-clinching victory over William and Mary on Saturday.
9 — Hits in four games, all wins, by Mississippi State’s Seth Heck, who is batting .563.
12 — Hitting streak for Belhaven’s Adam Kowalczyk, a junior transfer from Delaware Tech.
14 — Runs, in eight games, scored by Mississippi College’s Colton Johnson, a freshman from West Jones High.

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