Tag Archives: Ole Miss

23 Mar

buckle up

There are several big series on tap this weekend in college baseball (see Ole Miss at Texas A&M in the SEC; Southern Miss at Florida Atlantic in C-USA; Jackson State at Alcorn State in the SWAC; first-place Millsaps at Birmingham-Southern in SAA play; and first-place Blue Mountain at NAIA No. 1 Faulkner (Ala.) in the SSAC). If the recent past is prologue, we could be in for a wild weekend. To wit: On Thursday night, Ole Miss rallied for three eighth-inning runs to upend Texas A&M 5-4 in a battle of nationally ranked SEC foes in their series opener at College Station. Rebels ace Ryan Rolison wobbled, but relievers Will Ethridge (three innings, six strikeouts) and Parker Caracci (two innings, five K’s) picked him up. … On Wednesday, Mississippi Valley State beat Delta State for just the 16th time in 103 meetings, getting a 10th-inning, tie-breaking double from Aaron Barkley – who also pitched two shutout innings – at Itta Bena. Division I Valley is 5-16, D-II No. 1-ranked Delta State 19-4. In Jackson, Tougaloo spanked Alcorn State 9-1 as Lige Mims threw a complete game and drove in two runs. The NAIA Bulldogs, who visit MUW on Saturday, are 12-11; D-I Alcorn, which might have been looking ahead to its series with JSU, is 6-14. In the juco ranks, unranked Hinds Community College went to Ellisville and handed third-ranked Jones County Junior College its first home defeats of the season. Staton Todd (homer, double) and Andrew Beasley fueled the 6-5 Game 1 win with their bats, and the Eagles (14-3, 3-1 MACJC) rode the arms of Caleb Morgan and Josh Banes to a 4-1 victory in Game 2. Jones slipped to 15-5 (10-2 at home) and 2-2 MACJC. Meanwhile, East Central, ranked 13th, moved to 4-0 in the league with a sweep of Southwest behind the hitting of Wyatt Ball, who cycled over the two games. Pearl River, at 2-0, is the only other team still unbeaten in league play.

20 Mar

down but not out

Miami has optioned Braxton Lee to the minors, which shouldn’t have come as a big surprise to the 24-year-old outfielder who hasn’t played above Double-A. At one stage in the off-season, when the Marlins were in the process of purging their 2017 roster, Ole Miss product Lee was the only center fielder on the depth chart. The club has since added Cameron Maybin and Lewis Brinson. Lee, a lefty hitter with outstanding speed, likely will start 2018 at Triple-A New Orleans. The Picayune native is coming off a breakthrough year in which he hit .309 to win the Southern League batting crown and raked at a .347 clip in the Arizona Fall League. Drafted in the 12th round in 2014 by Tampa Bay, Lee was traded last summer, moving from Montgomery to Jacksonville in the SL without missing a beat. He hit .219 with four steals in 20 MLB spring training games. Rated Miami’s No. 17 prospect by MLB Pipeline, he’ll be heard from again.

20 Mar

campus clips

The conversion from closer to starter has been a smooth one for Southern Miss’ Nick Sandlin, who was named national pitcher of the week by Collegiate Baseball on Monday. The junior right-hander had a 14-strikeout game against Texas-San Antonio over the weekend and is 3-0 with a 1.32 ERA in his five starts. He had 10 wins and eight saves out of the pen in 2017, earning several All-America honors. … Thomas Dillard has been a welcome power source for surging Ole Miss (19-2), having already set a season-high with five home runs. The sophomore from Oxford, batting .333 this year, hit .206 with four homers in 48 games in 2017. … Mississippi State’s weekend rotation of Konnor Pilkington (1.55 ERA), Ethan Small (3.04) and Jacob Billingsley (3.52) has been excellent but is just 4-5 combined for the 10-10 Bulldogs. State, last in the SEC in scoring with 89 runs, could find a rhythm tonight when Alcorn State, staff ERA 7.24, comes to Starkville. … Jackson State leads the SWAC in hitting with a .302 average, and Raul Hernandez is second in the individual stats at .403. … Dalton Minton, a transfer from Northwest Mississippi Community College, has emerged as an ace at Delta State. The left-hander is 4-0, 3.90 and has the 19-2 team’s lone complete game. … Mississippi College leads the Division II Gulf South Conference in batting at .334, led by East Central CC transfer Billy Cameron at .397. … Blue Mountain (18-6) is in first place at 5-1 in the Southern States Athletic Conference standings. NAIA nationally ranked William Carey (19-8) is tied for third at 4-2. BMC travels to Columbus today to take on MUW, 10-7 in its inaugural season. … Millsaps (17-6) tops the D-III Southern Athletic Association standings at 7-2. Transfer Jimmy Johnstone is hitting .449 for the Majors.

17 Mar

big league chew

Great quote from Buck Showalter, the former Mississippi State star now managing the Baltimore Orioles: “We’re lying in the weeds,” he told Mike Lupica of mlb.com. “I just don’t know how deep the weeds are.” Showalter might just find a way through – even in the same division as the great and powerful New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. In eight seasons with the O’s, he has a 622-569 record and only twice had a losing campaign.  … Bad luck with injuries has struck Anthony Alford again. The ex-Petal High standout, who had performed well in Toronto’s big league camp, has a hamstring strain that will sideline him for up to six weeks. Alford, a highly rated prospect, missed time last season and in 2016 with injuries. … Ole Miss alum Drew Pomeranz, who has been limited by a mild flexor strain in his left forearm, threw a bullpen session in Florida on Thursday but is still not expected to be ready by opening day for Boston. … UM product Mike Mayers reportedly has pitched his way into contention for a spot in the St. Louis bullpen. In nine innings this spring, he has a 0.00 ERA with 10 strikeouts and just five hits allowed. He also pitched well in winter ball. … Former Southern Miss star Cody Carroll called his first big league camp with the Yankees an “awesome” experience. In an interview with MLB Pipeline, Carroll said he has been working on a splitter to go with his fastball/slider repertoire. He reached Double-A in 2017 and was outstanding in the Arizona Fall League. … Just wondering: Whatever happened to Rafael Palmeiro’s comeback?

15 Mar

conference calls

Conference play starts this weekend for the state’s Big 3 Division I schools. Each is playing at home, and there should be an upbeat vibe for all three. Southern Miss is nationally ranked, sports a 12-4 record and just blasted Tulane 12-3 on Wednesday night in New Orleans. And there’s even more good news for Golden Eagles fans: Matt Wallner is heating up. The 2017 national freshman of the year homered against the Green Wave, just his second of the year but second in the last three games. Wallner, a .336 hitter with 19 bombs in 2017, is batting .298. USM opens Conference USA play against Texas-San Antonio in Hattiesburg. Ole Miss, which welcomes Tennessee to Oxford to launch SEC play, is on an even steeper roll. The Rebels, a top 10 team, bashed Georgia State 16-2 on Wednesday in Atlanta to move to 17-1. Who’s hot? Cole Zabowski, to pick just one. He went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs vs. the Panthers and is at .310 with three homers and 13 RBIs on the season. Mississippi State stumbled on Wednesday, losing to Southeastern Louisiana 11-5 in Biloxi. Jake Mangum continued to swing a hot bat, however, going 2-for-5. He is hitting .351 with 11 runs and seven steals. The Bulldogs take a 10-7 record into their SEC series against Vanderbilt in Starkville, but note they are 4-1 at renovated Dudy Noble Field, where the home-field edge is palpable. P.S. Jackson State, 5-1 in the SWAC, takes on Alabama State (4-2) this weekend in Montgomery in a key league series. JSU is 12-4 overall after a twinbill split at Morehead (Ky.) State. In a 4-0 win that was halted by snow on Tuesday and completed Wednesday, Jesus Santana hit his fourth homer of the year. Jarvis Warner has boosted his average to .364.

13 Mar

ins and outs

Lance Lynn is slated to make his spring debut today with Minnesota, pitching against Baltimore in a Grapefruit League game. The Ole Miss product formally signed a one-year deal with the Twins on Monday. He is among several free agents inked by a Minnesota club which has its sights on a playoff berth in 2018. “People want to win and be part of a good atmosphere,” said ex-Southern Miss star Brian Dozier, the Twins’ best player (and a pending free agent). Lynn went 11-8 with a 3.43 ERA in 33 starts for St. Louis in 2017. With ace Ervin Santana currently out with a finger injury, Lynn is penciled in as the Twins’ No. 2 starter behind 23-year-old Jose Berrios. … Mississippi State alum Brandon Woodruff, vying for a spot as a starting pitcher for Milwaukee, also goes out today against Texas in the Cactus League. In three appearances, Woodruff has yielded five earned runs over 3 2/3 innings. He may be ticketed to start the season in the minors. … Former Petal High standout Anthony Alford, not expected to make Toronto’s opening day roster, is batting .323 after a 1-for-4 on Monday. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, the ex-Jackson Mets catcher, raved recently on MLB Network about the progress Alford has made since he began playing baseball fulltime in the fall of 2014. “The sky’s the limit,” Gibbons said. Alford will get another shot with the Jays sometime this season. … Mississippi State alum Chris Stratton appears on track to earn a spot in San Francisco’s rotation. The Tupelo native allowed two hits and one run with three strikeouts in four innings on Monday, cutting his spring ERA to 2.25. … Ex-Bulldogs star Hunter Renfroe has hit three homers for San Diego this spring but is batting just .216 with nine strikeouts in 37 at-bats. The team’s regular right fielder much of 2017, he isn’t currently projected to start. … Ole Miss product Alex Presley, in Baltimore’s camp on a minor league deal, has hit well (.323) but is probably a longshot to make the 25-man roster. … Ex-State standout Jonathan Holder has had a good spring with the New York Yankees, posting a 1.42 ERA in five appearances, but is far down the pecking order in the team’s stacked bullpen. USM product Cody Carroll, in New York’s camp as a non-roster invitee, has also impressed: 3-0, 1.80 ERA in four games. … Tony Sipp, the veteran out of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, has a 7.71 ERA in five spring outings but likely will stick in Houston’s bullpen again, possibly as the lone left-hander. …Meanwhile, veteran big leaguers Seth Smith, Tyler Moore and Chris Coghlan remain unsigned.

12 Mar

monster show

There was no Baseball America jinx evident in Oxford over the weekend. Ole Miss’ three starting pitchers – touted as a “three-headed monster” in a BA feature that posted last Friday – fared just fine in the Rebels’ sweep of Eastern Illinois at Oxford-University Stadium. Ryan Rolison, Brady Feigl and James McArthur devoured the Panthers, allowing just five runs all told as UM improved to 15-1. Feigl, a junior right-hander, had the best outing, tossing seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts. He is 4-0 with a 1.03 ERA. Rolison, a draft-eligible sophomore lefty, went seven in the first game of the Friday twinbill, yielding two runs and fanning eight. Rated the top prospect in the June draft by Perfect Game, Rolison is 3-1, 2.28. McArthur, a 6-foot-7 junior right-hander, worked 5 1/3 on Sunday, allowing three solo homers but nothing else, and improved to 2-0 with a 1.74. “The thing that we lacked last year (in a disappointing 32-25 season) was we didn’t have the star power, we didn’t have the Friday night ace,” Rebels coach Mike Bianco said in the BA story. “They’re all a year better, a year more experienced.” The Rebels, now ranked No. 11 in BA’s latest poll, have a staff ERA of 2.27. Veteran closer Dallas Woolfolk (five saves) hasn’t allowed a run in 6 2/3 innings. After a two-game midweek trip to Georgia State, Ole Miss starts conference play next weekend against Tennessee. The three-headed monster will be summoned again.

10 Mar

beefing up

Minnesota just became a much more serious player in the American League Central with the reported signing of ex-Ole Miss standout Lance Lynn. The free agent right-hander reportedly has agreed to a 1-year deal in the $12 million range. Lynn is a warrior and a winner. In his time with St. Louis, he went 72-47 with a 3.38 ERA. He joins a Twins rotation that also includes Ervin Santana, Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi, who was jettisoned by Tampa Bay. Led primarily by the hitting of Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier, Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton, the surprising Twins won 85 games and earned a wild card berth in 2017, a year after winning just 59 games. Many projections had them contending for the postseason again this season, and that was before adding Lynn. He didn’t get the big money he was hoping for after making $7.5M last year, so it figures he’ll be motivated.

10 Mar

spring flings

The Detroit Tigers apparently like JaCoby Jones’ defense in the outfield. What the former Richton High star probably needs are more days like Friday with the bat to stick with the club out of spring training. Jones belted a three-run homer – his first in the Grapefruit League – against the New York Mets, going deep against big leaguer Hansel Robles. Jones is batting .412 (.706 slugging) with six RBIs in 17 spring at-bats. He was the Tigers’ opening day center fielder in 2017 but was hit in the face by a pitch early on and spent much of the rest of the season in the minors. The Tigers signed Leonys Martin to play center field in the off-season. Jones is now among the candidates to play left – or serve as a fourth outfielder. The ex-LSU standout, 25, has played in 69 MLB games over the last two years and batted .178 with three homers, 15 RBIs and six steals. Jones lists at 6 feet 2, 205 pounds and runs and throws well (he’s a former shortstop). But he’s gotta hit. P.S. Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland, whose at-bats may be limited in Boston this season now that J.D. Martinez is in the fold, took an 0-for-3 on Friday and is hitting .143 this spring. … Former Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton went 0-for-2 for Cincinnati and is 0-for-18 on the spring. That’s got to be concerning for the Reds. … Ole Miss alum Mike Mayers, trying to nail down a bullpen job with St. Louis, threw two perfect innings with four strikeouts. He hasn’t allowed a run in seven innings and has fanned nine. He pitched very well in winter ball, as well.

08 Mar

let’s get some runs

As much as baseball aficionados love to throw around statistics, there’s only one that really matters. Runs. Score more than the other guy and you’ll never lose. Delta State has done a pretty good job of that and has a 13-1 record to show for it. The Statesmen, currently ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division II, have scored 128 runs (9.1 per game, which is tough to beat) to their opponents’ 71. Zack Shannon, the highly decorated senior slugger, has impressive Triple Crown numbers: .431 average, eight homers, 23 RBIs. He also leads the team in runs with 20. He is one of seven DSU players with double-digit runs. They get on and they get in. DSU’s D-II rival Mississippi College also gets around the bases at a good clip: 124 runs in 15 games. The Choctaws are 13-2. They have eight double-figure scorers, led by Kyle Smith with 19. William Carey has scored enough (114 runs to its opponents’ 74) to post a 16-4 record. Ranked No. 8 in NAIA, the Crusaders are led by Christian Smith, who has 20 runs – plus a .354 average and 20 steals. Interesting note: Tyler Reid, a .220 hitter for WCU, has reached base safely 18 times (11 hits, six walks, one HBP) and has scored 17 runs. That’s efficiency. D-III Millsaps, averaging 7.2 runs per game in an 11-5 start, has three players with 16 runs: Chase Callaway, Andy Page and Connor Woodall. The Majors’ top hitter, Brennan Ducote (.431, four homers, 22 RBIs) has scored 14 times. Among the D-I schools, nationally ranked Ole Miss, off to a 12-1 start, has scored 93 times (a healthy 7.2 runs per game), led by Thomas Dillard with 13. The red-hot Grae Kessinger (.353) has tallied 12 runs. Scoring alone isn’t enough, of course. You’ve also got to hold down the other team. Southern Miss, also nationally ranked, has been a prolific scoring club, averaging 9.6 runs a game even after Wednesday’s 3-0 loss at Alabama. Newcomer Luke Reynolds, batting .426 with four homers and 18 RBIs, leads the team with 19 runs. But the Golden Eagles have lost four times (against eight wins) and in three of those losses, they’ve allowed nine or more runs, losing by scores of 10-9, 13-10 and 9-6.