Tag Archives: Ole Miss

28 Apr

watch list

Delta State, which has never had a Ferriss Trophy winner, has produced quite a few viable candidates over the years. The Statesmen have another solid one in 2025. Right-hander Drake Fontenot is 9-1 with a 1.96 ERA, a .208 batting average against, 78 strikeouts and 19 walks in 91 2/3 innings for the Gulf South Conference regular season champion. Fontenot’s only loss came on Friday at Mississippi College in his worst outing of the season (seven runs in six innings). The Ferriss Trophy — named in honor of Delta State coaching legend Boo Ferriss — will be awarded to the best college player in the state for the 21st time on May 19 by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. The finalists, who will attend the ceremony, have not yet been named. As usual, there are a bunch of players around the state who have put up mighty impressive numbers. Throwing out a few more names: Southern Miss’ J.B. Middleton, regarded as a top pro prospect, is 8-1 with a 1.92 ERA for the Golden Eagles. Teammate Nick Monistere, on a recent tear, has 16 homers, 56 RBIs, 42 runs and a .335 average for 31-13 USM. Ole Miss’ Luke Hill is batting .352 with 51 runs for the nationally ranked Rebels (31-13). Mississippi State’s Ace Reese has 16 bombs and 53 RBIs. Jackson State’s Jordan McCladdie is hitting .381 with 51 runs and 33 steals. Millsaps’ Gray Berry (.426, 61 runs) and Nick Tarantino (9-1, 2.74) have been stellar for a 28-11 conference championship club. MC’s Korey Cooper is a .376 hitter with 12 homers, 55 RBIs and 52 runs. At William Carey, also a conference champ, Rigoberto Hernandez is batting .386 with 12 homers, 51 RBIs, 63 runs and 17 bags for a 33-13 team. Blue Mountain Christian’s Hayden Redding has 46 steals and a .339 average. P.S. Mississippi College’s stunning blowout of Delta State in Clinton last weekend was the first-ever three-game sweep for the Choctaws over their longtime rival. MC (31-19, 21-12 GSC) outscored the Statesmen 40-7 and will go into the GSC Tournament next weekend as the No. 4 seed. DSU (32-16, 23-10) is the top seed, having gotten some help elsewhere over the weekend to win the regular season title. … Ole Miss jumped to No. 13 (from 22) in the new Baseball America Top 25 after taking two of three from then-No.8 Vanderbilt last week.

27 Apr

around the horn

Actors have their “Oscar scenes.” Austin Riley might have had his “Gold Glove moment” on Saturday night. The former DeSoto Central High star and current Atlanta third baseman threw out an Arizona runner at first base, with the tying run charging home from third, to end the Braves’ 8-7, 10-inning win over the Diamondbacks. If you saw it, your jaw dropped. Riley fielded Randall Grichuk’s grounder behind the bag near the foul line and launched a two-hopper to first baseman Matt Olson, who made a clean scoop. The umpire clearly blew the call, but it was corrected on review. Braves win. The play that ended the game essentially upstaged the record-tying four-homer effort by Arizona’s Eugenio Suarez. Riley, a two-time All-Star in his seventh MLB campaign, has yet to win a Gold Glove. Those who watch him regularly have to wonder why. He has handled 65 chances this year with 49 assists and just two errors. He has a .965 career fielding percentage, tied with Clete Boyer for 33rd all-time. But apparently, Riley doesn’t rate high in the new-fangled metrics. “You can take those defensive metrics and put it you know where. I judge defense with my eyes,” Braves manager Brian Snitker once said of Riley. Matt Chapman won the National League Gold Glove at third last year, Ke’Bryan Hayes in 2023, breaking Nolan Arenado’s long stranglehold on the award. Maybe it’s Riley’s time. … Doug Nikhazy’s MLB debut was not one to remember. The Ole Miss product gave up six runs (including a steal of home) on five hits and six walks in three innings, taking the loss for Cleveland against Boston. … The A’s have placed right-hander J.T. Ginn on the injured list with elbow soreness. The ex-Mississippi State star joins nine — nine! — other Mississippians on the current MLB injured list. … Former Jackson Prep standout Konnor Griffin had his first three-hit game as a pro on Saturday for Low-Class A Bradenton in Pittsburgh’s chain. He hit his fourth homer, swiped his 11th bag and raised his average to .243. … Hail to the college champs: Delta State, William Carey, Millsaps and Pearl River Community College have won their conference regular season titles. Now it’s on to tournament play.

26 Apr

sitting on ready

Tim Elko isn’t ranked among the Top 30 prospects in the Chicago White Sox’s system, but there isn’t another of their minor leaguers having a better season. The former Ole Miss star leads the Triple-A International League in OPS (on base-plus-slugging), ranks tied for second in homers and fourth in batting average. The 26-year-old first baseman/DH hit his seventh homer for Charlotte on Friday after hitting two out on Thursday. He is batting .355 with a 1.116 OPS and 16 RBIs in 21 games. Drafted in the 10th round in 2022 — after leading the Rebels to the national championship — Elko has hit .292 with 58 homers and 211 RBIs in four pro seasons. The White Sox have the worst record (6-20) in the American League, but they also have one of the richest farm systems. Yet most of their prospects — including No. 5 Braden Montgomery (Madison Central High alum) and No. 13 Jacob Gonzalez (Ole Miss product) — aren’t yet ready for prime time. Elko, who isn’t on Chicago’s 40-man roster, just might be. … Gonzalez, 22, a lefty-hitting middle infielder, was a first-round pick in 2023 and is batting .258 (.352 OBP) in his first full season at Double-A Birmingham; he is currently riding a five-game hit streak that has boosted his average almost 50 points. Outfielder Montgomery, 22, the 12th overall pick (by Boston) last summer, is raking at Low-Class A Kannapolis: .323, three homers, 19 RBIs, six steals.

25 Apr

noteworthy

Pitching on four years rest — no, not really — Drew Pomeranz worked a scoreless eighth inning today for the Chicago Cubs in their 4-0 win over Philadelphia at Wrigley Field. Ole Miss product Pomeranz, 36, last pitched in a big league game on Aug. 10, 2021, with San Diego. He has battled injuries and bounced through a number of organizations since then. This is his 15th pro season. Acquired from Seattle earlier this week, the big left-hander struck out Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber to start, yielded an HBP and a walk, then got the final out of the inning. … Former Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman, on the injured list all season with Arizona, has begun live pitching at the Diamondbacks’ spring facility, per reports. The nine-year big league veteran missed all of the 2024 season following shoulder surgery. … Colby White, an MSU product from Hattiesburg, has been released by the New York Yankees off the Double-A Somerset roster. Roughly two years ago, the right-hander appeared on the brink of making his MLB debut with Tampa Bay. A 2019 draftee by the Rays, he blew through four levels of the minors in 2021 and got a spring training invite in 2022 before having Tommy John surgery and missing that season. He has scuffled ever since. The Yankees claimed him of waivers from the Rays in May of last year but dropped him from their 40-man shortly thereafter. He had a 12.79 ERA in four games at Somerset this season. … Ex-Ole Miss star Doug Nikhazy is slated to make his big league debut for Cleveland on Saturday in Game 2 of a doubleheader. Lefty Nikhazy, in his fifth pro season, had a 3.44 ERA in four starts at Triple-A Columbus. A popular player in Oxford, he posted a 24-6, 2.81, record there from 2019-21. … Second baseman Angus Stayte, who hit .417 in the indy Pecos League in 2024, has signed with the Mississippi Mud Monsters. The team drafted two players, shortstop Roberto Gonzalez and catcher Elias Stevens, out of the Frontier League tryout camp on Wednesday. The new independent team now has 36 players on its preliminary roster. The FL season begins May 8.

25 Apr

taking up arms

Doug Nikhazy is going to The Show, Brandon Woodruff moved a step closer to returning to the majors and Garrett Crochet and J.T. Ginn, both starting in MLB games Thursday, took some lumps. Indeed, it was quite the attention-grabbing day for Mississippi-connected pitchers in pro ball. … Nikhazy, an All-America pick at Ole Miss and a second-round pick by Cleveland in 2021, will join the Guardians today as they host Boston, reportedly to work out of the bullpen. The left-hander had a 3.44 ERA in four starts at Triple-A Columbus this season and carries a 3.87 career ERA in the minors. … Woodruff, former Mississippi State star, threw five shutout innings for Triple-A Nashville in his third rehab start as he comes back from 2023 shoulder surgery. The erstwhile Milwaukee ace, 46-26 in his MLB career, looks on track to rejoin Brewers early next month. … In MLB, Crochet, the Ocean Springs High product, gave up four runs in five innings, walking a career-high five, and took a loss for Boston against Seattle. The 2024 All-Star, in his first season with the Red Sox, is 2-2, 1.95. … Ex-MSU star Ginn, making his third start of 2025 for the A’s, faced off against Texas and Jacob deGrom. Ginn took a shutout into the fourth inning before allowing three solo homers that chased him from the game. His ERA rose to 4.61, but he got a no-decision in a game the A’s won late. DeGrom, the two-time Cy Young Award winner, went 5 1/3 (two runs). … Also on the bump Thursday was MSU alum and MLB vet Dakota Hudson, pitching for Triple-A Salt Lake in the Los Angeles Angels’ system. He gave up four runs in the first inning but nothing more in a four-inning stint. After a rough year with Colorado in 2024, Hudson — 40-32, 4.21, in his big league career — has a 4.50 ERA in four games for the Bees. … Ryan Rolison, a first-round pick out of Ole Miss back in 2018, threw 1 2/3 innings in relief for Albuquerque and trimmed his ERA to 1.32 in eight appearances for the Rockies’ Triple-A club. Now 27, he has yet to get the big league call. … Hurston Waldrep, the Southern Miss alum and a first-round pick by Atlanta in 2023, was slated to pitch Thursday for Triple-A Gwinnett but was pushed back to today. He is 2-0 with a 6.62 ERA in four starts as he aims to return to The Show. P.S. Ex-MSU star Jake Mangum, red-hot rookie with Tampa Bay (see previous post), was placed on the 10-day injured list with a groin strain. … Former Magnolia Heights standout Cooper Pratt, with family in attendance Thursday, received his 2024 MiLB Gold Glove pregame and then hit a big home run for Double-A Biloxi at Keesler Federal Park. Shortstop Pratt, 20, Milwaukee’s No. 3 prospect, is batting .267 with three homers in his Double-A debut. Of note: Pratt’s brother Ozzie is the shortstop for nationally ranked Southern Miss and brother Quincy catches for Magnolia Heights, one of the top-rated prep teams in the state this year.

24 Apr

speed bump?

Jake Mangum’s impressive run in his long-awaited big league opportunity may have hit a speed bump. The ex-Mississippi State star, now a rookie with Tampa Bay, had to leave Wednesday night’s game at Arizona with what was described as left groin tightness. He pulled up with a limp after crossing first base on a ground out in the fourth inning. The 29-year-old Flowood native was listed as day-to-day this morning. Through 21 games, Mangum is hitting .338 and tied for the American League lead with eight stolen bases. He recently was timed at 4.09 seconds going home to first, tied for the fastest in MLB this season. The switch-hitter has been a valuable contributor since his March 29 call-up, going 23-for-68 with four doubles, seven RBIs and seven runs for the Rays, 10-14 after a 7-6 win over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. He has played all three outfield positions and handled 47 chances with just one error. P.S. Red-hot Nick Monistere belted a walk-off homer in the ninth inning Wednesday to give Southern Miss a 5-4 win against Southeastern Louisiana at Hattiesburg. Monistere, the former Northwest Rankin High standout, has 15 home runs on the year, seven bombs and 19 RBIs in his last six games for 28-13 USM. … Ole Miss alum Drew Pomeranz was added to the Chicago Cubs’ roster on Wednesday but did not pitch. The 36-year-old left-hander, acquired from Seattle, has a 3.91 career ERA in 389 MLB games, the last of those appearances coming in 2021. … Former big leaguer Billy Hamilton, the speedster from Taylorsville, got his first steal of 2025 in the Mexican League on Wednesday. That’s No. 844 in his long pro career. Hamilton, 34, is 5-for-18 in five games for Jalisco. … Mississippi State product Rowdey Jordan has been traded to Houston by the New York Mets. The fifth-year minor leaguer was playing at Triple-A Syracuse. … Longtime local broadcaster Jay White has been named the play-by-play voice of the Mississippi Mud Monsters, the independent pro team that will begin play on May 8 at Pearl’s Trustmark Park. … In the juco showdown at Poplarville on Wednesday, Pearl River Community College swept Jones College 7-1 and 3-2 behind the pitching of Camden Clark and K.K. Clark. PRCC, ranked No. 2 in NJCAA Division II, is 42-6, 22-2 in MACCC. No. 7 Jones slipped to 33-12, 19-7.

23 Apr

three things

1 — Nothing like a comeback-capping walk-off win over your archrival to recharge the battery. Ole Miss, having lost five of seven and tumbled in the national polls, beat Mississippi State 8-7 in 10 innings on Tuesday night at Trustmark Park. The Rebels (29-12) hope to ride the momentum of that Governor’s Cup victory into a home series against nationally ranked Vanderbilt this weekend. Ole Miss is 10-8 in the SEC, Vandy 11-7 and 30-11 overall. Several Rebels took star turns in Pearl. Austin Fawley’s 12th homer of the year, a two-run shot, tied the score in the ninth at 7-7. Will Furniss’ run-scoring single — his third RBI of the night — won it in the 10th. Hudson Calhoun threw hitless ball over the last three frames, fanning seven, to get the W. While noting it wasn’t pretty, UM coach Mike Bianco said, “Our guys hung in there, and I’m proud of them for that.” For State, it was a deflating defeat. The Bulldogs (24-17) were coming off an SEC series loss to Florida in which their pitchers yielded 32 runs. They are 6-12 in the league with a trip to nationally ranked Auburn (28-13, 9-9) looming this weekend.
2 — Pearl River Community College, on a seemingly inexorable march toward the state juco championship, might get a test today from Jones College. PRCC, ranked No. 2 in NJCAA Division II, is 40-6 and 20-2 MACCC and leads the conference in hitting (.331), slugging (.539) and ERA (2.69). The Wildcats also have the reigning conference player (Topher Jones) and pitcher (K.K. Clark) of the week. But Jones College is no slouch. The Bobcats beat the Wildcats back in February and are ranked seventh nationally at 33-10, 19-5 MACCC. The teams, both of which own national titles, meet for a twinbill at Dub Herring Park in Poplarville.
3 — Props to the MHSAA classification players of the year: Talon Haley, Class 7A Lewisburg; Baylor Roberts, 6A Saltillo; Griffin Ennis, 5A Corinth; Jacob and JoJo Parker, 4A Purvis; Brody Thompson, 3A Mooreville; Landon Harmon, 2A East Union; Jon Grey Morrison, 1A West Union.
Plus 1: Grae Kessinger, former Ole Miss standout, has been released by Arizona. The erstwhile big leaguer, 27, who started this season in the minors, was designated for assignment on April 19. He was batting .235 in 11 games at Triple-A Reno and had been sidelined since April 9.

22 Apr

the left stuff

Shopping for help for their bullpen, the Chicago Cubs have swung a trade for a 36-year-old, oft-injured ex-Ole Miss star who hasn’t pitched in a big league game in four years. Such is the allure of an experienced left-hander. Drew Pomeranz has been pitching at Triple-A in Seattle’s system; the Cubs got him for cash considerations and will send him to Triple-A Iowa. If or when he makes an appearance for the big Cubs, it’ll be his first in MLB since Aug. 10, 2021, when he was with San Diego. Pomeranz put up a 1.75 ERA as a reliever that season but has been hurt virtually ever since. If you’re scoring at home, make it 11 organizations in 16 years for Pomeranz, who was the fifth overall pick out of Ole Miss in 2010 by Cleveland. He has pitched in 389 MLB games, most of them as a reliever, which has been his sole role the past seven years. The 6-foot-5 Pomeranz has a 3.91 career ERA in the majors, made an All-Star Game in 2016 and won a ring with Boston in 2018. He had a 4.66 in nine appearances for Tacoma this year. The Cubs are 14-10, but their bullpen has been shaky. P.S. Hustle was a topic in Atlanta — yes, again — on Monday night. Austin Riley, the former DeSoto Central High standout, busted it down the first-base line in the eighth inning and beat out a routine grounder to shortstop. He later hustled home to score the game-tying run. The Braves scored four more times in the inning and held on to beat St. Louis 7-6. “You see Riley getting down the line and that got us going,” Mississippi Braves alum Michael Harris II said in an mlb.com story. M-Braves alum Riley also homered — his sixth — as the Braves (9-13) won their fourth straight.

20 Apr

whatever happened to …

Grae Kessinger, the ex-Ole Miss star, was designated for assignment by Arizona on Saturday while on the injured list at Triple-A Reno. It’s likely that infielder Kessinger, 27, will clear waivers and be able to return to the Reno roster. He was batting .235 in 34 at-bats there. Traded from Houston — where he hit .131 in 49 MLB games over two seasons — to the Diamondbacks after last season, Kessinger was optioned to the minors in spring training.
Ethan Small, a first-round pick out of Mississippi State in 2019, is on the IL at Triple-A Sacramento in the San Francisco system. The lefty, 28, has not pitched this season after making just 14 appearances (because of injury) in 2024. He got into four MLB games with Milwaukee in 2022-23 before being traded to the Giants in February of ’24. He was non-tendered and became a free agent last fall, then re-signed with the Giants.
Logan Tanner, one of the heroes on MSU’s national title team in 2021, is in his second season at High-Class A Dayton in the Cincinnati organization. The catcher from Lucedale, a second-round pick in ’22, is batting .077 in five games this season and .191 with 10 homers for his pro career.
Reed Trimble, the Southern Miss product from Tupelo, is on the IL (again) with Double-A Chesapeake in the Baltimore system. He has played in just one game this season and only 137 in a four-year pro career because of injury issues. A switch-hitting outfielder, he is a .246 career hitter who swiped 29 bases over four levels last season.
Errol Robinson, the Ole Miss product who was coaching with the team last fall, has signed with Hagerstown of the independent Atlantic League, which opens its season this week. Robinson was a preseason All-America pick as a Rebels shortstop in 2016 and was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers that summer. He has bounced around affiliated and indy ball ever since, batting .208 in 46 games in Triple-A with Baltimore in 2024.
P.S. Braden Montgomery, the Madison Central High alum, has proven a quick study in pro ball. A first-round pick last year out of Texas A&M, the switch-hitter is batting .326 at Low-A Kannapolis in the Chicago White Sox chain. He hit his third homer and stole his sixth base on Saturday. In 12 games, he has 17 RBIs and 13 runs. The ChiSox got Montgomery from Boston as part of the Garrett Crochet deal in the off-season. … MSU product Jurrangelo Cijntje, also a first-rounder in 2024, struck out six in 4 1/3 innings in his third start (fifth appearance) for High-A Everett in the Seattle system. Switch-pitcher Cijntje yielded one run — a homer — against Tri-City as he trimmed his ERA to 4.15. He has 19 K’s and 10 walks in 13 innings, working mainly as a right-hander.

19 Apr

weird, wild stuff

Have a double-duty day, Hunter Stovall. The 28-year-old former Mississippi State standout banged out three hits, scored a run, drove in a run and pitched a clean inning for the win as Montgomery beat visiting Rocket City 13-12 in 11 innings Friday night in the Double-A Southern League. It was the first pitching appearance in seven minor league seasons — 549 games — for Stovall, a .278 career hitter recently sent down from Triple-A by the parent Tampa Bay Rays. Four Magnolia State college alums took part in the Biscuits’ walk-off win at Riverwalk Stadium. Stovall started at shortstop before moving to the mound in the 11th. Matthew Etzel, ex-Southern Miss star, started at DH before moving to first base and went 0-for-3 with two walks and a run. MSU product Colton Ledbetter started in right field and went 0-for-5 with a game-tying sac fly in the 10th. Fellow Bulldogs alum Kamren James, an infielder by trade, pitched the ninth — his first mound appearance in four pro seasons — and blew a save, then walked (batting in Etzel’s spot) in the 10th and finished the game at third base. (Former Mississippi Braves broadcasters Chris Harris, now doing Rocket City games, and Jack Sadighian, the Biscuits’ play-by-play man, must have enjoyed calling that one.) … In the Low-Class A Carolina League, Columbia beat Kannapolis 8-7 in a game that featured six errors, four wild pitches, four hit batsmen and a whopping 13 stolen bases, one each by Mississippi prep products Braden Montgomery and Brennon McNair. Columbia, a Kansas City farm club, stole eight bases against the host Cannon Ballers, who had former Ole Miss standout Calvin Harris behind the plate. Harris did manage to throw out two would-be thieves and also went 2-for-5 with three RBIs for the Chicago White Sox affiliate. Montgomery, ex-Madison Central High star and a pro rookie, went 1-for-3 with two walks, two runs and his fifth steal for Kannapolis. For Columbia, McNair, out of Magee High, had a big two-run double in the seventh inning in addition to swiping his fourth bag. … Less wild but no less weird was a Carolina League game between Hickory and Charleston. The host RiverDogs won 1-0 despite getting no-hit by three Crawdads pitchers. Yes, there was a state connection in this one, too: Connor Hujsak, a 2024 draftee out of MSU by Tampa Bay, went 0-for-3 for the RiverDogs, whose run was unearned in the eighth inning. P.S. Kudos to M-Braves alum Drake Baldwin for his first game-winning hit, a two-run pinch knock in the eighth inning that propelled Atlanta to a 6-4 win over visiting Minnesota. Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II, also former M-Braves stars, also had key hits as the Braves rallied from the dead for five runs in the eighth. … The Mississippi Mud Monsters have added two players to their preliminary roster: second baseman Lizandro Rodriguez and outfielder/first baseman Karell Paz. Rodriguez, from the Dominican Republic, played four years in the Kansas City system, and Paz, from Cuba, spent three seasons in the New York Mets’ system. The independent Mud Monsters will begin their inaugural season on May 8 at Pearl’s Trustmark Park.