Tag Archives: NJCAA

29 Jan

a spring in their step

Former East Central Community College standout Tim Anderson has been rated the No. 10 shortstop prospect in the minors by mlb.com. Anderson also has received an invitation to the Chicago White Sox’s major league spring training camp next month. A first-round pick in 2013, Anderson batted .301 with nine homers and 40 RBIs in an injury-interrupted 2014, finishing the season in Double-A. He also played well in the Arizona Fall League. … Other Mississippians who have received non-roster invites to big league camps include Petal High alumnus and former Mr. Baseball Anthony Alford (Toronto), Mississippi State product Hunter Renfroe (San Diego), ex-Hattiesburg High star Robert Carson (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Mississippi Gulf Coast CC alum Joey Butler (Tampa Bay). … Also of note: Former Mississippi Braves catcher J.C. Boscan has signed a minor league deal with Kansas City and will report to the Royals’ big league camp. P.S. Hinds Community College is ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA’s preseason poll, and Jones County Junior College is slotted at No. 11. Hinds, 40-21 and a Division II World Series finalist last year, opens on Feb. 7 against Mineral Area (Mo.) in Raymond. Jones, 46-11 and MACJC state champion in 2014, starts Feb. 7 against Jeff Davis (Ala.) in Ellisville.

26 Jan

on the juco watch

Two players on Mississippi junior college rosters for this season batted over .420 in 2014. At least three reached the 10-homer plateau. Another stole 20 bases. There were several pitchers who posted an ERA under 3.00. There was a 9-game winner and a few who notched eight, including a certain right-hander who also had 10 saves. Those are some of the numbers that grab your eye from the NJCAA’s lists of top returning players in Division II Region 23. With the season fast approaching — most of the state jucos start on or about Feb. 7 — here are a few names (with numbers) to watch for from the MACJC: Trent Turner (Northeast Mississippi Community College), .423, eight homers, 50 RBIs; James Land (Gulf Coast), .422, 10 homers; Chase Hensley (Jones County JC), .373 and 8-1, 2.60 ERA; Marshall Boggs (Hinds), .366; Dalton Thomas (Meridian), .349, seven homers; Chad McNeil (Holmes), .341, 20 steals; Will Simon (Jones), 2.59 ERA; Goose Yates (Meridian), 6-2, 2.73; J’Daylin Jackson (East Mississippi), 8-1, 3.77; Austin Sanders (Hinds), 8-2, 2.95, 10 saves; Randy Bell (Hinds), 9-4; Brady Badon (Southwest), 3.18, seven saves.

24 Dec

no. 2 with a bullet

Hinds Community College will start the 2015 season where it finished 2014 – and that’s not a bad place to be. The Eagles, who finished runner-up in the NJCAA Division II World Series last season, are ranked No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll. No. 1 is Mesa (Ariz.), the team that beat Hinds in the title game. The Eagles have 11 NCAA Division I signees on their roster. They return the top five hitters from 2014, led by Luke Reynolds (.376), Marshall Boggs (.366) and Quade Smith (.331). Also back are home run leaders Chase Lunceford and Matt Jones, who blasted 10 apiece. Austin Sanders (8-2, 10 saves) returns on the mound, along with Randy Bell (9-4) and Casey Sutton (8-3). “We should be good. We should at least get back to the World Series,” Lunceford said in an interview last summer. “I know that’s tough to do, but we’ll have high expectations.” Hinds certainly is a team to watch, and the watch will start on Feb. 7, when the Eagles open against Mineral Area (Mo.) at Moss Field in Raymond. … East Mississippi was No. 18 in the preseason poll and Northwest checked in at No. 20.

19 Nov

fully loaded

With nine NCAA Division I early signees on the roster, you’ve got to like Hinds Community College’s chances of earning some championship hardware in 2015. The Eagles went 40-21 in 2014, won the NJCAA Region 23 title and reached the NJCAA Division II title game. The group of D-I signees includes five players bound for Louisiana Tech in 2016, among them Cleveland’s Marshall Boggs (.366 in 2014) and Clinton native Chase Lunceford (.328, 10 home runs). Madison’s Austin Sanders, who posted a 2.95 ERA, 10 saves and eight wins as a freshman, is headed to Ole Miss. Brookhaven’s Houston Case, another standout pitcher, will move on to Southern Miss. And Sam Temple’s Eagles likely will have more players sign D-I offers in April. It’ll be interesting to see where HCC ranks in the NJCAA preseason poll. No. 1, perhaps? P.S. Former Ole Miss star Alex Presley reportedly has agreed to a $1 million deal for 2015 with Houston, his 2014 club. Presley batted .244 with six homers and 19 RBIs in an injury-interrupted season. The Astros picked up the veteran outfielder last spring as a waiver claim from Minnesota.

09 Nov

here and there

Hunter Renfroe mashed a grand slam in a televised Arizona Fall League game on Saturday. The former Mississippi State standout and San Diego prospect is batting .271 with five home runs and 19 RBIs in the AFL. … East Central Community College alum Tim Anderson, also playing in the AFL, had another three-hit game on Saturday and is batting .313 with two homers and five stolen bases. The Chicago White Sox prospect missed a big chunk of the 2014 season because of a broken wrist. “I definitely saw some things that helped me become a better ballplayer,” he told mlb.com about his downtime. … Former Petal High star Anthony Alford, understandably rusty, is 2-for-16 with eight strikeouts in the Australian Baseball League, where Toronto sent him to get some work in preparation for his return to the minors in 2015. … Belhaven University senior second baseman Paul Pickerrell has been named to the NAIA preseason All-America team. The Pearl River CC transfer batted .345 with 38 runs and 38 steals for the Blazers in 2014. … Preston Brown threw five scoreless innings and Reid Humphreys, the former Northwest Rankin High star, went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs as the Maroon beat the Gray 8-0 in a Mississippi State fall scrimmage on Saturday. … Hinds CC, the NJCAA Division II runner-up in 2014, will open its 2015 season on Feb. 7 in Raymond against Mineral Area (Mo.) College. The Eagles will play 28 MACJC games next season. With Meridian re-joining the state association, every team in the league will play two games against every other team. There are still North and South divisions, but the playoff qualifying system has been altered slightly.

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.

12 Jun

on the honor roll

Kudos to Hinds Community College coach Sam Temple, who has been named NJCAA Region 23 coach of the year. Temple, a former Hinds and Delta State catcher in his ninth season in Raymond, led the Eagles to the MACJC Tournament title game, then to the Region 23 championship and ultimately to the NJCAA Division II World Series title game. Hinds finished 40-21. “It was so enjoyable, so much fun,” Temple said of the postseason run. “One of the biggest things for me was spending all that time with my guys. … I cherished that time.” The Eagles did not have any players named NJCAA All-America but did see freshman pitcher Casey Sutton make the Region 23 first team. Sutton, Matt Jones, Chase Lunceford and Luke Reynolds were MACJC first-team picks, and eight other Eagles made second team. Included was Marshall Boggs, who won the Best Hitter award at the juco World Series.

06 Jun

mission: possible?

While perusing Baseball America’s preview of the Super Regional in Lafayette, La., a quote from an anonymous coach came leaping off the screen: “This is the team (Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco) has been waiting on. … If they’re going to win a national championship, this is the year they could do it.” That’s high praise. And the Rebels are very good, 44-18 and ranked sixth in the country. But Ole Miss has had a lot of good teams — and a lot of disappointment — since making its last College World Series visit, way back in the year of Olga Korbut and Fred Sanford and Thomas Eagleton, of Black September and “Thick as a Brick” and “Jonathan Livingston Seagull.” Those references might not mean much to the current crop of Rebels, but they certainly know what a reference to 1972 means for UM baseball. Maybe this is the year they get over that hump. They have a legitimate ace in Chris Ellis (10-1, 2.16 ERA), who’ll start Game 1 against Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday. Will Allen and Sikes Orvis have a combined 20 homers and 109 RBIs, and each has a slugging percentage over .500. Braxton Lee is a .294 hitter with 30 steals. Auston Bousfield, the Ferriss Trophy winner, is batting .349 with six homers, 48 RBIs and 17 bags. All that stands between Ole Miss and Omaha is UL-Lafayette. Which happens to be 57-8, ranked No. 1 and playing at home. Maybe the Ragin’ Cajuns are vulnerable. They did lose their regional opener to Jackson State. But then they won four straight after that, including two do-or-die games against Mississippi State. They’ll throw Austin Robichaux (7-3, 2.83) on Saturday. They have a lineup that features four starters with nine or more homers and four with 14 or more steals. Caleb Adams is a big-time hitter with a .387 average and 11 bombs. ULL’s trademark is aggression on the bases, and that never goes into a slump. “That’s a dangerous club, man,” a coach told Baseball America. If there is a favorite in this best-of-3, it’s hard to see. P.S. Four Mississippi junior college players made NJCAA Division II All-America teams, though none played for national runner-up Hinds Community College. Jones County JC, which spent much of the year at No. 1, had lefty Westin Stringer and catcher Tyler Graves make the second and third teams. Missisisppi Gulf Coast DH James Land made second team, and Northwest infielder Jay King was a third-team pick.

21 May

bring ’em on

Hinds Community College’s first-round foe in the NJCAA Division II World Series will be Lincoln Land CC of Illinois. The Loggers are 44-15 and ranked 11th in the nation. Forgive the Eagles if they shrugged at those numbers. After all, Hinds had to get through the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the nation just to get to the 10-team national tournament, which begins Saturday in Enid, Okla. Hinds (35-19) beat top-ranked Jones County JC in the Region 23 title game at Ellisville last Saturday. Sam Temple’s Eagles, who also beat No. 2 LSU-Eunice (twice) in the regional, are in the Juco World Series for the fifth time but for the first time since 1999. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Hinds’ first World Series trip (see previous post). Casey Sutton, who beat Jones in the region finale to move to 8-2 for the year, is the Eagles’ likely starter in the opener. Austin Sanders notched his eighth save in the title game, and the Eagles got big hits from Casey Echols (son of former Mississippi State star Tracy Echols), Luke Reynolds and Caleb Upton.

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.