Tag Archives: Ole Miss

18 Oct

cue the highlights

It was a week of chill. Seafood, sunshine and siestas. And baseball on the tube. Lots of it. The past week gave us three Game 5’s in MLB division series play, plus an historic Game 4 clincher at Wrigley Field. There was a season’s worth of highlights in a few short days. We’re left with two former Jackson Mets catchers – Ned Yost and John Gibbons – matching wits as managers in the American League Championship Series, and two Mississippians – Jarrod Dyson and Chris Coghlan – still playing. Alas, the season is over for Tony Sipp, who was almost perfect for Houston; Mitch Moreland, who had a rough ALDS for Texas; and Lance Lynn, who pitched just one inconsequential inning for St. Louis.
To recap the week: On Monday, Pascagoula native Sipp was saddled with a hard-luck loss in the Astros’ pivotal Game 4 loss to Kansas City. That was the game in which the Astros squandered a four-run lead in the eighth inning, hurt by a weird hopper that ticked off Sipp’s glove and bounded past shortstop Carlos Correa for an error. The lone run charged to Sipp was unearned. That same day, ex-Ole Miss standout Coghlan had a hit and a run in the Chicago Cubs’ Game 3 win against St. Louis. … On Tuesday, the Cubs took the series by winning Game 4; it was the first series-clinching win ever at Wrigley. Coghlan, in the postseason for the first time in his career, didn’t play but celebrated with gusto. Lynn, the former Ole Miss ace, had originally been scheduled to start Game 4 for St. Louis, but the Cardinals went with John Lackey on short rest. He got shelled early. … On Wednesday, Toronto beat Texas in a Game 5 that already has become a TV special. Gibbons’ Blue Jays came from behind in the wild and wacky seventh inning, aided by errors on three consecutive plays by the Rangers. Former Mississippi State star Moreland made one of the errors; he also went 0-for-3 in the game and finished the ALDS 0-for-13. That same day, Yost’s Royals beat Houston to win that ALDS in the fifth game. Sipp pitched again. All told, the left-hander made six appearances in his first postseason and allowed no earned runs on a hit and a walk with four strikeouts. Dyson, the Southwest Mississippi Community College product from McComb, got into two ALDS games for the Royals and stole two bases. That’s what he do. … On Thursday, the New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of that series to advance to play the Cubs for the NL pennant. The Mets won the series opener on Saturday and will throw the brilliant Noah Syndergaard tonight against Cubs ace Jake Arrieta. Coghlan is in the lineup for the Cubs, playing right field. … Meanwhile, Yost and Gibbons are plotting strategies for their next meeting in the ALCS, set for Monday at the Rogers Centre launching pad. Yost’s Royals are up 2-0, bidding for a second straight World Series trip.

09 Oct

campus notes

Southern Miss will play the first eight games of the 2016 season at home in Taylor Park, but the more interesting aspect of the schedule is where the Golden Eagles will play 10 of their road games. In addition to the annual games against Mississippi State (April 1) and Ole Miss (April 5) at Trustmark Park in Pearl, USM will visit three other minor league ballparks. USM is slated for three games in a March 4-6 tournament at Pensacola’s scenic Bayfront Stadium. The Eagles have two March games set for MGM Park in Biloxi and a three-game C-USA series March 18-20 against Marshall at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W.Va. USM opens the season Feb. 19 against Eastern Illinois. … After last weekend’s fall ball scrimmages in Oxford, Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco singled out four pitchers for their work. Good stuff is expected from junior left-hander Wyatt Short, the Southaven product who was an All-SEC pick in 2015. The other three drawing praise were newcomers: juco transfer David Parkinson and freshmen Andy Pagnozzi and Parker Caracci. Caracci is from MAIS powerhouse Jackson Prep. … Pitching also has been in fashion of late at Mississippi State. In Sunday’s scrimmage, lefty Daniel Brown threw three shutout innings with five strikeouts. On Monday, Austin Sexton tossed four shutout innings with four K’s. And on Tuesday, freshman lefty Jared Padgett worked three scoreless innings. Padgett, from Florida, was a 26th round pick by the Chicago Cubs in June. P.S. Former Ole Miss left-hander Austin Wright was rated the top prospect in independent ball by Baseball America. Wright, who recently signed with Arizona, went 5-11 with a 4.46 ERA for Windy City in the Frontier League. He had a 4.26 ERA in four years in the Philadelphia system before being released – but he also has a fastball that reaches the mid-90s.

09 Oct

let’s play four

With four playoff games on the docket, it’s a day to let baseball flow over you. Here are some things to watch for from a Mississippi perspective: At Toronto, Mitch Moreland, the former Mississippi State star from Amory, figures to start for Texas in Game 2 of their American League Division Series. Moreland came in as a defensive replacement at first base in the Rangers’ win on Thursday. With right-hander Marcus Stroman going for the Blue Jays today, the lefty-hitting Moreland should be in there. His power (23 homers this year) ought to play at Rogers Centre. … Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product Tony Sipp pitched a clean seventh inning in Houston’s ALDS win at Kansas City. The lefty has worked two scoreless innings now in the first postseason appearances of his seven-year MLB career. … Jarrod Dyson, the ex-Southwest Mississippi CC star, didn’t play for the Royals, but the time surely will come when KC will need his speed, either on the bases or in the outfield. … Ole Miss alum Chris Coghlan, who sat out the Chicago Cubs’ wild card win against Pittsburgh, is 3-for-9 with a walk against St. Louis starter John Lackey, but that might not be enough to get him in today’s lineup for the National League Division Series opener. The wild card configuration worked out pretty well for the Cubs, who whipped the Pirates 4-0. Coghlan, a lefty hitter, batted .250 with 16 homers and 11 steals this year. … The Cardinals have announced that ex-Rebels standout Lance Lynn will start Game 4 vs. the Cubs at Wrigley Field – if there is a Game 4. Lynn (12-11) was 0-4 against the Cubs, allowing 15 earned runs in 17 2/3 innings. Yikes. … Former State star Ed Easley, who was up for the last few weeks, did not make the Cards’ initial NLDS roster. They’re carrying just two catchers, one of which is the injured Yadier Molina (thumb). P.S. It’s hard not to admire Moreland and the way he plays the game. He addressed that in a recent comment to mlb.com: “The work ethic and trying to go out and keep my head down and keep my eyes on the goal … all that stems from me growing up there (Amory) in a small town, maybe not having that spotlight and recognition.”

07 Oct

wild things

The Chicago Cubs’ lineup isn’t official yet, but speculation is that Ole Miss product Chris Coghlan won’t be in it and ex-Mississippi Braves standout Tommy La Stella will be. The Cubs take on Pittsburgh tonight in the National League Wild Card Game at PNC Park. Coghlan hit .250 with 16 homers and 41 RBIs while playing a variety of positions, but his playing time decreased down the stretch. And he is 2-for-13 against Pirates starter Gerrit Cole. Coghlan told ESPN he wants to be in there: “I feel like I’m one of the best eight guys out there.” La Stella, who batted .269 in just 33 games, could get the nod at third base, with Kris Bryant going to left and Kyle Schwarber to right, reports said. Both Coghlan and La Stella are left-handed hitters. … Wonder if the Pirates have forgotten that it was Coghlan’s take out slide that ended shortstop Jung Ho Kang’s season on Sept. 17? No one called it a dirty play, but still, it might be a motivating factor. Clint Hurdle’s Pirates may need all the cosmic help they can summon against Jake Arrieta. … Tony Sipp appeared to be amped up – perhaps too much — for his appearance in Tuesday’s American League Wild Card Game. The animated lefty out of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College registered a scoreless seventh inning in Houston’s 3-0 win over New York at Yankee Stadium, but it took him 23 pitches to get four batters. He threw only 11 strikes. Facing the Nos. 5-8 hitters, starting with ex-M-Braves star Brian McCann, Sipp fanned one and walked one. But he got the hold. In 10 appearances in September and October, Sipp yield just one run. … Blast from the past: The Astros’ coaching staff includes former Jackson Generals hitting coach Dave Hudgens and ex-Jackson Mets catcher Alan Zinter. … Houston will face Kansas City – managed by another old JaxMets catcher, Ned Yost – in the AL Division Series. The Royals’ roster is expected to include former Southwest Mississippi CC star Jarrod Dyson but apparently not former Pillow Academy standout Louis Coleman. Coleman appeared in just four games at season’s end, posting a 0.00 ERA. M-Braves product Kris Medlen likely will be on the roster; he went 6-2 with a 4.01 ERA in 15 games coming off Tommy John surgery. He is 40-22, 3.06 career. Still wondering why Atlanta let him go.

05 Oct

closing arguments

Joey Butler enjoyed what he termed a “pretty cool” finish to his season. Butler, the former Pascagoula High and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College standout, got a curtain call at Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field on Sunday during a two-homer, six-RBI game against Toronto. Among Mississippians who won’t be going to the postseason, Butler’s day was the brightest but not the only highlight. Ole Miss alum Seth Smith hit a game-winning home run, his 12th, for Seattle. Corey Dickerson, the former Meridian CC star, hit his 10th home run, a three-run shot that was part of a seven-run ninth inning for Colorado. UM product David Goforth pitched a scoreless inning for Milwaukee, and ex-Mississippi State star Ed Easley got his first MLB start for St. Louis. He was behind the plate (for Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn’s playoff tuneup) in Game 2 of a pair against Atlanta and went 0-for-3 in the 2-0 loss. Easley was 0-for-6 on the year, still without a big league knock. It seems unlikely he’ll make the postseason roster. Butler, who rarely played down the stretch (see previous post), told mlb.com that he “proved to myself” that he belongs in The Show. We’ll see what the Rays think. He finished at .276 with eight homers. … Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton, who didn’t play for Cincinnati after Sept. 17, lost the stolen base title to Miami’s Dee Gordon, who finished with 58 to Hamilton’s 57. P.S. Northwest Mississippi CC product Cody Reed was ranked the No. 6 prospect in the Class A Carolina League by Baseball America. Left-hander Reed went 5-5 with a 2.14 ERA for Kansas City’s Wilmington team before he was promoted to Double-A and then traded in the Johnny Cueto deal. He finished at Pensacola in the Southern League, going 6-2, 2.17 for the Cincinnati affiliate. … Anthony Alford, Bobby Bradley and Spencer Turnbull cracked the Baseball America top 20 prospects list for the Midwest League. Alford, the former Mr. Baseball from Petal, was rated the No. 2 prospect, ex-Harrison Central High star Bradley was No. 9 and Madison Central product Spencer Turnbull was No. 17. Alford, an outfielder in Toronto’s system, was promoted to the high Class A Florida State League at midseason and was the No. 8 prospect in that loop. He’s got game (see previous posts). Bradley hit a league-best 27 home runs for Cleveland’s Lake County team, and Turnbull, a Detroit farmhand, was an 11-game winner who didn’t allow a home run all year.

02 Oct

campus notes

Delta State will dedicate Tim and Nancy Harvey Baseball Stadium at Ferriss Field and unveil a statue in honor of former coach Dave “Boo” Ferriss on Saturday. The ceremonies will coincide with DSU baseball’s biannual reunion, which will bring over 350 former players, coaches and diamond girls to Cleveland. Tim Harvey was a DSU player under Ferriss, and he and his wife made the lead gift for stadium renovations. If there is anyone who doesn’t know, former major league pitcher Ferriss won 639 games over 26 seasons as DSU coach, took three teams to the NCAA Division II World Series and laid the foundation for what is one of the nation’s best D-II programs. … Tim Dillard is being inducted into the Itawamba Community College Hall of Fame and will be honored in a ceremony during the school’s football homecoming in Fulton on Saturday. Dillard, 32, who pitched in Triple-A for Milwaukee this season, starred for ICC in 2002 and ’03, leading the Indians to the juco World Series as a sophomore. A 34th-round draft pick, he has pitched 13 seasons in pro ball, posting a 4.70 ERA in 73 big league games, all with the Brewers. … Mike Smith, a senior outfielder for Mississippi State, didn’t play a great deal in 2015 as a juco transfer, batting .208 in 24 at-bats. He’s bucking for more playing time next spring. In nine scrimmages this fall, Smith is 10-for-23 with seven RBIs, six runs and five steals. The Bulldogs scrimmage again on Sunday at Dudy Noble Field. … The “Jake Gibbs Letterwinner Walk,” honoring every Ole Miss athlete who earned a letter, will be unveiled next October as part of a Vaught-Hemingway Stadium project, the school announced. Gibbs was a football and baseball star for the Rebels and is the school’s second all-time winningest baseball coach. He also played in the big leagues.

29 Sep

down the stretch

Tony Sipp was sharp, Lance Lynn wasn’t, but both Mississippians were on the winning side in big games on Monday night. Brian Dozier went hitless but produced a sacrifice fly as his team won. Mitch Moreland was 1-for-4, but it wasn’t enough to help his club get a W. With the pressure building in the last week of the MLB season, Sipp was up to his task for Houston. The former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star entered in the seventh inning against Seattle and promptly picked a runner off first base. He then retired all five batters he faced, notching his 13th hold while preserving a 3-2 Astros lead that held up. Houston gained a game on first-place Texas in the American League West and is now 1.5 games back. The Astros are a half-game up on the Los Angeles Angels for the second wild card and 1.5 games ahead of Minnesota. The Twins, with the aid of Southern Miss alum Dozier’s 76th RBI, beat Cleveland 4-2. Former Mississippi State star Moreland and the Rangers lost to Detroit 7-4. In the National League, St. Louis beat Pittsburgh 3-0 with a three-run ninth inning and moved 4 games up on the second-place Pirates in the Central. Ole Miss product Lynn started for the Cardinals and went five innings, throwing 96 pitches. He allowed four hits and four walks — but nary a run. Buckle your seatbelts. Six days left. P.S. Statistically, Jonathan Papelbon had a good year: 24-of-26 in save opps, 4-3 record, 2.13 ERA, 1.03 WHIP. But no one will remember that. What they’ll remember is that the State alum finished the season on suspension, three games for hitting an opposing batter and four for attacking a Washington teammate. His off-season will be interesting.

28 Sep

making a case

Ole Miss product David Goforth, seeking to nail down a role in Milwaukee’s bullpen next year, picked up his first career win on Sunday. Goforth pitched a scoreless eighth inning against St. Louis, then benefitted from the Brewers’ seven-run rally in the ninth. They won 8-4. Goforth, 26, first called up in May, has made 18 appearances and put up a 4.09 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 22 innings. After converting from starter to closer in the minors and saving 27 games at Double-A Huntsville in 2014, Goforth was considered a candidate to close in the big leagues. Speculation now is that he may be better suited to a set-up role. Listed at 5 feet 10, 205 pounds, the Meridian native and ex-Neshoba Central star throws hard. He is on a list – surprisingly long — of pitchers who have hit 100 mph. That’s a nice weapon to have. P.S. On this date in 1978, Brian Cole was born in Meridian. Before his life was cut tragically short in a 2001 car wreck, Cole was one of the most promising players the state has produced. After starring at Meridian High, he played a year at Navarro Junior College in Texas, hit a reported .524 with 27 homers and was named Baseball America’s juco player of the year. The New York Mets drafted him in the 18th round in 1998, and two years later he was their minor league player of the year and No. 3-rated prospect. It’s so very sad that he’s gone.

25 Sep

campus notes

Ole Miss fans of a certain age will remember John Shaw, a star second baseman for the Rebels from 1968-70. Shaw is among the five athletes being inducted into the Ole Miss M-Club Alumni Hall of Fame this weekend. Shaw led the SEC in stolen bases three straight years, twice earned all-league honors and helped Tom Swayze’s team win the SEC championship in 1969. … Southern Miss will again host the C-USA Tournament at Taylor Park. Dates are May 25-29, 2016. USM has hosted the tournament five times previously but never won the title as the host school. The Golden Eagles’ lone tournament championship came in 2010, when the event was in Houston. … USM started fall ball on Sunday, with 16 newcomers joining a crop of returnees that includes five regulars – second-team All-C-USA pick Tim Lynch among them — from a 36-win team. … Mississippi State needed to do some rebuilding after last year’s disappointing finish, and coach John Cohen may have the parts to put together a better club in 2016. State’s recruiting class was ranked No. 3 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. Among the 22 newcomers are three players who were drafted by MLB clubs and three state players of the year. Here’s one to watch: Nate Lowe, a first-team NJCAA All-America pick and the Florida juco player of the year. He hit .373 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs at St. Johns River State College. … Ole Miss’ recruiting class was rated No. 23 by Collegiate Baseball, USM’s was not in the Top 25. … One of Jackson State’s big signees for 2016 was C.J. Newsome, a 5-foot-7 outfielder from Columbia High. Newsome, who batted .350 and stole 25 bags as a senior, was drafted by Miami in the 38th round in June. There must have been a big sigh of relief at J-State when Newsome didn’t sign.

24 Sep

turn up the heat

As if there weren’t enough tension in the current Baltimore-Washington series, leave it to Jonathan Papelbon to inject some more on Wednesday. The Beltway rivals are hanging by a thread in their respective playoff quests, and the Orioles’ 4-3 win – which turned on a Manny Machado homer in the seventh inning – was a punch to the gut for the Nationals. In the ninth, ex-Mississippi State standout Papelbon plunked Machado and was promptly ejected. Machado was irate about getting hit, calling it “coward stuff,” among other things. Papelbon, who went up and in twice on Machado before hitting him in the shoulder, denied it was intentional. O’s manager Buck Showalter said of Papelbon, his fellow MSU alum, to The Associated Press: “He kind of reminds me of the wrestlers who pull somebody’s hair and then they throw their hands up.” Nats star Bryce Harper said he expects to get hit in today’s series finale. Stay tuned. … In other Magnolia State news, Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier hit his 28th homer – his first to the opposite field in 2015 – in Minnesota’s win. Southwest Mississippi Community College product Jarrod Dyson stole his 26th base and hit a game-tying sac fly in the ninth as Kansas City rallied to win. Former Ole Miss star Lance Lynn notched his 12th win with six shutout innings for St. Louis. Meridian CC alum Corey Dickerson had three hits, including his seventh homer, in Colorado’s loss to Pittsburgh, which clinched a playoff berth. Clint Hurdle, the former Jackson Mets skipper, has his Pirates club in the postseason for the third straight year. And former Mississippi Braves hurler Arodys Vizcaino notched his seventh save as Atlanta beat the New York Mets. In Vizcaino, who has a 1.86 ERA, the Braves may have found their closer for 2016.