NJCAA Division II Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

09 Apr

spotlight on …

Focus today on Ellisville and Community Bank Park, where Jones College will host Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in a big — yes, they’re all big — conference doubleheader. The big move in the NJCAA Division II poll this week was made by Jones (27-8, 13-3 MACCC), which jumped from No. 8 to No. 5 after running its win streak to eight games. Pearl River Community College (33-5) remains No. 2 in the national poll and atop the MACCC standings at 13-1. East Central is ranked third (up from fourth) at 31-7 and is 13-3 in the league. Jones is 13-1 at home, its only loss there to Itawamba in mid-March. The individual spotlight at JC belongs to Chase Russell, an All-Stater from Madison Central High who leads the state in hitting at .417 with four homers — including a walk-off grand slam last week — and 24 RBIs. T.J. Dunsford is second in the league in batting at .397, and Braden Smith, out of Brandon, has nine homers and 36 RBIs. Russell, originally a Southern Miss signee, also leads Jones pitchers with a 3.96 ERA and has a 3-1 record. Josh Lee (Gulfport) is 5-0, 4.05. Jones is coached by former Mississippi State catcher Wes Thigpen, who came over from Gulf Coast four years ago. Gulf Coast, under new coach Zach Allen, comes to Ellisville with a 27-13 mark, 9-5 in the league. … Pearl River’s K.K. Clark, from Brandon via MSU, was named MACCC pitcher of the week after tossing a five-inning no-hitter at Meridian. Hitter of the week is East Central’s Briceton Johnson, a freshman from Maben who hit .615 with a grand slam and a three-run homer in four games.

05 Apr

a rare feat

In the course of putting up video game numbers on Friday, Pearl River Community College pulled off an exceedingly rare feat. The Wildcats, the No. 2-ranked team NJCAA Division II, scored in every inning — 12 of them — in a 24-6 and 20-0 sweep of Itawamba CC at Fulton. “We capitalized on runners in scoring position,” PRCC coach Michael Avalon said in a school release. “We were disciplined with the strike zone. … Today, we cashed in throughout the day.” They scored 44 runs on 27 hits. They had a seven-run inning in Game 1 and five- and six-run frames in Game 2. Freshman Topher Jones drove in 11 runs on the day, including a (likely) school record eight in the opener, when he hit two homers. The Hernando High product, a midyear transfer from Mississippi State, is batting .320 with four homers and 42 RBIs. Caston Thompson had four RBIs in Game 1, and Jackson Hood chipped in three in Game 2. Jacob Johnson got the win in the second game, a five-inning contest, to improve to 8-1. The Wildcats are 33-5 and 13-1 in the MACCC. ICC is 19-17 and 6-10. … East Central (31-7, 13-3, nine straight wins) and Jones College (27-8, 13-3, eight straight wins), both nationally ranked, stayed on heels of The River with conference sweeps of their own on Friday. P.S. In a matchup of teams with 1-8 SEC records, Mississippi State fell to South Carolina 7-3 Friday night at Starkville’s Dudy Noble Field. MSU, nationally ranked in preseason, is now 17-13 overall. The SEC is a tough league. Since winning the national title under Chris Lemonis in 2021, the Bulldogs are 36-64 in conference games, 110-92 overall. At 1-9 this year, MSU is tied with Florida and Texas A&M for 13th in the 16-team league. Missouri is last at 0-9.

28 Mar

leading the pack

Heading into play today, No. 2-ranked Pearl River Community College still leads the MACCC standings at 7-1 after a sweep of Hinds CC on Wednesday. PRCC’s Jacob Johnson (6-1) leads the league in ERA with a 1.26, and Carson Fair is tops in saves with six. … The league’s most dominant pitcher to date has been Jud Files of Itawamba. He is 7-1, tied for the MACCC lead in wins, with a 2.76 ERA and a league-best 73 strikeouts in 45 2/3 innings. Files, a freshman, is a 6-foot-2 right-hander from Mooreville who originally signed with Mississippi State before transferring. ICC visits Copiah-Lincoln today for a twinbill which might pit Files against the Wolves’ Jennings Kimbrell, also 7-1 with a 2.54. Files’ teammate Evan McCarthy leads the conference in hitting with a .410 average for the Indians (18-12, 5-5). Co-Lin’s Tucker Jones has 24 steals, a league-high. … Resurgent Gulf Coast, 24-10 and 6-2 under first-year coach Zach Allen, features the league home run leader in Dom Jackson, who has 10. The Bulldogs host No. 23 Northeast (7-3 in the league, tied for third) today. … Barret Rodgers of fourth-ranked East Central (25-7, 7-3) tops the loop in RBIs with 35; he is batting .392 with seven homers. … Sixth-ranked Jones College is also 7-3 in the MACCC, and Meridian sits sixth at 6-4. P.S. Kudos to Ole Miss’ Hunter Elliott, who is tied for the SEC lead in wins after beating Florida 7-5 on Thursday night. The lefty from Tupelo, coming back from two seasons lost to injury, went 5 2/3 innings against the Gators, allowing three runs on a home run in the third inning. “One of the reasons he’s so good, he gets better … he answers the bell,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said in a postgame interview. Elliott hung up zeroes in the fourth and fifth and got the first two outs in the sixth while the Rebels (20-5, 5-2 SEC) were surging ahead for their fifth straight win. Elliott, 5-0 in seven starts, has a 3.12 ERA and 47 strikeouts — seven on Thursday — in 34 2/3 innings. … UM alum Drew Pomeranz, the veteran left-hander, has re-signed with Seattle on a minor league deal. He hasn’t pitched in the majors in four years.

24 Mar

a short fall

Pearl River Community College lost its grip on the No. 1 ranking in the NJCAA Division II poll after going 3-1 last week. Now ranked No. 2, PRCC (25-5, 5-1 MACCC) split a twinbill against then-No. 4 East Central CC and blasted then-No. 24 Holmes two times. The Wildcats have 11 wins against ranked teams, per the school website. Caston Thompson, a Brookhaven Academy product, leads PRCC hitters at .390 with six homers, 24 RBIs and 30 runs. Jacob Johnson, out of Pearl River Central High, threw five shutout innings at Holmes and is 6-1 with a 1.26 ERA. … ECCC (23-7, 5-3), ranked No. 1 two weeks ago, remained fourth in the national poll after a 2-2 week. Jones (19-8, 5-3) is 10th after losing two heartbreakers to Northeast on Saturday. Northeast (19-13, 6-2), freshly ranked No. 23, won 7-6 on a walk-off HBP and 2-1 on a walk-off knock by Kody Gilmore. Northeast’s stars included Layth Holliday, who drove in four runs in Game 1, and Dean McCallum, who tossed a five-hitter in Game 2. Also at 6-2 in the league is unranked Meridian (19-11), which got one of the best performances of the season by Brennon Wright, a Starkville High alum who hit for the cycle and stole two bases in a 29-9 victory Saturday against Delta. MCC ran out of ammo in Game 2 and lost 6-3. The big game upcoming is Jones hosting Meridian on Wednesday. P.S. After a show of power that swept away Missouri over the weekend, Ole Miss moved up to No. 15 (from 19) in Baseball America’s new poll. Isaac Humphrey, a Louisville transfer, belted four homers and drove in 13 runs in that series for the Rebels, now 18-5, 4-2 SEC. They’ll face No. 19 Florida in Oxford next weekend. The top five teams — and 11 of the top 19 — in the BA poll are SEC schools. No. 5 LSU hosts scuffling Mississippi State (15-9, 1-5) next weekend. Southern Miss, which beat Ole Miss last week in Pearl and swept Louisiana-Monroe on the road over the weekend, is No. 23 in the BA poll. The Golden Eagles are 18-6, 5-1 Sun Belt. … It’s been a rough start to the SWAC season for the Mississippi schools. Alcorn State is 0-6, Mississippi Valley State 0-5 and Jackson State 2-4. Senior Erick Gonzalez, one of JSU’s best arms, got shelled on Sunday, surrendering 10 runs in three innings in a rubber-game loss to Bethune-Cookman at Braddy Field. Valley (4-9 overall), for whatever reason, has had 13 games cancelled this season. … The top five in the new MaxPreps Mississippi poll has Magnolia Heights and Lewisburg at 1-2 again, followed by Madison Central, Hartfield Academy and Ocean Springs. Purvis, Jackson Academy and Southeast Lauderdale slipped to the second five.

19 Mar

musical chairs

The No. 1 vs. No. 4 showdown Tuesday in the state junior college ranks resulted in a split between top-ranked Pearl River Community College and East Central CC. That opened the door for Jones College, ranked sixth in NJCAA Division II, and unranked Meridian to jump to the top in the MACCC, both with 5-1 records. (Yes, the musical chairs in the state standings and the national poll will continue into next week.) PRCC, 23-5 overall, is now 3-1 in the league and ECCC (22-6) is 4-2. In their twinbill at Decatur, ECCC won the opener 10-0 and PRCC roared back to take the nightcap 11-1, boosted by a Nico Williams grand slam. Meanwhile, surging Jones (19-6) swept struggling Hinds 11-9 and 11-3. T.J. Dunsford continues to be an offensive catalyst for the Bobcats, and Chase Russell and Josh Lee have emerged as stalwarts on the mound. The most intriguing team at the moment might be Meridian (18-10), which took two Tuesday from 21st-ranked Gulf Coast, 9-8 and 3-0. The Eagles have won five straight after a six-game losing streak. Connor Gehr, the ace of the Eagles’ pitching staff, got a walk-off hit in the 13th inning to beat Gulf Coast in Game 1 at Scaggs Field. Peyton Fowler (2-1) then went out and threw a two-hitter in the second game. Brennon Wright (.373), Tyrus Williams (.289, five homers) and Brayden Martin (.310, 19 steals) have paced Meridian’s hitters. MCC is at Delta on Saturday, while Jones visits Northeast. Pearl River goes to Holmes and ECCC to Itawamba. … The MACCC weekly honors went to East Miss’ Trace Tingle, a Pascagoula native who beat then-No. 1 East Central with a two-hitter last week, striking out nine batters, and Pearl River’s Topher Jones (Hernando), a Mississippi State transfer who hit .583 with a homer and nine RBIs.

17 Mar

poll watching

“What helps me as a baseball player is, before the game, knowing that I can affect the game in multiple ways — defensive side of the ball, stealing a bag, scoring runs, getting on base, not just focusing on hitting. I think whenever I go out there aggressively to be able to affect a game in so many different ways, I always like to say, ‘Count the positives.’ If I have more positives than negatives that day, I had a good day.” Those words were spoken by Corey Dickerson after a walk-off hit in a big league game some time back. One can imagine the former MLB outfielder from McComb delivering that same kind of message to his Jackson Academy players, who are off to an 11-2 start in Dickerson’s debut as head coach. The Raiders, who went 4-0 in last week’s Battle at the Beach, have bolted to No. 3 in MaxPreps Mississippi Top 25. Dickerson was a .280 career hitter in the majors, with over 1,000 hits, posted a .323 on-base percentage and won a Gold Glove. The Raiders are hitting .331 as a team with 61 stolen bases and a .963 fielding percentage. Foster Meacham is batting .475, one of three Raiders hitting .400 or better. … Magnolia Heights is No. 1 in the MaxPreps poll, followed by No. 2 Lewisburg, JA, Southeast Lauderdale at No. 4 and Purvis at 5. … Ole Miss (15-4) dropped from 13th to 19th in Baseball America’s new poll and is the only state school ranked. UM is No. 18 and Southern Miss (14-6) No. 19 in both the ESPN and d1baseball.com polls. The two meet Tuesday night (6 p.m.) at Trustmark in Pearl in what ought to be a spirited affair. The Rebels beat the Golden Eagles 15-8 in Oxford last month. … Pearl River Community College moved up a spot to No. 1 in the new NJCAA Division II poll. PRCC (22-4) swept Northwest 16-1 and 13-1 on Sunday, hitting seven homers and allowing just seven hits. Ethan Garner hit two bombs for the Wildcats. East Central dropped from No. 1 to fourth, Jones is sixth, Gulf Coast 21 and Holmes 24. … Millsaps College took two of three from NCAA Division III nationally ranked Center, beating the Colonels 10-4 on Sunday to improve to 13-5, 2-1 SAA. The Majors might crack the d3baseball.com poll this week. … Delta State, ranked 12th in the NCBWA D-II poll last week, is poised to move up at 19-6 and 12-3 Gulf South. Mississippi College, 17-9, 10-5 GSC, with 10 wins in its last 11 games, might crack the D-II Top 25 this week.

10 Mar

movin’ on up

The NJCAA’s first Division II regular season poll is out, and there is a new No. 1: East Central Community College, up from preseason No. 2. New at No. 2 is Pearl River CC (previously No. 5) and jumping up to No. 4 is Jones College (previously ranked 12th). Northwest (21) and Holmes (24) are also in the Top 25 released today. Conference play starts this week in the MACCC, which figures to be another eight-week dogfight. East Central (18-4) visits East Miss (13-7) for a doubleheader on Wednesday, while Jones (14-5) is at Northwest (17-4) and Holmes (17-4) hosts Hinds (5-14). Pearl River (19-4) opens league play at home on Friday against Northwest. Of note: ECCC and PRCC will hook up March 18 in Decatur. ECCC’s Warriors are led offensively by, among others, Barret Rodgers, batting .419 with five homers and 27 RBIs; the team’s top pitcher has been Chris Bilingsley, 3-0 with a 2.59 ERA. For PRCC, Caston Thompson is batting .346 with four homers and 18 RBIs, while on the bump K.K. Clark is 4-0, 1.33. Jones’ T.J. Dunsford is raking at .441 with four homers and 17 RBIs; Brycen Smith leads Bobcats pitchers with a 3-0 record and 4.15 ERA. P.S. Alcorn State’s Jermel Ford, a senior from Hattiesburg, put up six hits, nine RBIs, six runs and eight steals in back-to-back games at Alabama A&M over the weekend, leading the Braves (2-10) to their first wins of the season. Alcorn plays at Louisiana-Monroe on Tuesday, then starts SWAC play at Bethune-Cookman on the weekend. … The Mississippi Mud Monsters, the new independent team in Pearl, recently signed three more players, veteran minor league pitchers Tyree Thompson and Rodney Theopile and outfielder Basiel Roberts. The season begins in May.

05 Mar

prospecting

Twenty-one Mississippians (natives or school alums) appear in MLB Pipeline’s new Top 30 prospect rankings for each big league organization. The highest rated among this group is former Jackson Prep uber-star Konnor Griffin, No. 2 in Pittsburgh’s system before ever playing a regular season pro game. (The ninth overall pick last July, he has been in big league camp this spring.) … Elsewhere in the National Central: Magnolia Heights product Cooper Pratt is No. 3 in Milwaukee’s system and targeted for Double-A Biloxi this season, and K.C. Hunt (Mississippi State), who pitched in Double-A in 2024, is rated No. 25 in the Brewers’ chain. … In the American League Central, former Madison Central star Braden Montgomery — a 2024 first-rounder — is No. 5 in the Chicago White Sox’s organization, and Jacob Gonzalez (Ole Miss) checks in at No. 14. Doug Nikhazy (Ole Miss) is No. 22 on Cleveland’s list, and Eric Cerantola (MSU) is ranked 28th on Kansas City’s. … In the NL East: ex-Southern Miss standout Hurston Waldrep ranks No. 4 in Atlanta’s system. Waldrep made his MLB debut in 2024. Kemp Alderman (Ole Miss) is Miami’s No. 11; Nate Dohm (MSU) is the New York Mets’ No. 19; and Tyler Stuart (USM) ranks 15th in Washington’s system. … In the AL East: Jackson Prep product Will Warren is No. 5 on the Yankees’ list; he also debuted in The Show last season. Cade Smith (Mississippi State) is No. 16 in the Yankees’ chain. Elsewhere in the AL East, Colton Ledbetter (MSU) and Matthew Etzel (Southern Miss) rank Nos. 26 and 27 for Tampa Bay, and Khal Stephen (MSU) is ranked 11th in Toronto’s system. … In the NL West, Dakota Jordan (MSU), a 2024 draftee, is ranked sixth on San Francisco’s list. In the AL West, switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje (MSU) — 15th overall pick last July — is ranked No. 9 in Seattle’s system. The A’s have J.T. Ginn (MSU), who debuted in MLB last summer, at No. 14 and Gunnar Hoglund (Ole Miss) at 16. Justin Foscue (MSU), who got some limited time with Texas in 2024, is rated No. 15 in the Rangers’ chain. … Griffin (43), Montgomery (54) and Pratt (56) are ranked in MLB Pipeline’s overall Top 100. P.S. Props to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s James Vines and Dom Jackson for earning the MACCC pitcher and hitter of the week honors. Vines posted a 1.12 ERA and 15 strikeouts in eight innings last week; he is 1-0 with a 2.00 in five games on the season. Jackson hit three homers and drove in 10 runs as the Bulldogs won four of six games. He has seven homers on the season. … Copiah-Lincoln CC’s Tucker Jones, a Northwest Rankin High alum, ranks second in NJCAA Division II with 19 stolen bases in just 12 games for the 15-8 Wolves, and teammate Jennings Kimbrell, a St. Joe product, is 5-0 with a 1.93 ERA, tied for the national lead in wins.

19 Feb

juco snapshot

And then there were none. East Central Community College, the last unbeaten team in the state juco ranks, lost to Northeast CC 10-8 in a round-robin event Tuesday at Decatur. ECCC, No. 2 in the NJCAA Division II poll, is now 8-1, including a 13-5 win over No. 12 Jones College earlier Tuesday. Jayden Adcox hit a big home run for ECCC against Jones, and Langston Cotten went yard against Northeast. But the visiting Tigers prevailed as Drake Douglas and Carter Wells combined for five RBIs and Wells notched the save. Fifth-ranked Pearl River (10-2) beat Holmes and East Miss in a three-way at Poplarville. Jackson Hood homered in both games for PRCC, and Carson Fair closed out the win against Holmes for his fifth save, which leads the nation. Meridian, ranked 20th, moved to 10-3 with a sweep of Gulf Coast and Southwest on Monday at Summit. Chris Fox got a walk-off hit in a 1-0 win against Gulf Coast and Hampton Ross drove in four runs vs. Southwest. At Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium on Tuesday, Northwest (9-3) beat Hinds and Coahoma. … Gulf Coast’s Samuel Marsh was named the MACCC pitcher of the week after throwing a 13-strikeout complete game last week vs. Northwest Florida State. East Miss’ Hugh LeMasters (Bay Springs) took hitter of the week honors; he batted .429 (6-for-14) with eight RBIs and four runs in a 4-0 week for the Lions. P.S. Have a day, Judd Utermark. The Ole Miss junior stole home and hit a walk-off bomb in the 10th inning Tuesday as the Rebels (3-1) beat Arkansas State at Swayze Field. … Mississippi State (3-1) had as many errors as hits (four) in a 3-0 loss at Southern Miss (5-0). Joey Urban homered for the Golden Eagles, and five pitchers combined on the shutout. … Left-hander Brandon Mitchell, who won 22 games over five seasons at New Orleans, is the latest addition to the Mississippi Mud Monsters’ inaugural roster. He was 5-2 with a 7.28 ERA in the indy Pioneer League in 2024. The Mud-sters, of the indy Frontier League, have announced 17 player signings to date. The season starts in May.

07 Feb

preseason poll-pourri

A dose of perspective is necessary when digesting the SEC coaches preseason poll released on Wednesday. Mississippi State is ranked ninth, in the bottom half of the 16-team league. Seems a bit disrespectful for a Bulldogs team that won 40 games and made the NCAA Tournament in 2024 and is a consensus top 20 in the national polls, of which there are many. Such is life in the dog-eat-dog SEC, which has the top four teams and seven of the first 10 in Baseball America’s national Top 25. MSU is No. 18 in the BA poll as well as the d1baseball.com rankings plus No. 19 in the NCBWA and USA Today polls. Ole Miss, which has one of the best newcomer classes in the nation (per BA), is pegged to finish 15th in the SEC but still got votes in the NCBWA and USA Today national polls. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Rebels in a regional this spring. Southern Miss was picked as the preseason No. 1 in the Sun Belt coaches poll. The Golden Eagles, an NCAA Tournament team as the SBC champion in 2024, show up in only one national poll, ranked 27th (in a Top 30) by the NCBWA. USM got votes in the USA Today poll. Jackson State also got some votes in the NCBWA poll and is ranked third among large school HBCUs by Black College Nines. The Nos. 1 and 2 teams are also SWAC schools: Grambling State and Bethune-Cookman. All of this will start shaking out a week from today when the NCAA Division I season launches. … Of note: MaxPreps named Sumrall High, the defending MHSAA Class 4A champion, as the “best team” in Mississippi heading into the 2025 campaign. East Union’s Landon Harmon and Purvis’ Jacob Parker are on MaxPreps’ preseason All-America squad. P.S. Itawamba Community College’s Madden Butler (Corinth) was named the NJCAA Division II player of the week after batting .545 with two homers, six RBIs and seven runs in the Indians’ 3-1 start last week. … East Central CC, ranked No. 2 in the juco D-II preseason poll, opened its season on Thursday with a 14-4 win over South Arkansas.