Tag Archives: SEC

17 May

what’s going on …

In Hattiesburg today, William Carey University is in the championship phase of the NAIA Opening Round tourney, awaiting the winner of the Ave Maria-Houston-Victoria game. Carey already has beaten both of those teams and will advance to the NAIA World Series with another victory, either today or Thursday. … In Eunice, La., today, East Central Community College takes on LSU-Eunice in a winners bracket game and Pearl River meets Itawamba in a losers bracket game of the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament. ECCC, the MACCC champion, has wins over ICC and Meridian in the tournament. LSU-U, ranked No. 1 in the nation, has wins over Northeast and Pearl River. Meridian and Northeast have been eliminated. … In Hattiesburg this weekend, Southern Miss, chasing a Sun Belt Conference title, plays host to Louisiana-Lafayette in a three-game league series to end the regular season. The Golden Eagles will honor retiring coach Scott Berry on Friday. There will be a lot of emotion at Taylor Park. … Jackson State, trying to maintain momentum for the SWAC Tournament, heads to Daytona Beach, Fla., for a league series against Bethune-Cookman. The Tigers are just 12-15 in the SWAC but have won their last four series. … Taps have been played on Ole Miss’ postseason chances, but Mississippi State clings to hope as it hosts Texas A&M to wrap up the regular season. State is 8-19 in the SEC, trailing both Georgia and Missouri by 2 games in the standings. Those three are vying for the last two SEC tourney berths. MSU basically needs to sweep A&M and get some help from LSU (vs. Georgia) and Auburn (vs. Missouri). … The MHSAA playoffs are down to the final 24 with North and South championships to be decided this week. In Class 6A, Northwest Rankin and Gulfport will battle for the South crown and Germantown and Lewisburg for the North. The state championship series in all six classes will be held at Trustmark Park in Pearl from May 30-June 2.

07 May

shining moment

In what has been a largely forgettable season for defending national champion Ole Miss, Calvin Harris produced a memory for the ages on Saturday, belting a school-record four home runs in a 20-14 win at Missouri. The homers tied an SEC record and his 10 RBIs matched a school record set in 1947 by one Charlie Conerly, better known for his exploits in another sport. Harris is rated the No. 145 prospect by MLB Pipeline for this summer’s draft — he would be the eighth Rebels catcher drafted in the last 10 years — and Saturday’s show of power certainly didn’t hurt his stock. Harris, who bats from the left side, now has 12 homers on the season and is batting .342 and slugging .631. He hit just five homers in his first two seasons in Oxford.

20 Apr

where things stand

For what it’s worth in mid-April, Baseball America projects Southern Miss as an NCAA Tournament team and the No. 15 national seed, hosting a regional in Hattiesburg. Still a long way to go until the NCAA Baseball Selection Show on May 29, but the 25th-ranked Golden Eagles are trending in the right direction at 22-13 overall and 10-5 (tied for second) in the Sun Belt Conference. USM takes on first-place Coastal Carolina (11-4) in a three-game series this weekend at Myrtle Beach, S.C. USM swept James Madison last weekend, powered in part by SBC player of the week Slade Wilks, who homered twice, including a grand slam, and tied a school-record with eight RBIs in Sunday’s series finale. Wilks, out of Columbia Academy, is batting .333 with 14 homers and 39 RBIs. … In the mighty SEC, both Mississippi State and Ole Miss have a lot of work to do to impress the NCAA selection committee. State (22-15, 5-10) is tied for fifth with Auburn in the West Division and visits the Tigers this weekend. After last week’s gut-wrenching series loss at Starkville, Ole Miss (21-16, 3-12 and seventh in the West) gets to host No. 1 LSU this weekend. … It has been a tough year for Mississippi’s SWAC schools. Jackson State is 19-16 overall but just 4-11 in the league, fourth in the East and battling for a league tournament berth. Mississippi Valley State is 2-13 and 10-27, Alcorn State 2-12, 5-26. … It has also been a tough year for the state’s Division II schools. Delta State is 21-21 and 11-12 (ninth) in the Gulf South Conference. Mississippi College is 15-27 and 9-15 (11th). The top eight teams make the GSC Tournament. … In NAIA, William Carey University sits atop the Southern States Athletic Conference standings with a 14-4 record after sweeping Mobile last weekend. The nationally ranked Crusaders (32-9 overall) visit scuffling Blue Mountain Christian this weekend. The Toppers are 6-15 in the SSAC, 23-21 overall. … Rust College is tied for first in the NAIA Gulf Coast Athletic Conference with an 11-4 mark. Tougaloo is fifth in the six-team loop at 5-9. The league tournament is set for Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium April 27-30. … NCAA Division III Belhaven is second in the Collegiate Conference of the South standings at 10-4. The Blazers (18-15 overall) have one conference series remaining before the league tournament that starts May 3. … D-III Millsaps, on a six-game losing streak, is sixth in the Southern Athletic Association at 7-11 (16-21 overall) with one league series remaining. The postseason starts April 28 with four best-of-3 series, followed by a double-elimination tournament. The Majors reached the SAA championship series last year as the No. 6 seed under a different format. … MUW, a D-III independent, is 4-22. No record is available for Southeastern Baptist, an NCCAA school in Laurel.

17 Apr

a battle royale

A statue honoring the legendary Ron Polk was unveiled with much fanfare on Friday. Saturday’s game drew an NCAA record on-campus crowd of 16,423 at Dudy Noble Field. It seemed only fitting that Sunday would provide something special: a compelling rubber game in a drama-filled series in Starkville between Mississippi State and Ole Miss, college baseball’s last two national champions.
Behind a tiebreaking, seventh-inning home run by Hunter Hines — his third bomb of the series — and clutch relief work from Aaron Nixon, MSU won 5-3 Sunday to take the series and cap what really was a Super Bulldog Weekend.
“What an unbelievable job we do there at the end of the game. (Nixon), that was impressive,” said State coach Chris Lemonis. “Some big at-bats. Dakota (Jordan), huge swing (on a third-inning homer). Hunter Hines … to be able to have an approach on a guy like that (Ole Miss’ Jackson Kimbrell) and hit that ball out, man, that is huge.”
Never mind that the teams entered the weekend wallowing at the bottom of the SEC standings. The three games drew some 44,000 fans and produced one thrilling moment after another. MSU emerges at 22-15 overall and 5-10 in the SEC, perhaps building some momentum for the long stretch run ahead. Ole Miss is 20-16, 3-12 SEC, with LSU lurking next weekend. If there is some consolation for the Rebels, they were 18-17 and 6-9 at this point in 2022, and we know how that season ended.
Games 1 and 2 were one-run affairs not settled until the ninth inning. Ole Miss won Friday’s opener 3-2 behind the pitching of Jack Dougherty and Mitch Murrell and homers from Jacob Gonzalez and Kemp Alderman. Down 3-1, MSU got a two-out homer in the ninth from Hines before Murrell closed out the three-hitter.
The pitching woes that have plagued both clubs this year were evident in Game 2. The Bulldogs’ Nate Dohm blew a save in the top of the ninth, and Ole Miss freshman Sam Tookoian then blew a save in the bottom half. MSU won 8-7 on a two-run, walk-off single by the dynamic freshman Jordan, triggering a wild celebration on the field and in the stands. (Yes, even Dak Prescott was going nuts.) Colton Ledbetter hit two clutch homers for State in Saturday’s game, and Hines added another.
On Sunday, Jordan gave State a 3-0 lead with a home run in the third inning off Ole Miss starter J.T. Quinn. Freshman switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje, who started for the Bulldogs, took a shutout into the sixth. Ole Miss made it 3-1 in that inning on an RBI ground out by Andy Calarco, the last batter Cijntje faced.
“That was impressive to go out there and do that,” Lemonis said of Cijntje’s performance. “I’ll tip my hat. I know that’s a rival, but there are some good hitters in that (Ole Miss) lineup, and, man, you just controlled it. It was poise. It was command.”
The Rebels cut it to 3-2 in the seventh on a walk, a single and a wild pitch by reliever K.C. Hunt. On came Nixon, who yielded an RBI hit to Alderman. It was the only hit Nixon allowed. He escaped the seventh with a double-play ball and then retired the last six Rebels in succession. The junior from Texas, who also tossed a scoreless inning on Saturday, now has an 0.84 ERA over eight appearances.
Hines, a sophomore out of Madison Central who has 17 homers on the year, seized the spotlight in the bottom of the seventh, blasting a two-out, two-run shot to right field off left-hander Kimbrell. The roars at Dudy Noble were deafening, and there were more of the same when Nixon retired Rebels star Gonzalez on a line drive for the last out.

01 Apr

just stuff

South Carolina is the SEC leader in home runs, but Mississippi State beat the highly ranked Gamecocks at their own game on Friday night in Starkville. The Bulldogs won their first SEC game of the season, 13-3, behind an 18-hit barrage that included four homers, two by Slate Alford and one each by Hunter Hines and Dakota Jordan. MSU is 16-12, 1-7. South Carolina, which homered once Friday, is 25-3, 7-1. … Meanwhile, Ole Miss fell at Texas A&M and is still seeking its first conference W, and Southern Miss won at Troy to move to 4-3 in the Sun Belt. … Former USM ace Nick Sandlin, working 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief on Friday, notched a win in his first appearance of 2023 with Cleveland, which beat Seattle. .. After getting the win in relief on Thursday, ex-MSU standout Kendall Graveman got knocked out and took the L in the Chicago White Sox’s loss to Houston. Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn pitched into the sixth and stood to get the win until the ChiSox’s bullpen melted down. … Billy Hamilton, the ex-Taylorsville High star, is in Triple-A for the White Sox and went 0-for-3 in his season debut. Other Mississippi-connected ex-big leaguers sent to Triple-A include Mike Mayers, Demarcus Evans and Jonathan Holder. … Former Mississippi Braves Vaughn Grissom and Braden Shewmake played shortstop and second base, respectively, for Triple-A Gwinnett on Friday. Shewmake hit a walk-off, three-run homer in the ninth. Grissom had a hit, scored three times and made a fielding error. … Jones College (26-6, 11-1) continues to rule in the MACCC after bashing Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College 17-4 and 12-0 last Wednesday behind Beau Bryans’ eight RBIs. But hot on the Bobcats’ heels is East Central, which has won seven in a row and stands 9-1 in the conference. ECCC won two one-run games at Copiah-Lincoln on Wednesday. Leighton Jenkins drove in three runs in a 4-3 win, Manny Huffman went 4-for-4 with four RBIs in an 8-7 victory and David Burton saved both games.

27 Mar

taking stock

They are dazed and confused at Mississippi State and Ole Miss, both still winless in the SEC at 0-6. Defending national champion Ole Miss — clearly missing injured ace Hunter Elliott — allowed 28 runs in getting swept at home by Florida over the weekend. The Rebels’ staff ERA is now 5.68. Not to be outdone, State yielded 55 runs to visiting Vanderbilt, jacking the Bulldogs’ ERA to 6.70. All three SWAC schools also were swept in conference series over the weekend. Jackson State is now 1-5 in the league, Mississippi Valley State and Alcorn State both 0-6. Alcorn, 1-18 overall after a 2-39 2022 season, seems to have fallen and can’t get up. On the positive side, Southern Miss beat Georgia Southern two out of three at Taylor Park and moved to 3-3 in the Sun Belt. The Golden Eagles play Ole Miss on Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The hottest team in the state is NCAA Division III Belhaven, which has won 10 in a row and stands at 6-0 in the CCS. On Tuesday, the Blazers visit D-III rival Millsaps, coming off a sweep of SAA foe Sewanee and carrying a five-game win streak. In the NAIA ranks, William Carey scored 56 runs in a sweep of SSAC opponent Stillman. The Crusaders — led by Patrick Lee (.426, 11 homers, 47 RBIs) — are 23-6, 7-2 SSAC. Blue Mountain Christian won two of three from Faulkner and moved to 21-11, 6-6 SSAC. In D-II, Delta State and Mississippi College both came up clutch in the rubber game of their GSC series. Brendan McCauley’s two-run hit in the ninth inning propelled DSU (9-6 in the league) past Auburn-Montgomery, while Kolby McWilliams capped a rally by MC (6-9 GSC) at Lee with a seventh-inning RBI knock. NAIA Rust is 4-2 in the GCAC and 8-14 overall, while league rival Tougaloo is 4-21, 1-5. Tougaloo visits Jackson State on Wednesday. D-III MUW is 2-16. P.S. Jones College has won seven straight and moved to the top of the MACCC standings with a 9-1 league mark. The Bobcats, ranked 11th last week in the NJCAA Division II poll, are 24-6 overall. East Central Community College is second in the standings at 7-1, Pearl River third at 8-2.

25 Mar

gut punch

If getting swept at Kentucky last weekend was cause for concern at Mississippi State, what happened on Friday night at Dudy Noble Field might be cause for panic. Vanderbilt run-ruled the Bulldogs 26-3. State used six pitchers, and none were particularly effective. Vandy’s hitters had a blast. Enrique Bradfield started the game with a home run. Parker Noland hit two grand slams and tied an SEC record with 11 RBIs. R.J. Schreck hit two bombs and drove in eight runs. Meanwhile, Bulldogs batters managed just six hits and struck out eight times in the seven-inning affair. But the offense really isn’t a big problem. Pitching and defense are. State’s staff ERA is now 6.09, worst in the SEC. Statistically, the Bulldogs are also the worst fielding team in the league. “I got to figure out some different things to help these kids out,” said State coach Chris Lemonis, who led a very different bunch to a national title two years ago. Getting back on the right track against Vandy, a consensus top five team that swept Ole Miss last weekend, might be a tall order. The next two days in Starkville will be interesting, to say the least.

24 Mar

whatever happened to …

Bryson Ware, the ex-Germantown High and Pearl River Community College slugger, is now mashing for Auburn. Batting third and playing third base on Thursday night, Ware went 2-for-6 with a home run, a double, two runs and three RBIs as the Tigers beat visiting Georgia 7-6 in 11 innings for their first SEC win. Ware’s two-run double in the ninth made it a 6-5 game, and the 6-foot-2, 211-pound senior then scored the tying run. Ware, who set a single-season homer record at Germantown, is batting .415 with 10 homers and 26 RBIs this season. His 10 homers are tied for fourth-best in the league — Mississippi State’s Hunter Hines also has 10 — and his .902 slugging percentage ranks third. P.S. Jared Shuster, a Southern League All-Star with the Mississippi Braves in 2022 and Atlanta’s No. 1 prospect, threw six impressive innings against the New York Mets on Thursday and may now be the front-runner for the fifth starter job. The left-hander has a 1.45 ERA in five spring games. With former M-Braves star Michael Soroka having been optioned to Triple-A, Shuster’s main competition for the starting job is fellow 2022 M-Braves alum Dylan Dodd, the Braves’ No. 10 prospect. … Atlanta’s minor league system is ranked No. 30 — last — in MLB Pipeline’s latest evaluation of prospect talent. The Braves have no players in the Top 100, though it’s hard to figure how Shuster didn’t make that list. He went 7-8 with a 2.78 ERA in Double-A last year and made the All-Star Futures Game. … Milwaukee’s system ranks 15th, led by a quartet of former Biloxi Shuckers outfielders: Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Joey Wiemer and Garrett Mitchell, who is the likely opening day center fielder for the Brewers. … Nine M-Braves alums played for Atlanta in Thursday’s 2-2 tie vs. the Mets. One Shuckers product played: big league vet Orlando Arcia, who beat out Vaughn Grissom and Braden Shewmake for the starting shortstop job. Wonder how long that will last? … The M-Braves and New South Radio announced that all 138 M-Braves broadcasts will air on WIIN 780 AM and 102.1 FM The Box this season. Chris Harris and Jack Sadighian are back as the broadcasters.

20 Mar

lost weekend

Well, that was awful. Mississippi’s six NCAA Division I teams went 2-16 over the weekend. Two and sixteen. Kudos to Southern Miss and Jackson State for winning a game each and preventing a complete wipeout. Ole Miss may have suffered the hardest fall. The Rebels were beaten by a collective 27-4 at Vanderbilt. They managed just 13 hits the entire weekend. Remarkably, Ole Miss (14-6) fell only nine spots in the new Baseball America poll, from No. 6 to 15. And there’s no rest for the weary in the SEC: Florida, ranked No. 2, comes to Oxford next weekend. Mississippi State (13-8) went 0-3 at Kentucky; Southern Miss (12-7) went 1-2 at Texas State in its Sun Belt debut; and Jackson State (13-5), which had been playing really well, went 1-2 at home against Alabama A&M to start SWAC play. Meanwhile, the struggles continued for Mississippi Valley State (6-13), swept by Florida A&M, and Alcorn State (1-14), swept by Prairie View A&M. Note: Props to William Carey University (20-6), which went on the road and took three straight SSAC games from Brewton-Parker, and Delta State (12-13), which won two of three GSC games at home against Union.

16 May

developing situations

Suddenly, Ole Miss looks like a juggernaut. Again. Buried at the bottom of the SEC standings a couple weeks ago, the Rebels have won seven in a row, including their first (as in ever) sweep at nationally ranked LSU over the weekend. Three home runs and clutch pitching by closer Brandon Johnson carried UM (31-19, 13-14 SEC) to an 8-5 win Sunday. Ole Miss was a consensus top 10 team at the season’s outset.
It was bombs away in Hattiesburg as Southern Miss, in dire need of a big win, blasted six homers — three by Christopher Sargent — and got clutch pitching from closer Landon Harper in a 9-5 victory against Texas-San Antonio that clinched the weekend series. The Golden Eagles (38-14, ranked No. 18 by Baseball America) are 2 games up in first place in C-USA with a 20-7 record. An NCAA regional host role may still be in play.
The stunning freefall by Mississippi State continues, as the Bulldogs’ losing streak stretched to nine after a sweep at the hands of nationally ranked Texas A&M. MSU pitching yielded 8, 9 and 8 runs in the three losses. The defending national champion Bulldogs, at 9-18 in the SEC, are in real danger of missing the conference tournament.
Jackson State, seeking to right a listing ship, swept Florida A&M at Braddy Field over the weekend, winning the finale 13-2 as Jaelen Williams went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. The Tigers climbed back over .500 at 26-25 and are 13-14 in the SWAC with a road series at fading Mississippi Valley State (on a 12-game losing streak) remaining before the league tournament.
William Carey’s “reward” for winning the SSAC Tournament is a trip to Lawrenceville, Ga., to meet defending national champion Georgia Gwinnett today in an NAIA Opening Round game. Gwinnett is 42-14, Carey 37-15. Hope International (Calif.) is the top seed in this four-team regional. The winner of the double-elimination tourney goes to the NAIA World Series, which WCU won way back in 1969.
Delta State is off to Saint Leo, Fla., for an NCAA Division II South Regional matchup on Thursday against Rollins College. DSU, making its 35th regional appearance, is 32-15. The winner of this four-team bracket moves into a Super Regional series to play for a berth in the World Series. The Statesmen won the D-II national title in 2004.
The NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament starts today in Poplarville with MACCC champ Pearl River Community College playing Northwest, East Mississippi taking on Jones and Hinds tangling with LSU-Eunice. PRCC (36-10) is ranked No. 1 in the nation. LSU-E, the defending national champion, is No. 4. The winner of the double-elimination event gets a trip to the juco World Series.