Tag Archives: Ole Miss

19 May

eye on …

After a big year in Double-A in 2014, Alex Yarbrough appears to be finding a groove at the Triple-A level with roughly a quarter of the season in the books. The ex-Ole Miss standout has hit .270 with six runs and two RBIs over his last 10 games for Salt Lake in the Los Angeles Angels’ system. His season numbers are up to .256, 19 runs and 14 RBIs in 38 games. Yarbrough, a switch-hitting second baseman, hit .285 with five homers, 77 RBIs, 66 runs and 38 doubles for Arkansas in 2014, winning Texas League player of the year honors. He went to big league spring training this year as a darkhorse candidate for the second base job left vacant by the trade of Howie Kendrick. Yarbrough was 4-for-19 in the spring before he was sent out. Johnny Giavotella, picked up in a trade with Kansas City, emerged as the Angels’ second baseman and has played well this season, batting .274 to date. Yarbrough, 23, rated the team’s No. 14 prospect by mlb.com entering his fourth pro season, figures to get an opportunity at the big league level, if not this summer then surely next spring.

18 May

regional appeal

Ole Miss needs to beat Alabama on Tuesday to stay alive in the SEC Tournament. Whether the Rebels need to beat Alabama to stay in contention for an NCAA Tournament bid is less clear. UM has won six of its last seven to get to 30-25 against one of the nation’s toughest schedules. Still, a one-and-done performance in the SEC tourney at Hoover, Ala., might not look so good. The sixth-seeded Rebels will throw Scott Weathersby (4-1, 2.39 ERA), a recent addition to the rotation who got the last five outs in a 4-0 win over Alabama in Oxford in late April. Ole Miss took two of three from the Crimson Tide in that series, winning the opener 10-2 and losing the finale 13-4. The Tide (30-26) showed its offensive potential in that one, with 17 hits and seven two-out RBIs. … Southern Miss (35-16-1) has won 13 straight games to play its way into the NCAA regional picture and has a legitimate shot at winning the C-USA Tournament and claiming the automatic bid. USM is the 3-seed in the double-elimination event that it is hosting at Taylor Park in Hattiesburg. The Golden Eagles open Wednesday with UAB (30-24), which it beat two of three at “The Pete” in early April. In the rubber game of that series, James McMahon – the likely starter on Wednesday – got the W in the 3-2 victory with relief help from Luke Lowery and Cody Livingston. USM is flush with good arms. P.S. As we eagerly await today’s announcement of the 2015 Ferriss Trophy recipient, a check on last year’s winner, Auston Bousfield, shows the Ole Miss product batting .308 with a homer, 15 RBIs and 14 steals for Class A Lake Elsinore in the San Diego system. Bousfield was a fifth-round pick last June.

18 May

worth noting

Dan Jennings, who played at Southern Miss and William Carey, will move from general manager to field manager of the Miami Marlins today, according to numerous reports. Jennings has worked in the Marlins’ front office since 2002. He’ll replace the fired Mike Redmond. Jennings played three years at USM (1979-81) and one year at Carey, graduating from the latter in 1984. He was inducted into WCU’s athletics Hall of Fame earlier this year. Jennings had a brief fling in pro ball as a player and coached high school ball in Alabama before becoming a big league scout. … Former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland hit his second homer for Texas on Sunday. He is 5-for-20 since returning from the disabled list and is at .288 with 12 RBIs for the season. … Pascagoula’s Joey Butler, who had another hit on Sunday, is batting .300 with two homers and seven RBIs in 13 games for Tampa Bay. He was called up when Itawamba Community College alumnus Desmond Jennings (knee) went on the DL. Jennings reportedly is close to returning to duty. … Billy Hamilton got a day off Saturday and hit in the 8-hole on Sunday for Cincinnati. “You’ve got to roll with it,” the ex-Taylorsville High standout told mlb.com about being dropped from the leadoff spot. He went 1-for-3 and is now at .214 for the year. Ole Miss product Zack Cozart, hitting .300, has moved to the top of the order for Cincy. … Ex-UM star Lance Lynn threw 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run, as St. Louis beat heavy-hitting Detroit 2-1. Lynn (3-3, 2.96 ERA) has won two straight starts. “Lance was great, no question about it,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told mlb.com. … Meridian CC alum Corey Dickerson is playing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot and might be headed for the DL. The Colorado outfielder is batting .309 with five homers and 16 RBIs.

17 May

down to two

Only two Mississippi college teams are still standing after a generally rough weekend. Hinds Community College, the No. 1-ranked team in NJCAA Division II, was eliminated Saturday night in the Region 23 championship round by No. 2 LSU-Eunice. The Eagles (43-7) lost twice to the host Bengals in the regional. East Mississippi Community College went 2-and-out in the tournament, and Northwest Mississippi was flushed in its third game, losing an elimination game to Hinds on Saturday. Meanwhile, Mississippi State’s season ended with a whimper as the Bulldogs lost three straight to Tennessee, which claimed the 12th and final berth in the SEC Tournament. Jackson State and Alcorn State bowed out Friday in the SWAC Tournament, where both went 1-2. Millsaps, after winning its opener on Thursday, went down (and out) twice on Friday in the NCAA Division III West Regional. Still playing are Southern Miss, which will take a 13-game winning streak into its Conference USA Tournament opener against UAB on Wednesday at Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, and Ole Miss, which has won six of seven heading into an SEC Tournament clash with Alabama on Tuesday in Hoover, Ala.

16 May

making a list

Marcus Thames, the slugger from Louisville, is on a list that is both short and long at the same time. In its current issue (May 18), Sports Illustrated highlights the players who homered on the first pitch they saw in the big leagues. Minnesota’s Eddie Rosario became the 29th to achieve that feat on May 6. Just the 29th. And yet, it seems crazy that it has happened 29 times! First pitch. Home run. Thames did it on June 10, 2002. The former East Central Community College star, debuting for the New York Yankees, took Randy Johnson deep at Yankee Stadium. Thames, now a coach in the Yankees’ minor league system, is one of the few players on the list the casual fan might actually have heard of. There’s Bert Campaneris, Junior Felix, Adam Wainwright (yes, the pitcher), Starling Marte, Daniel Nava and Jay Bell. Bell went on to hit 194 more homers and has the most of any player on the first-pitch-homer list. Thames is second with 115. He hit just .246 over his career, but he did have some thump, averaging a home run every 15.4 at-bats, a remarkable ratio. P.S. Kudos to Oxford High’s Jason Barber, who is featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd, which makes note of his 0.00 ERA and two no-hitters this season. … Kudos also to former Mississippi Braves star Todd Cunningham, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs in his first big league start, sparking Atlanta’s 5-3 win at Miami on Friday night. … Former Ole Miss star Zack Cozart and Taylorsville High product Billy Hamilton homered for Cincinnati, the only runs yielded by Madison Bumgarner in San Francisco’s 10-2 rout of the Reds. Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier went yard (on his 28th birthday) for Minnesota, and ex-UM standout Seth Smith homered for Seattle. Cozart leads all Mississippians in the majors with six homers.

14 May

picks to click

It would be too obvious to pick Sikes Orvis as the Ole Miss player to watch in the last weekend of regular season play for the state’s Big 3 Division I schools. Orvis has five homers and 14 RBIs in his last four games. On a less crazy but still sweet roll for the Rebels (29-24, 14-13 SEC) is freshman Nic Perkins, who takes a six-game hitting streak into the series against powerhouse Texas A&M in Oxford. Perkins, only recently inserted in the regular lineup, is batting .367 with five RBIs and three runs in 14 games. For Mississippi State (24-27, 8-19), clinging to hopes of making the SEC Tournament, junior left-hander Lucas Laster, expected to start tonight at Tennessee, needs to deliver a gem. He is 4-3 with a 3.39 ERA in 12 starts, but his last win came on April 2 vs. South Carolina. He pitched fairly well in his start against Ole Miss last week. Southern Miss (32-10-1, 16-10 C-USA) is streaking into its league series at Middle Tennessee State with 10 straight wins. No Golden Eagles hitter is hotter than junior Chase Scott, who has an 18-game hit streak. He went 2-for-5 with three RBIs in Tuesday’s win at Tulane and is batting .304 with three homers, 23 RBIs and 27 runs for the year. P.S. MSU product Jonathan Papelbon became Philadelphia’s all-time saves leader (with 113) on Wednesday; his save was saved by a great throw from ex-Mississippi Braves star Jeff Francoeur that nailed a runner at the plate for the final out in the 3-2 win over Pittsburgh. “As an outfielder who likes to throw, you live for that kind of moment,” Francoeur, still a great right fielder, told mlb.com. … Former State standout Tyler Moore hit a game-tying, pinch-hit homer for Washington, helping the surging Nationals’ cause in a 9-6 win over Arizona. Moore’s sixth-inning homer was his second of the year and 20th of his career. Used mostly as a pinch hitter this season, Moore is batting .207 in 29 at-bats. … Ole Miss alum Aaron Barrett (3-0, 3.68 ERA) got the win for the Nats; he allowed the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning but was bailed out by Michael Taylor’s grand slam in the ninth. … With three more hits on Wednesday, ex-USM star Brian Dozier has eight in his last five games and is batting .357 over his last 10 for Minnesota. He’s at .256 for the season. … UM product Chris Coghlan drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth to give the Chicago Cubs a 2-1 win against the New York Mets.

13 May

building blocks

The Atlanta Braves’ flurry of off-season player moves was made with the idea of creating a foundation for 2017, when the team will move into a new stadium in the suburbs. Two of the building blocks in this process produced some solid results for the Mississippi Braves on Tuesday night at Trustmark Park. Outfielder Mallex Smith (acquired from San Diego) went 3-for-7 with a two-run home run and two runs scored and pitcher Tyrell Jenkins (acquired from St. Louis) threw a seven-inning complete game as the M-Braves swept Mobile, winning both games 2-1. The 5-foot-9 Smith, who stole 88 bases in A-ball in 2014, currently has a nine-game hitting streak (14-for-36) and has boosted his average to .333. He has two homers, 12 RBIs, 18 runs and eight steals. Smith, who turned 22 on May 6, could well be Atlanta’s center fielder in 2017. Jenkins could be in the ATL by then, as well. The 6-4 right-hander checked the BayBears on seven hits and no walks in Tuesday’s opener, his best overall outing of 2015. Jenkins, who tossed six shutout innings in his previous start, is 2-2 with a 3.55 ERA in seven games. He fanned four on Tuesday, giving him 23 K’s (with 14 walks) in 38 innings. The former four-sport Texas prep star is in his sixth pro season but is only 22. P.S. Might be a neat footnote in history someday: Chris Coghlan, the former Ole Miss star, hit the first MLB homer off Noah Syndergaard on Tuesday. Coghlan’s Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets and their latest star call-up 6-1. … Ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College standout Jarrod Dyson hasn’t capitalized on the playing time he has gotten with Kansas City of late. He is hitting .222 with three runs and two steals in his last 10 games and is at .204 with eight and five for the year. … UM products Lance Lynn (St. Louis) and Drew Pomeranz (Oakland) picked up long-awaited second wins on Tuesday.

11 May

numbers to crunch

Former Southern Miss star Brian Dozier hit his eighth career leadoff homer on Sunday in Minnesota’s loss at Cleveland. It was Dozier’s second homer in as many games and fourth of the season. He hit 23 last year. … Ole Miss alum Seth Smith, who occasionally leads off for Seattle, is batting .266 after a 1-for-3 on Sunday. The left-handed hitter has two homers and eight RBIs. Of his 79 at-bats, 76 have been against right-handers. … UM product Zack Cozart went 3-for-4 for Cincinnati against the Chicago White Sox and is hitting .324 for the year, .361 over his last 10 games. … Billy Hamilton, the ex-Taylorsville High star who has 16 steals for the Reds, saw his average fall to .203 after an 0-for-5. He struck out three times, running his total to 25 in 118 at-bats. Hamilton had 15 bunt hits in 2014, but defenses are adjusting this season: He has none so far. … Former Ole Miss standout Chris Coghlan is 4-for-33 in May and is at .189 for the year for the Chicago Cubs. He has three homers but just four RBIs. … Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland is on a rehab assignment (elbow surgery) with Texas’ Triple-A Round Rock club. He is 0-for-7. … UM alum Phil Irwin, who has some big league time, is 1-4 with a 6.60 ERA for kt wiz in the Korean Baseball Organization. … A host of former Mississippi Braves have gotten opportunities this season in Atlanta’s bullpen, which looks like a major weakness for this remodeled team. Brandon Cunniff (2.38 ERA) and Ian Thomas (2.70) have fared OK, but Cody Martin (3.86) has taken the loss in two straight games and Juan Jaime (6.75), John Cornely (four runs in one inning) and Williams Perez (four runs in 1/3 inning) have not impressed.

10 May

wow!

What a Saturday in Mississippi. In Oxford, there was the jaw-dropping comeback by Ole Miss to sweep the series against Mississippi State. In Hattiesburg, Southern Miss made a comeback of its own to beat Charlotte and extend its win streak to eight games. And in Raymond, Hinds Community College blasted Northwest Mississippi 14-3 to claim its eighth state championship. Hinds, 41-5 and ranked No. 1 in NJCAA Division II, went 3-0 in the MACJC tourney, getting outstanding pitching efforts from Randy Bell, Derek Martin and Casey Sutton. Quade Smith was the hitting hero in the finale, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs. USM, now 30-16-1 and 15-10 C-USA, got brilliant mound work from Cody Carroll, Luke Lowery and Ryan Milton in Friday’s 1-0 win over Charlotte. Down 5-0 early on Saturday, the Eagles rallied to win 11-10 in 10 innings, Michael Sterling scoring the game-winner on a throwing error that followed an infield hit by Connor Barron. Game 3 of that series is today. But, of course, the events at Oxford-University Stadium, witnessed by crowds totaling 27,871, trumped all. On Thursday, the Rebels (28-24, 14-13 SEC) got two big hits and three RBIs from Errol Robinson in a 4-3 win. On Friday, Sikes Orvis belted a home run and drove in four runs all told in a 13-10 victory. And on Saturday, down 7-2 in the ninth, the Rebels battled back against a crumbling State bullpen to win 8-7 in 10 innings. Colby Bortles had a game-tying, two-out, two-run hit in the ninth, and Nic Perkins knocked in the game-winner in the 10th. Orvis had two more homers on Saturday, boosting his total to 14. Wyatt Short, the sophomore left-hander from Southaven, worked a perfect 10th to earn the win on Saturday after notching saves on both Thursday and Friday. Short is 4-1 with nine saves. The devastated Bulldogs fell to 24-27, 8-19 and are in real danger of missing the SEC Tournament. P.S. Worth noting: In Pearl on Saturday, the Mississippi Braves beat the Biloxi Shuckers 5-2 in 10 innings to clinch the series with Game 5 still to play today. The M-Braves lost the inaugural game between the two Southern League clubs on Wednesday but have now won three straight.

08 May

eye on …

Brian Dozier didn’t produce a hit for Minnesota on Thursday, but the ex-Southern Miss standout was hardly unproductive. He drew a walk, scored a run and made two sensational leaping snags at second base to help the surging Twins put the wraps on an 8-3 homestand with a 6-5 win over Oakland. The Twins are 16-13, creeping up on Kansas City and Detroit in the American League Central. Dozier is hitting .293 over his last 10 games, with three walks, nine runs and nine RBIs. For the season, he is batting just .236, but, much like last year, he is producing runs, which is what it’s really all about in baseball. Dozier has scored 21 runs and driven in 14 in 28 games. In 2014, he batted .242 but was second in MLB with 112 runs and drove in 71. Dozier has just two homers and two steals this year, so he is behind the pace of 2014 when he was a 20-20 man. But those numbers, homers in particular, seem to come in bunches. Worth noting, too: He hasn’t made an error in the field. P.S. The Twins’ win came at the expense of struggling A’s starter Drew Pomeranz, the Ole Miss alum who fell to 1-3 with a 5.12 ERA. … Ex-Rebels star Zack Cozart, out since Sunday when he was hit by a pitch on the wrist and then by a ground ball on the finger tip, reportedly could be back in the Cincinnati lineup tonight. The shortstop was seen wearing a T-shirt with the word “almost” taped to it on Thursday. He is batting .304 with five homers and 12 RBIs.