Tag Archives: NCAA Tournament

06 Jun

spotlight on …

With Mississippi’s Big 3 out of the NCAA Tournament, look east to Auburn, Ala., where Mississippi native Butch Thompson has his Tigers in a Super Regional for the fourth time in his 10 seasons on The Plains. Auburn, the national No. 4 seed, hosts 13-seed Coastal Carolina, the Sun Belt champ, in the best-of-3 series this weekend, with the winner off to the College World Series. “We’re playing the hottest team in college baseball coming in here,” Thompson said of the Chanticleers, 51-11, who have won 21 straight games. Thompson’s Tigers are playing pretty well, too. Led by Ike Irish (.362, 18 homers, 57 RBIs), they went 3-0 in their regional, putting up 28 runs, and are 41-18 on the year, 28-6 at home. Thompson, born in Aberdeen, starred at Amory High and Itawamba Community College and served as an assistant for seven years at Mississippi State. He is 324-231-1 as the head man at Auburn, which has become one of the best programs in the hyper-competitive SEC. The Tigers have been to the CWS twice in the last six years, and Omaha is again within reach. “We gotta keep our head down and just keep fighting for that consistency in our lineup,” Thompson said. Game 1 of the Super Regional is tonight. … Meanwhile, MSU has given newly hired coach Brian O’Connor a four-year deal worth $2.9 million per, reportedly the second-largest contract in college baseball. He won 900-plus games, including the 2015 national title, in 22 years at Virginia. P.S. Props to JoJo Parker, who joins select company as the winner of the 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year Award in Mississippi. The Purvis High senior, the highest-rated MLB draft prospect in the state, batted .465 with 13 homers this year. Primarily a shortstop, he also pitched (9-2, 2.68 ERA). He and twin brother Jacob led Purvis to a runner-up finish in the MHSAA Class 4A Tournament. JoJo Parker, 6 feet 2, 195 pounds, follows Konnor Griffin, the ex-Jackson Prep star now in pro ball, as the state’s Gatorade winner. Previous winners also include Austin Riley (now with the Atlanta Braves), Colt Keith (Detroit), J.T. Ginn (A’s), Blaze Jordan (Boston minor league system), Dakota Jordan (San Francisco system), Braden Montgomery (Chicago White Sox system) and Cooper Pratt (Milwaukee system). All told, 10 Gatorade winners from the state have made the big leagues. … Tim Elko, former Ole Miss standout, got the first walk-off hit of his big league career on Thursday, a 10th-inning single that gave the Chicago White Sox a 3-2 win over Detroit. Recently recalled from the minors for a second stint, Elko is hitting .175 with three homers over 12 games. … MSU alum Kendall Graveman notched his first win since 2023, the beneficiary of Atlanta’s epic meltdown in Arizona’s 11-10 victory. Graveman — 2.45 ERA in eight appearances this season — allowed a run in the eighth that put the Braves ahead 10-4. The Diamondbacks then scored seven in the ninth. … Ex-MSU star Brandon Woodruff reportedly will be down for “a few weeks” after being struck on his right elbow by a line drive during a rehab assignment (see previous post). … The Los Angeles Dodgers outrighted MSU product Chris Stratton and Southern Miss’ Chuckie Robinson to Triple-A Oklahoma City after both cleared waivers.

02 Jun

bombs away

On a chaotic Sunday in the NCAA Tournament — when regional 1-seeds Vanderbilt, Texas, Georgia, Clemson and Oregon all bit the dust — Ole Miss and Southern Miss are still standing. Weary, but still standing. In winning two elimination games each, they got some clutch pitching from some unsung players, but what carried them both into today’s championship showdowns were home runs. Ole Miss, which blasted six bombs in an elimination game on Saturday, hit eight more in its two Sunday wins. Isaac Humphrey’s three-run shot in the first inning was the first — and perhaps biggest — of three in the 11-6 victory over Georgia Tech. In the 19-8 bashing of Murray State, Will Furniss — in a 4-for-6, four-RBI effort — went yard twice and his teammates added three more homers. Humphrey homered again, tripled, doubled and walked twice. The Rebels get Murray State again tonight at Swayze Field. For USM, which got three huge bombs in a must-win game against Alabama on Saturday, Ben Higdon’s three-run eighth-inning homer was the key hit in Sunday’s 8-1 victory vs. Columbia. In the 17-6 mauling of Miami that followed, the Golden Eagles crushed four homers, two by Joey Urban, whose three-run shot highlighted a nine-run first inning. Kudos also to Eagles pitcher Camden Sunstrom, who pitched the last 4 2/3 and allowed a lone unearned run. USM gets a rematch with the Hurricanes tonight at Taylor Park. … Ole Miss has hit 121 home runs all told, with six players in double digits, topped by Judd Utermark’s 21 and Austin Fawley’s 20. USM has 102 homers on the season, 21 by Nick Monistere, 17 by Matthew Russo and 15 from Carson Paetow. Both schools rank in the national top 20 for bombs. P.S. It was a tough day for Mississippi State on the field in the Tallahassee Regional, where the Bulldogs beat Northeastern 3-2 behind the pitching of Evan Siary and Stone Simmons but then lost to Florida State 5-2 in a contentious elimination game. The Bulldogs, with 103 homers in 2025, hit two vs. FSU but that was all they got against sophomore Wes Mercedes, an Ole Miss transfer who worked eight strong for the victory, fanning nine. That hurts. MSU fans did get to cheer a bit on Sunday, however, when it was revealed that they have a new coach for 2026 — Brian O’Connor, a veteran who brings a great track record, including a national title, from Virginia.

26 May

set a course for omaha

The College World Series is the ultimate destination, and the path has been laid out for Ole Miss, Southern Miss and Mississippi State, each of which made the NCAA Tournament field of 64. Each must clear considerable hurdles in the bracket to get to Omaha. Ole Miss, hosting a regional as the No. 10 national seed, will welcome Georgia Tech, Western Kentucky and Murray State to Oxford next weekend. Tech — seeded second in the regional — is 40-17, won the ACC regular season title and was ranked 19th in the final Baseball America poll. Shortstop Kyle Lodise is an MLB draft prospect. Western Kentucky, the 3-seed, is 46-12 and comes in hot, having won the C-USA Tournament title. Should the Rebels win their regional, they’d meet the champion of the Athens Regional, where Georgia — ranked No. 3 by Baseball America — is the favorite to advance. USM, hosting a regional as the 16th national seed, welcomes Alabama, Miami and Columbia to Hattiesburg. Columbia, USM’s first-round foe, won both the regular season and tournament titles in the Ivy League. Alabama, out of the vaunted SEC, is the 2-seed in Hattiesburg and is ranked No. 18 by Baseball America; the Crimson Tide beat USM in early April. Bama’s Riley Quick, a 6-foot-6, 255-pound right-hander, is a prime pro prospect. Worth noting: Miami, the regional 3-seed, claims four national titles — the last in 2001 — and 25 — yes, 25 — CWS appearances. The Hattiesburg Regional is paired with the Nashville Regional, where Vanderbilt, the overall No. 1 seed and the SEC Tournament champ, is lurking as the heavy favorite to make the Super Regional round. Mississippi State, 34-21 in a tumultuous year, heads to the Tallahassee Regional as a 3-seed. First up for the Bulldogs is Northeastern (48-9), the CAA regular season and tournament champion and Baseball America’s No. 24. Reports say the Huskies can really pitch. Regional host Florida State, the No. 9 overall seed, is 38-14 and boasts a host of MLB draft prospects, most notably shortstop Alex Lodise. These are heady times for Magnolia State schools. MSU won the national title in 2021 and Ole Miss in 2022. USM has been in a regional nine of the past 10 seasons (there was no postseason in 2020) but only once has reached Omaha (2009). The path there in 2025 certainly ain’t easy for any of the three — but, as we know, unexpected stuff often happens in baseball.

10 Jun

wrapping it up

The college season in the Magnolia State was tinged with disappointment. To paraphrase the Billy Beane character from “Moneyball,” If you don’t win the last game of the season, the rest is irrelevant. Winning the last game is what every team is gunning for. But while no school from Mississippi won a national championship, there was plenty of stuff to be proud of. William Carey made yet another trip to the NAIA World Series. The Crusaders won the SSAC Tournament, then hosted and won an NAIA regional before ending their run at 37-16. R.J. Stinson was a Ferriss Trophy finalist and John Snyder a second-team All-America. Southern Miss, under first-year coach Christian Ostrander, won the Sun Belt Tournament and got an NCAA Tournament bid, finishing 43-20, the program’s eighth straight 40-win season. Mississippi State rallied from a sluggish start to earn an NCAA bid and finish 40-23. The Bulldogs’ Dakota Jordan won the Ferriss Trophy, and Connor Hujsak made the SEC All-Tournament team after delivering two game-winning knocks. Delta State reached the GSC Tournament championship round and earned an NCAA Division II regional spot. Led by All-GSC third baseman Dylan Coleman, the Statesmen finished 33-24. Jackson State reached the title game of the SWAC Tournament and was three outs from winning it. The Tigers finished 36-20 and were ranked No. 2 in Black College Nines’ final HBCU Large School poll. Belhaven — led by CCS pitcher of the year Brett Sanchez and player of the year Owen Abney — reached the semifnals of the CCS Tournament and ended the season with a 25-17 mark. The Blazers also swept all three games from Maloney Trophy rival Millsaps. Blue Mountain Christian reached the SSAC Tournament final — losing to Carey — and earned the school’s first NAIA Tournament bid. The Toppers, who finished 31-23, beat Carey in a three-game series for the first time, and Arderrius Townsend was a first-team All-America choice. MUW went 22-15, setting a school mark for regular season wins. Southeastern Baptist of Laurel posted a 17-15 record, including a win over Division I Alcorn State. It was an especially tough year for Ole Miss, which wobbled in at 27-29, 11-19 in the SEC. The Rebels’ season ended in gut-wrenching fashion: a walk-off loss to Mississippi State in the SEC tourney. Mississippi College‘s season also ended with a thud: a three-game sweep at the hands of rival Delta State. The Choctaws wound up 20-25, 10-20 in the GSC. Millsaps endured a 14-27 campaign that ended with two one-run losses to Centre (Ky.) in the SAA postseason. Both Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State struggled again, the Braves going 6-43 (5-25 SWAC) and the Delta Devils 12-34 (4-26). NAIA member Rust finished 16-33 overall (10-11 GCAC) but did win a couple games in the GCAC Tournament. Tougaloo went 13-35, 8-13 GCAC. P.S. Seven players from Mississippi jucos earned All-America honors in NJCAA Division II. Pearl River Community College first baseman Hollis Porter — the MACCC player of the year — was a first-team pick, along with Meridian catcher Blaise Priester. PRCC outfielder Bryce Fowler, Hinds outfielder Thomas Marsala and Jones infielder Brady Thomas made the second team, and East Central pitcher Luke Cooley — the conference pitcher of the year — and outfielder Mo Little were on the third team. ECCC got an at-large bid to the juco World Series and reached the semifinals, finishing 55-9.

02 Jun

connect four (plus one)

Spencer Turnbull had been a little erratic since moving to the Philadelphia bullpen in early May, but he was a smooth operator on Saturday in a clutch relief situation. The big right-hander out of Madison Central High threw three hitless innings for the mighty Phillies in a 6-1 win over St. Louis, notching his first win since April 19, when he was in the rotation. After starter Ranger Suarez departed Saturday’s game (line drive off his pitching hand in the second inning), the Phillies turned the game over to the bullpen. Turnbull worked innings 4-6. His ERA was 1.67 in his six starts to begin the season. He moved to the pen to accommodate the return of Taijuan Walker, and his ERA was 7.00 over his first six relief appearances, a new role for the six-year veteran. Saturday’s effort was nearly perfect. “Turnbull really picked us up tonight,” manager Rob Thomson told mlb.com. “If he does have to make Ranger’s (next) start, I am comfortable with him at 80 pitches, five (innings) — something like that.” … Three other Mississippi high school products pitched in MLB games on Saturday: George County alum Justin Steele, in his sixth start since coming off the injured list, wasn’t sharp on a rainy day in Chicago. He yielded seven hits and four walks in five innings against Cincinnati, but four of the five runs he was charged with were unearned. The Cubs rallied late to win 7-5. Steele, a 2023 All-Star, remains winless with a 4.10 ERA. … Ocean Springs product Garrett Crochet turned in another sizzling effort for the White Sox: one run over six innings with eight strikeouts. But the lowly ChiSox blew a lead and lost to Milwaukee 4-3. Crochet, in his first season as a starter, is 5-5 with a 3.49 for a 15-44 team. … Former Tupelo High star Chris Stratton threw a scoreless inning for Kansas City in a 7-3 loss to San Diego. Stratton has a 5.76 ERA, two wins, three saves and three holds in 23 relief appearances for the Royals. P.S. In the NCAA Tournament, a fifth state prep product, Niko Mazza out of MRA, delivered one of the best pitching performances of the postseason: a two-hit shutout in a 6-0 elimination game win for Southern Miss against Northern Kentucky in the Knoxville Regional. Mazza registered his ninth win of the year.

27 May

travel plans

Mississippi State, snubbed as a regional host, will pack its bags and head to California this week, if Baseball America’s NCAA Tournament projections are accurate. BA has State ranked 15th in its latest poll but seeded second in the Santa Barbara Regional, where 18th-ranked UCSB of the Big West is the No. 14 national seed. The actual regional assignments for the 64-team field will be announced later today. Southern Miss, champion of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and ranked 22nd by BA, is projected to travel to Tallahassee, Fla., where Florida State is the No. 8 national seed. Five SEC teams got regionals, including Georgia, which was knocked out of the SEC Tournament in the first round. No Sun Belt team is hosting; Louisiana-Lafayette is projected to make the field, as a 2-seed like USM. P.S. Defense, or lack thereof, often makes a difference when the heat is on in postseason play, as both USM and Jackson State witnessed on Sunday. USM benefited from a pair of errors by Georgia Southern in the ninth inning of the Golden Eagles’ 14-11 win in Sunday’s SBC tourney title game. USM scored five times in the ninth, three of the runs unearned. (USM, error-free on Sunday, also got plenty of offense from the likes of Dalton McIntyre, Davis Gillespie and Slade Wilks, plus another lockdown relief effort from Colby Allen.) Jackson State took a one-run lead into the bottom of the ninth but committed a pair of costly errors, helping Grambling State win 6-5 and claim the SWAC Tournament title and automatic bid to the NCAAs. JSU made four errors all told, leading to three unearned runs. Grambling did not make an error.

26 May

it’s crunch time

With a win today, Jackson State will be back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. The Tigers (36-19) play old rival Grambling State in Atlanta for the SWAC Tournament championship. The winner — and only the winner — will get an NCAA berth. JSU has been a consistent winner under coach Omar Johnson, but getting into an NCAA regional out of a one-bid league is a tough task. The Tigers have only done it three times, twice under Johnson. The 4-seed out of the East Division this year, they got to the brink with a 4-2 victory against Bethune-Cookman on Saturday. Lenny Montesano went 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs, and Je-andrick Lourens and three relievers combined on a six-hitter. Do the Tigers have any pitching left for the title game? … Southern Miss goes for its second straight Sun Belt Tournament title today against Georgia Southern at Montgomery, Ala. The Golden Eagles advanced with a weather-interrupted, come-from-behind 7-5 win Saturday over Appalachian State. Nick Monistere homered and Slade Wilks had two more hits and two RBIs as USM won the marathon contest. Colby Allen got the last four outs for his seventh save. The Eagles, under first-year coach Christian Ostrander, are 40-18, having reached 40 wins for the eighth straight year. … William Carey University cruised into the NAIA World Series with an 11-game win streak but went 2-and-out in Lewiston, Idaho, falling to Cumberlands (Ky.) 6-4 in an elimination game on Saturday. Carey ends the season with a 37-16 record. … East Central Community College got off to a sensational start this season, winning its first 31 games, and will have a shot at a fantastic finish starting today in the NJCAA Division II World Series at Enid, Okla. The Warriors (51-7) lost in the Region 23 Tournament but received an at-large bid to the World Series and are seeded third. Led by All-MACCC outfielder Mo Little (.354, 11 homers, 73 RBIs) and MACCC pitcher of the year Luke Cooley (8-1, 2.20 ERA, 110 strikeouts), the Warriors will play Monday against the winner of the delayed Montgomery (Md.)-Madison (Wisc.) first-round game. … Four MHSAA champions were crowned on Saturday at Trustmark Park in Pearl: Vancleave in Class 5A, Sumrall in 4A, St. Andrew’s in 2A and Taylorsville in 1A. P.S. Landon Harper, former Southern Miss pitcher from Meridian, was promoted to the Double-A Mississippi Braves on Saturday. He joins Saucier native and Mississippi Gulf Coast CC alum Brandon Parker, a current M-Braves outfielder, on the list of Mississippians to suit up for the Pearl-based club. Others: Zack Bird, Brent Leach, Van Pope, Jay Powell, Austin Riley, Michael Rosamond and John Thomson.

28 Mar

rising river

East Central Community College currently holds the No. 1 ranking in NJCAA Division II, but Pearl River CC is No. 5 with a bullet. The Wildcats swept two games from Hinds on Tuesday to run their win streak to 19. They are 32-5 and 12-0 in the MACCC, alone in first place. ECCC, which won its first 31 games of the season, lost for the second time in three outings on Wednesday, falling to Copiah-Lincoln 3-1 in Game 2 of a twinbill. ECCC is 32-2, 8-2. Seventh-ranked Jones beat Gulf Coast twice on Wednesday to improve to 29-5, 11-1; and No. 18 Northwest sits at 24-8, 9-1, after a sweep of Holmes. But Pearl River, which won the national championship two years ago, is the team of the moment. The ‘Cats belted 11 homers in a sweep of Itawamba on Saturday, then got great pitching on Tuesday from Thomas Crabtree — the league’s reigning pitcher of the week — and J.P. Robertson, former Germantown High star, in the 9-2, 6-1 sweep of Hinds. Hollis Porter, named the NJCAA D-II hitter of the week on Wednesday, homered in Game 1 and drove in three runs in Game 2. The Mississippi State transfer from Hurley is batting .425 with 15 homers, four shy of the school single-season record. P.S. Baseball America’s first projected field of 64 for the NCAA Tournament features four state schools, with Jackson State joining Southern Miss, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. UM and MSU — the national champs in 2022 and 2021, respectively — missed the tournament in 2023.

13 Jun

cheers

Southern Miss turned the page Monday night on a glorious era. Scott Berry’s storied tenure started at Pete Taylor Park on Feb. 19, 2010, with an 11-0 win over Northwestern State. It ended on the same field with a 5-0 loss to Tennessee in Game 3 of the Super Regional — not the ending USM faithful had dreamed of for their retiring coach but not a terrible way to go out. The school’s all-time winningest coach doffed his hard hat and took a final curtain call as a gold-clad crowd of some 6,000 gave him a standing O. Berry won 528 games, made nine NCAA Tournament appearances, won five C-USA regular season titles and four tournament titles. In its first year in the Sun Belt Conference, USM finished second in the regular season, won the tourney title and then went off and won a regional on the road. Berry coached dozens of award-winning players and sent a bunch to pro ball. On top of all that, Berry is just a great guy, easy to root for. A trip to the College World Series would have been a more fitting finish, but for the second straight year, with Omaha in their sights, the Golden Eagles ran into some white-hot pitching. In 2022, it was Ole Miss, which went on to win the national title. This time, Vols pitchers blanked USM’s powerful lineup over the last 15 innings of the last two games. UT’s Chase Burns allowed one baserunner in the final 2 2/3 Monday. He got Dustin Dickerson on a line drive to end the game and the era. Christian Ostrander, the former pitching coach, is now the man in charge, and he has a lot to live up to. He follows Berry, who followed the legendary Corky Palmer, who took the Eagles to their one CWS appearance in 2009. Palmer succeeded Hill Denson, whose wins record Berry surpassed and whose name is on the field. Denson followed Pete Taylor, for whom the ballpark is named.

09 Jun

what’s going on

It ain’t Red Sox-Yankees (also happening on this sports-packed weekend), but Counter Clocks-Blue Crabs is a burgeoning rivalry that should get the attention of Mississippi baseball aficionados. The Lexington Counter Clocks, managed by Biloxi native Barry Lyons, and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, managed by Jackson native Stan Cliburn, are slated for a three-game Atlantic League series at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, Md., beginning tonight. It is the first meeting this season of the two former big league catchers. Lyons is in his first year with the Counter Clocks, while Cliburn is a veteran of the independent league. Cliburn’s club leads the APBL North Division with a 21-13 record. Lyons’ team is 16-20, third in the South. The Blue Crabs’ top hitter is former Ole Miss standout Braxton Lee, batting .349. Ex-Rebels star Thomas Dillard is batting .235 with six homers and 17 RBIs for the Counter Clocks. … On the MLB docket, the two best teams record-wise, Tampa Bay and Texas, open a compelling three-game set tonight at Tropicana Field. On the undercard in this series is the first meeting as opposing players for the Brothers Lowe, former Mississippi State star Nathaniel of the Rangers and Josh of the Rays. A bunch of family and friends are expected to attend. … The Mississippi Braves and Biloxi Shuckers continue their Southern League series tonight at Pearl’s Trustmark Park. The Milwaukee-affiliated Shuckers have won two of the first three in the six-game set and lead the season series 7-5. … The NCAA Super Regionals begin tonight — Tennessee-Southern Miss starts Saturday — and one of the most interesting matchups is South Carolina-Florida, a longtime SEC rivalry. Both teams feature a Southern Miss transfer: Will McGillis is the Gamecocks’ usual leadoff batter and Hurston Waldrep is one of the Gators’ top starting pitchers. … The Cape Cod League, the best of the college summer loops, begins its centennial season Saturday. There are a handful of Mississippi products on the current rosters, including Mississippi State’s Ross Highfill and K.C. Hunt with Falmouth, State’s Hunter Hines with Yarmouth-Dennis and Ole Miss’ Mason Nichols with Hyannis. There is a lot of roster movement during the season, so there may be more Mississippians arriving later.