Tag Archives: NJCAA

06 Feb

juco jottings

Playing at MGM Park in Biloxi, it was only fitting that Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College produced a couple of thrillers as it opened the 2016 season on Friday. The Bulldogs split a doubleheader against Jackson State (Tenn.) CC. They took a 5-4, walk-off win in the opener, scoring the game-winner on a fly ball by Marcus Buckley. Tyler Evans had two RBIs in the game as Gulf Coast rallied from a 4-0 deficit. Former Gulf Coast star and ex-big leaguer Matt Lawton threw out the first pitch to start Game 2, but the Bulldogs couldn’t quite pull off a fantastic finish, falling 5-3 in extra innings. Justin Nussbaum had a three-run double for Gulf Coast. … Meridian CC, which opens today against Bishop State at Scaggs Field, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of one its best teams on a long list of good ones. The 1996 Eagles, featuring future big leaguers Jason Smith and Paul Phillips, finished national runners-up in the NJCAA Division I World Series. MCC has had seven teams reach the juco World Series. … Holmes CC coach Kenny Dupont begins his 17th season in Goodman with 471 career wins. … New Northeast Mississippi CC coach Richy Harrelson will make his debut today when Columbia (Tenn.) State CC comes to Booneville. Harrelson, a former Ole Miss standout, was an assistant to former Tigers coach Kent Farris for several years. … Nationally ranked Hinds CC, the defending MACJC champion, opens Wednesday against Bossier (La.) Parish in Raymond. Sam Temple’s Eagles, who lost a lot from last year’s club, will count on production from Kyle O’Keefe (.327 in 110 at-bats 2015) and Hunter Bell (.375 in 48 ABs). … New Jones County JC coach Chris Kirtland will make his debut next Friday, when the Bobcats play Motlow (Tenn.) State in Ellisville. JCJC features one of the state’s best players in catcher Mason Irby, an All-America candidate. … Another juco player to keep a keen eye on this year is Itawamba CC infielder Delvin Zinn, the former Pontotoc High star who transferred from Mississippi State in December. Zinn made some prep All-America teams last season and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs. … Former Northwest Mississippi CC standout Clay Casey is now at Houston. He batted .333 with 12 bombs for the Rangers in 2015. He was drafted out of DeSoto Central High in 2014. … There are eight Mississippi juco products on Louisiana Tech’s roster, six of them from Hinds’ outstanding 2015 team. The Bulldogs’ new pitching coach is former JCJC coach Christian Ostrander.

29 Jan

a rebel shout-out

Ole Miss hasn’t gotten a lotta love in the preseason polls, but Baseball America saw fit to rank the Rebels No. 24. In the preview capsule on its web site, BA notes UM’s “strong core” of returnees from 2015 and a recruiting class, rated 19th in the nation, loaded with pitchers. Ole Miss returns six regulars from a 30-28 team that made the NCAAs. One of those regulars is shortstop Errol Robinson, an All-America candidate and potential high MLB draft pick. Also back are likely Friday night starter Brady Bramlett and closer Wyatt Short. A key could be how and where the new arms factor in. “That’s very important as you enter into conference play that guys have those roles,” coach Mike Bianco told BA. P.S. Hinds Community College is ranked ninth in the NJCAA Division II preseason poll. The Eagles went 43-7, were ranked first for several weeks and won the MACJC championship in 2015.

28 Dec

going camping

Cody Reed is not on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster, but the Northwest Mississippi Community College alum is going to big league camp and should get a long look there. Reed, a left-handed starter from Horn Lake, was acquired by the Reds in a trade last summer and put up shiny numbers at Double-A Pensacola: 6-2, 2.17 ERA. Also on the list of non-roster invitees for this spring are Stuart Turner (Minnesota) and Scott Copeland (Toronto). Former Southern Miss standout Copeland, who went 1-1 with a 6.46 ERA in five games for the Blue Jays in 2015, re-signed with the team as a minor league free agent. Ole Miss alum Turner, a 2013 draftee, was the catcher for Double-A Chattanooga, which won the Southern League pennant last season. Ex-Rebels star Alex Presley, an MLB veteran, is going to Milwaukee’s camp on a minor-league deal (see previous post), and former Itawamba CC standout Tim Dillard, who re-signed with the Brewers as a minor leaguer, could be in the big camp, as well. Dillard, 32, had a 5.50 ERA in 27 games (six starts) at Triple-A Colorado Springs in 2015. P.S. Hinds CC is ranked 14th and Meridian CC 20th in Collegiate Baseball’s NJCAA Division II preseason poll, which has LSU-Eunice (what a shock) at No. 1. MACJC champion Hinds went 43-7 last year and was ranked No. 1 for a time; Meridian was 33-17. Hinds opens on Feb. 10 at Raymond against Bossier Parish (La.), the school that signed left-hander Sarah Hudek, daughter of former big leaguer John Hudek, back in February.

10 Jun

another one

Kyle Kubitza, who had a most impressive year for the Mississippi Braves in 2014 and then was traded in the off-season, made his big league debut tonight for the Los Angeles Angels. Kubitza is the seventh M-Braves product to debut this season, joining Brandon Cunniff, Cody Martin, J.R. Graham (Twins), Sean Gilmartin (Mets), John Cornely and Williams Perez. Kubitza was named Atlanta’s Double-A player of the year after hitting .295 with eight homers, 55 RBIs, 11 triples, 31 doubles and 21 steals. He is easily the best third baseman to play for the M-Braves in their 10-plus years. P.S. Randy Bell, the Hinds Community College right-hander, was named the NJCAA Division II pitcher of the year, adding to the first-team All-America honors he had already received.

29 May

remember the eagles

As the NJCAA Division II World Series plays out in Enid, Okla., it seems a shame that Hinds Community College isn’t there for an encore. Sam Temple’s Eagles, national runners-up in 2014, won a school-record 43 games this year but couldn’t get past a strong LSU-Eunice club in Region 23. Hinds recently bid farewell to an impressive group of sophomores who went 83-28 during their career, with two state titles (regular season and tournament in 2015), a region title and a long stay at No. 1 in the national poll. Twelve Eagles made first- or second-team All-MACJC this season. Moving on are the likes of All-Region right-hander Randy Bell (HCC record-tying 21 career wins), RH Austin Sanders (record 21 career saves), first baseman Marshall Boggs (record 139 career hits), 2B Matt Jones (team-leading .369 average in 2015), catcher Jonathan Washam (team-best 68 hits in 2015), 3B/SS Chase Lunceford (team-leading nine homers in 2015, 19 career), RH Casey Sutton (7-1 this season), RH Houston Case (7-2), RH Derek Martin (6-0), OF Tyler Cox (.323), OF Quade Smith (team-leading 11 steals) and RH Keller Bradford (1.54 ERA). Shortstop Jordan Washam (.369) and RH Graham Ahlrich (1.99 ERA) played only this season, and they are among six Eagles bound for Louisiana Tech. Sanders signed with Ole Miss, Case with Southern Miss and Bell with South Alabama. Cox, Martin and Bradford will play for Louisiana-Monroe. Years from now, we may still look back with wonder on this two-year run by HCC. P.S. Austin Riley, who led DeSoto Central High to the MHSAA Class 6A championship, is rated No. 107 in mlb.com’s latest list of the Top 200 draft prospects. Mississippi State signee Riley, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound third baseman/pitcher, batted .423 with 11 homers and went 7-2 with a 2.70 ERA for the 28-9 Jaguars. Pearl River CC right-hander Jacob Taylor is No. 77 on the mlb.com draft chart.

01 May

watch for it

The defending MACJC Tournament champion is Jones County Junior College, which enters the 2015 postseason as the league’s No. 6 seed. The Bobcats might qualify as a sleeper. They were once ranked No. 8 in the country and have won 30 games, one of only three teams in the league to reach that number. They open postseason play at third-seeded Northwest Mississippi CC in an intriguing best-of-3 series that starts today. The Bobcats’ top hitter is Mason Irby, who is batting .390 with 50 RBIs. But Irby might play a bigger role on defense; the freshman out of Southeast Lauderdale High is JCJC’s catcher. He’ll face a Northwest team that swiped 111 bases this year, including Dalton Dulin’s nation-leading 42. Jamell Newson got 19, LeeMarcus Boyd 15 and Clay Casey 11. … In the other opening series, No. 8 seed Southwest Mississippi is at No. 1 Hinds, No. 7 Mississippi Delta visits No. 2 East Mississippi and No. 5 East Central is at No. 4 Meridian. Hinds slipped from No. 1 (with LSU-Eunice) to No. 3 in the NJCAA Division II poll released Wednesday. Meridian is ranked 15th, East Mississippi 16th. … Itawamba CC missed out on the postseason but did sweep MACJC individual honors from the last week of the regular season. The Indians’ Tanner Poole went 15-for-27 with 12 RBIs, 10 runs and four stolen bases in six games and T.J. Watson won twice and posted a 1.42 ERA in his two outings.

28 Apr

jucos ready to rumble

Hinds Community College, the No. 1 team in NJCAA Division II and the regular season champion in the MACJC, will open postseason play against 8-seed Southwest Mississippi. The best-of-3 series starts Friday at Moss Field in Raymond. Sam Temple’s Eagles are 36-5, 15-1 at home. The Bears, who made the postseason in Ken Jackson’s first year as coach, swept a doubleheader from the Eagles on April 16 at Smith-Wills Stadium. In the other postseason openers, league runner-up East Mississippi will host Mississippi Delta at Scooba; Northwest gets Jones County JC in Senatobia; and Meridian welcomes East Central. The four series survivors will play a double-elimination tournament for the state championship at a site TBD, then comes the Region 23 tourney at Eunice, La. P.S. The last weekend-plus of the regular season in the jucos produced quite a highlight show. To wit: Northwest’s Clay Casey belted three home runs in a twinbill split on Saturday against Meridian. … Jones County’s Will Hazen threw his second straight shutout on Saturday as the Bobcats completed a sweep of Coahoma. … East Mississippi got grand slams from David Pimentel and Chris McCullough in a victory on Saturday over Gulf Coast, which won the nightcap on a Tyler Rachel walk-off homer. … Pimentel belted two more homers (that’s 13 for the year) in an 11-1 win on Monday that capped a sweep of Delta. … But the most impressive feat was delivered by L.D. Coney, a freshman at Southwest. He hit for the cycle in Game 2 of a doubleheader sweep over Northeast on Sunday. Coney, from McComb, hit his first home run of the season as part of the cycle.

21 Apr

taking notes

Jackson State’s Melvin Rodriguez is having a season worthy of Ferriss Trophy consideration. The senior from Puerto Rico leads NCAA Division I in batting. He currently sits at .446 with five homers, 44 runs and 52 RBIs for the Tigers (25-15, 11-6 SWAC). He also has a .505 on-base percentage and 11 steals in 12 tries. … Southern Miss (21-14-1, 9-8 C-USA), leads its conference in ERA (2.82) and fielding (.974). Those stats may bode well for USM’s chances of winning in the postseason, when those aspects of the game are magnified. … Ole Miss ranks last in the SEC in hitting at .247 and 13th in runs (187). Mississippi State is ninth in batting at .273 and sixth in runs (230). The schools rank 10th and 11th in ERA, State at 4.14, UM at 4.15. It’s little wonder both have struggled to win in the league. … Delta State has 36 homers this year, its most this decade, the school reports. Ethan Gill leads the Statesmen with eight. … Millsaps (25-10 with a game tonight against Mississippi College) will host Rhodes, Hendrix and Sewanee this weekend in a Southern Athletic Association double-elimination tournament. The winner advances to the SAA’s best-of-3 championship series. The Majors are 19-4 at Twenty Field. … Belhaven University improved to 6-0 against Tougaloo this season with a 14-4 win on Monday. BU is 32-20 overall but just 10-16 in the Southern States Athletic Conference heading into a season-ending series at rival William Carey this weekend. WCU is 25-19 (heading into a twinbill at Tougaloo today) and 16-9 in the league. Tyler Richardson continues to shine for the Crusaders, with a .374 average, 43 runs and 28 RBIs in 40 games. … Hinds Community College snatched first place in the MACJC with its dramatic sweep of Northwest on Sunday. The NJCAA Division II top-ranked Eagles (31-4) are 18-4 in the league and take on Jones County JC (14-8) in Raymond on Wednesday. Northwest (16-6) visits East Mississippi (16-6) on Wednesday, and Meridian (also 16-6) has a twinbill at last-place Coahoma that day. … A bunch of Hinds players have nice numbers, but none are more impressive than Austin Sanders’. The Ole Miss signee is 3-0 with nine saves and a 1.48 ERA.

01 Apr

juco jottings

East Mississippi Community College finally stubbed its toe, and we now have a tie at the top of the MACJC standings as the 28-game schedule hits the halfway point for many of the 15 schools. The Lions moved to 11-0 in league play with a 9-7 win over visiting Meridian on Tuesday but fell short in Game 2 of the doubleheader, losing 8-7. Hinds (24-1 overall, 11-1 MACJC) caught EMCC by taking a pair from Pearl River in Poplarville. The Eagles’ Chase Lunceford had a three-homer game in the opener. Looking ahead, Hinds and EMCC will tangle on April 11 in Scooba. … In the new NJCAA Division II rankings out today, Hinds remains No. 1, while EMCC is up to No. 14. Also ranked are Jones County JC at No. 10 and Meridian at 19th. … East Central and Northwest are 10-4 in the league, Meridian is 9-5 and Jones is 8-6. (The North and South divisions have been abandoned.) … EMCC’s win over Meridian was fueled by four home runs, two by Taylor Stafford. The Eagles got a homer and four RBIs from Dustin Smith in their win. … Players of the week in the league were named on Tuesday: MCC’s Goose Yates (9-for-18, six runs, five RBIs) and Itawamba’s Nick Burns (two wins, including a one-hitter against Meridian). … Northwest’s Dalton Dulin, a reverse transfer from Ole Miss, leads the nation in stolen bases with 31. He is batting .354. Clay Casey, former DeSoto Central star who previously signed with Ole Miss, is batting .346 with five homers and 16 RBIs for the Rangers.

21 Feb

on the juco watch

Not to make too much about statistics from this early in the season, but there are a few worth mentioning from the state junior colleges. Itawamba Community College’s Tanner Poole has eight stolen bases, tied for the national lead in NJCAA Division II. Poole, a sophomore from Amory, is batting .455 with two home runs and 11 RBIs for the Indians, who are 5-1. T.J. Watson is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA. … East Mississippi’s David Pimentel, a freshman from Tennessee, tops the nation in homers with three. … Jones County’s Daniel Goff, a former George County star who is 2-0 with a 1.50, was named the NJCAA D-II pitcher of the week on Thursday. He fanned 11 in a six-inning stint against Jefferson (Mo.) College on Wednesday. Tyler Schankin has hit two homers for the 11th-ranked Bobcats (7-1). … No. 2 Hinds, off to an 8-0 start, got a seven-inning no-hitter from Derek Martin of Flora on Wednesday against Bossier Parish (La.). Austin Sanders, from Madison, has a win and three saves for the Eagles, and Jonathan Washam is batting .500 with seven RBIs.