NAIA Archives - Page 4 of 4 - All Mississippi Baseball

23 Apr

the odd couple

The schedule brings Belhaven and William Carey together at Wheeler Field in Hattiesburg. In the Southern States Athletic Conference standings, the old rivals are far apart. With the SSAC Tournament looming next week, Carey is 16-9 and in third place. Belhaven is 10-16 and clinging to seventh. The teams are slated for a doubleheader today and a single game Friday. It’s been sort of an odd season for both. Carey (26-20 overall) lost its first five games, then went on a 10-game win streak that included coach Bobby Halford’s 1,000th career victory. The Crusaders were 13-8 in early March when they endured another five-game skid. But … they’ve swept three SSAC series and took two of three from Faulkner when it was No. 2 in the nation in NAIA. Carey’s offense has been sparked all season by Tyler Richardson, who is batting .382 with 45 runs. The Crusaders (.285 as a team) have two other regulars hitting above .300: Cody Christian and Petal’s Larson Barkurn. Pitching hasn’t been a strength of this club, which has a 4.56 ERA, but the Crusaders do have a potentially dominant ace to throw in Gavin Culpepper. The 6-foot-8 right-hander is 7-2 with a 3.21 and has 88 strikeouts and 22 walks in 73 innings. Belhaven (32-20), which saw coach Hill Denson notch his 1,000th college coaching victory this season, has been on a rollercoaster, as well. After a 9-4 start, the Blazers were swept in a three-game series at home by SSAC foe Mobile in late February. They were on an 8-1 roll when they were swept at home by Auburn-Montgomery in late March. They also were swept at home by Faulkner earlier this month. BU hits .302 as a team and, led by Adam Kowalczyk’s 12 bombs, is second in the SSAC with 28 home runs. What the Blazers do best, however, is steal bases. They lead the league with 170 and have three of the top six individual base burglars. Reagan Rutledge leads the pack with 49, Emilio DeSilva has 33 and Paul Pickerrell 27. BU’s most reliable starting pitcher has been Ben Allison (7-3, 3.52). The team’s ERA is a shaky 4.52, but its defense has been a bigger issue: 106 errors, most in the SSAC, and 71 unearned runs allowed. P.S. In what has been a down year for Pearl River Community College, sophomore shortstop Derrick Mount has been tearing it up. Mount, a former Harrison Central High star, hit three homers and drove in 10 runs in a doubleheader against Co-Lin last week, earning MACJC player of the week honors. Mount is batting .359 with 10 homers and 39 RBIs for the Wildcats (13-27, 7-17 MACJC). Jones County JC’s Will Hazen, a sophomore left-hander out of St. Stanislaus, was named pitcher of the week on the basis of his two-hit, nine-strikeout effort in a 1-0 win over Mississippi Delta last week.

27 Jun

season in review

Whappp. Hear that? It was the book closing — a bit belatedly — on the college season in the Magnolia State. It was a page-turner, from beginning (Belhaven lost to LSU-Alexandria on Jan. 31) to end (Ole Miss fell to Virginia in the College World Series on June 21). Lots of good stuff for the highlight pen. Each of the state’s Big Four NCAA Division I schools posted winning seasons, and three of them made the NCAA postseason. Ole Miss might have had the best season — and best team — its ever had. The Rebels, who featured good power, speed and pitching, went 48-21 and had nine players drafted by MLB clubs. Mississippi State finished 39-24 and fell in the NCAA regional at Lafayette, La. Jackson State (32-25), which won the SWAC Tournament, made the same regional, beating No. 1-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette in its first game. Southern Miss (35-25) saw its season end in the Conference USA Tournament, one win shy of playing for the title. Alcorn State (9-40) and Mississippi Valley (4-38) endured tough years, though the Braves beat JSU four of six times and the Delta Devils also took a series from the Tigers. Delta State went 38-13, finished first in the Gulf South Conference race and played in a D-II regional. Belhaven finished 42-21 and hosted an NAIA regional. William Carey (31-26), Millsaps (23-19) and Mississippi College (21-19) posted winning seasons; the Choctaws had a winning record in the American Southwest Conference in their last season in D-III. Blue Mountain (12-36), still a fledgling program, scuffled in its first year in the Southern States Athletic Conference, and Tougaloo, also in a building mode, went 12-31-1. The junior colleges also provided some compelling storylines. Jones County JC held the NJCAA No. 1 ranking for a big chunk of the year, and East Mississippi enjoyed one of its best seasons on record. And then there was Hinds, which could hardly have scripted a more exciting season. The Eagles won the Region 23 Tournament, beating the top two teams in the nation, and then marched all the way to the juco World Series championship game. All in all, the 2014 campaign had the feel of a best seller.

15 May

the hot spot

It’s a quiet day at college ballparks around the state — except in Ellisville, where fireworks are in the offing. No. 1-ranked Jones County Junior College plays East Central and Hinds tangles with No. 2 LSU-Eunice in the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament. … Belhaven University’s season ended Wednesday at Smith-Wills Stadium when the Blazers lost for a second time to NAIA No. 3 Oklahoma Wesleyan. No shame in that. BU (42-21) went 2-2 in the NAIA regional, including a win over Houston-Victoria, coached by former major leaguer Terry Puhl. … At Tampa, Fla., Delta State takes on Florida Southern in the NCAA Division II South Regional. … At New Orleans, Jackson State and Alcorn State, both upset winners in the SWAC Tournament’s opening round, are back on the field today. JSU, coming off a win over West Division champ Arkansas-Pine Bluff, plays Alabama A&M; Alcorn gets tourney favorite Alabama State. … The Division I Big 3 are all on the road to finish conference play. League tournaments are next week. Southern Miss, third in Conference USA, is at Charlotte. Ole Miss and Mississippi State, which rank 1-2 in the SEC West standings, play at Texas A&M and Alabama, respectively.

13 May

that’s more like it

Though it has notched another 30-win season and currently holds third place in the Conference USA standings, Southern Miss has not had a good year with the bats. The team is hitting .244 and no individual is batting above .280. But the Golden Eagles and their fans have to be encouraged by the recent performance of Connor Barron, the one-time prized recruit who has scuffled for most of his three seasons in Hattiesburg. Barron is riding a career-best eight-game hit streak. The center fielder/leadoff batter has lifted his average to .259, second on the club to Matt Durst’s .279. Barron has four homers, nine doubles, 19 RBIs and 28 runs. During his injury-hampered freshman and sophomore seasons, Barron batted .250 and .198; he had no homers and 19 RBIs total. This was not what was expected of a player drafted in the third round (by the Florida Marlins) in 2011. This was not what was expected of a player who batted .490 with eight homers as a senior at powerhouse Sumrall High. But maybe things have turned for Barron, and it would be good timing. USM finishes regular season play with a three-game C-USA series at Charlotte starting Thursday, then hosts the C-USA Tournament next week. Its postseason fate likely will be determined there. P.S. In what could be the event’s pivotal game, Belhaven (41-19) meets top-seed Oklahoma Wesleyan (53-6) today at 2:30 in the winners bracket of the NAIA regional at Smith-Wills Stadium. … Of the five finalists for the Ferriss Trophy, you could build a good case for BU’s Tyler Akins, who is batting .340 and has 17 saves. Akins is joined by Ole Miss’ Auston Bousfield and Chris Ellis and Mississippi State’s Ross Mitchell and Jacob Lindgren as finalists for the award that goes to the state’s best college player.

12 May

see how they run

Expect the Belhaven Blazers to kick up a lot of dust during this week’s NAIA opening round tournament. Well, they won’t actually be kicking up dust because Smith-Wills Stadium has an artificial surface — but the Blazers’ feet will be flying. That’s their game. The team has stolen 194 bases in racking up 40 wins. Five BU players have swiped double-figure totals. Reagan Rutledge has 59 bags (in 63 attempts), Paul Pickerrell 35, Emilio DeSilva 33, Dominick Francia 26 and Tyler Akins 11. This is not a team of mashers. Akins, the former Madison Central High and Hinds Community College star, leads the club with four home runs. Homers are hard to hit at Smith-Wills, especially with today’s bats. Stealing bases helped BU win 31 of 35 games there. Of course, you need some pitching depth, as well, to have postseason success, and the Blazers have a nice stable of arms. Boomer Scarborough, the Southern Miss transfer, won nine games with a 3.55 ERA. Preseason All-America pick Chris Good went 4-2, 3.73 and Ben Allison 6-0, 2.32. Austin McCann has a 1.98 ERA in 32 relief appearances, and Akins has notched a school record 17 saves. BU will try to dash past Oklahoma City today at 2:30. Oklahoma Wesleyan, which will play in today’s third game, is the top seed in the five-team regional.

12 May

title searches

Delta State, celebrating the 10th anniversary of its 2004 NCAA Division II national championship, will begin its quest for another title on Thursday against Florida Southern in the South Regional at Tampa, Fla. The Statesmen (38-11) are the No. 3 seed. The top seed is No. 1-ranked Tampa, which is 47-2. Also in the regional are Lynn, Stillman and Alabama-Huntsville, which beat DSU in the title game of the Gulf South Conference Tournament. … MACJC champion Jones County Junior College opens NJCAA Region 23 Tournament play on Thursday against East Central; Hinds and LSU-Eunice meet in the other first-round game at Community Bank Park in Ellisville. JCJC (43-9) is ranked No. 1 in Division II; LSU-E (41-11) is No. 2. Jones overcame a challenge from Hinds in Saturday’s state championship final, winning the clincher by run rule (14-3) with an eight-run seventh inning. Trent Giambrone’s three-run homer ended it. Jones last won the state title in 2011 and also claimed the region crown — and a Juco World Series berth — that season. LSU-E has won four national championships since 2006 and was national runner-up a year ago. But the Bengals were just 10-8 away from home this season. So there is hope for the Mississippi schools. … As of Sunday night, the SWAC still had not released the bracket for its tournament, which starts Wednesday in New Orleans. Alcorn State and Jackson State are in the field as the Nos. 3 and 4 teams from the East Division. JSU (27-23) won the tournament last year but has had a rough season, one made even more stressful when the team bus, with much of their equipment, caught fire during a road trip on May 5. The trip was aborted; JSU last played on May 3. … Belhaven University begins play today against Oklahoma City in the NAIA regional (opening round) it is hosting at Smith-Wills Stadium.

10 May

scatter shots

The Mississippi Braves, starting to make a move (perhaps) in the Southern League South, settle in tonight at Trustmark Park for a 10-game homestand. The M-Braves have won 10 of 14 to climb to 17-17. Prized prospect J.R. Graham (0-1, 2.42) goes to the mound against Montgomery. Pitching has carried the club. The M-Braves rank third in the SL in ERA and fourth in WHIP. Williams Perez, 22-year-old right-hander from Venezuela, has been a rotation revelation with a 1.50 ERA (but just a 2-3 record). Aaron Northcraft is 3-1, 2.82, David Bromberg 1-2, 2.01, Jason Hursh 2-2, 3.41. Closer Shae Simmons has eight saves and 1.13 with 21 strikeouts in 16 innings. Shortstop Elmer Reyes continues to rake at .347 with 16 RBIs, and M-Braves vet Mycal Jones has three homers in 13 games since rejoining the club. … Looking for some offense, St. Louis called up Pascagoula native Joey Butler, who was batting .360 with four home runs at Triple-A Memphis. The former ’Goula High and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College standout, who debuted with Texas in 2013, didn’t play Friday. Maybe he should have: The Cardinals went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and lost to Pittsburgh 6-4. … Mississippi State product Paul Maholm fell to 1-3 in his six starts for Los Angeles as San Francisco beat the Dodgers 3-1. Maholm allowed three runs on three hits (one homer) and four walks in 5 2/3 innings. The left-hander’s ERA is now 4.71. He may not keep his spot in the rotation much longer. … Milwaukee recently re-signed Tim Dillard, the former Itawamba CC star from Saltillo. The 12-year pro, who has some big league time, is currently in Triple-A. … Good sign for Chris Coghlan? The Ole Miss alum got a ninth-inning hit off Atlanta closer Craig Kimbrel on Friday and scored the game-tying run for Chicago. Alas, the hapless Cubs lost in the 10th (on yet another clutch hit by former M-Braves star Freddie Freeman). … Ex-UM standout Seth Smith was robbed of his third homer on Friday night in San Diego, but he did get three hits in the Padres’ 10-1 win over Miami and raised his average to .309. … Belhaven University is really good at home: an eye-popping 31-4 this season. But the Blazers, hosting the NAIA’s Jackson Bracket at Smith-Wills Stadium, aren’t the top seed in the regional. That would be Oklahoma Wesleyan, which brings a 52-6 record and a No. 3 national ranking to town. Belhaven (40-19) plays Oklahoma City in Monday’s second game, after Sterling and Houston-Victoria tangle in the opener. The winner of the latter gets Oklahoma Wesleyan in Monday’s late game.

18 Apr

whirlwind weekend

The weekend started with a bang Thursday night in Oxford, where LSU beat Ole Miss 4-3 in 13 innings in a collision of top 10 teams. More fireworks are sure to follow. Mississippi State is at Missouri for a three-game SEC set, and Southern Miss is hosting Louisiana Tech in a three-game C-USA series. But the more compelling games may involve the smaller schools. To wit: Jackson State vs. Mississippi Valley State in Moorhead. JSU, the defending SWAC champ, sits in third place in the SWAC East at 6-9 (23-17 overall). Time to get healthy in this three-game set with 1-28 Valley. Player to watch: JSU’s Tilur Smith, who has picked up the slack for slumping Charles Tillery (.224) and is batting .347. Delta State at Shorter. The Statesmen are in the midst of playing 10 straight road games, but they are 15-5 away from Cleveland’s Ferriss Field, so no worries there. In fact, DSU seemingly has few worries at all. The Mean Green is 28-8, 19-4 Gulf South Conference and ranked in the top 10 in NCAA Division II. Player to watch: Landon Thibodeaux, hitting .351 with five homers and 25 RBIs. Mississippi College vs. Howard Payne in Clinton. The Choctaws are 15-15 after dropping Thursday’s series opener 6-3. They are chasing a bid to the National Christian College Athletic Association regionals, and they need more wins. Player to watch: Blake Mcilwain, (5-1, 2.91 ERA) who threw a no-hitter last weekend and is slated for one of today’s two games. Millsaps at Oglethorpe. The Majors, ranked in NCAA Division III in preseason, are 19-16 and 9-8 (fifth) in the Southern Athletic Association. They need to build some momentum for league tournament play, which starts next weekend. Player to watch: Keith Shumaker, rocking along with a .340 batting average and a 4-1, 1.56 pitching ledger. Belhaven vs. Bethel in Jackson. The Blazers (34-14) have been guaranteed an NAIA postseason berth as host of a regional, but they certainly don’t want to limp through the last two weekends of the regular season. They’re just 14-10 in the Southern States Athletic Conference. Player to watch: Reagan Rutledge, who is batting .313 and has 51 stolen bases in 55 attempts. William Carey vs. Auburn-Montgomery in Hattiesburg. The Crusaders began the year ranked in the NAIA poll but are just 27-22 and 13-11 in the SSAC, fighting for one of the eight tournament berths. A 13-15 record at Wheeler Field is hard to figure. Player to watch: Jeremy Ferguson, who has a .423 on-base percentage and a team-best 32 runs.

16 Apr

smith-wills gets the call

It seems fitting somehow that Smith-Wills Stadium, in its 40th year of hosting baseball, would be chosen as one of nine sites for opening round competition in the NAIA national tournament. Belhaven University, which calls the old Jackson yard home, will get an automatic at-large bid as host of the regional. The five-team, double-elimination event will start May 12. “This takes a lot of heat off us,” Blazers coach Hill Denson said in a school release. BU is 33-14 and ranked 23rd, so it stood a decent chance of playing its way in, as well. The Blazers hosted a regional at Smith-Wills in 2010 and won it, advancing to the NAIA World Series. (William Carey hosted an NAIA opening round at Wheeler Field in Hattiesburg last season.) The Blazers bounced back from getting swept at Southern Poly over the weekend to beat Millsaps 4-1 on Tuesday in a Maloney Trophy Series game. Tougaloo visits Smith-Wills today.

24 Feb

fight to the finish

It’s probably a little early in the season for a defining moment, but Belhaven University might have had one — or even two — on Saturday at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Blazers dug out of early holes to beat William Carey in extra innings in both games of a doubleheader. Perhaps we should expect such games when longtime intrastate rivals and iconic coaches (Belhaven’s Hill Denson and Carey’s Bobby Halford) square off in an historic ballpark. The Blazers’ Reagan Rutledge delivered a two-out game-winning hit in the opener, a 6-5 win. In Game 2, Jo Jo Richards’ infield hit, combined with a Carey throwing error, scored Walt McCullough from second base for a 5-4 victory. BU, which had dropped the series opener (yet another one-run game) on Friday, improved to 11-3 and 2-1 in the Southern States Athletic Conference. Carey, ranked 24th in the NAIA preseason poll, is 7-8, 2-4. Jeremy Ferguson, a senior from Pontotoc, had a big series for the Crusaders, going 4-for-7 with six RBIs. The teams could meet again in the SCAC Tournament. If they do, memories of Feb. 22 will certainly be dancing in the heads of all involved.