Tag Archives: Southern League All-Star Game

08 Jun

rise and shine

The stars came out – a couple of them, at least – in the Mississippi Braves’ 5-4, 12-inning win against Biloxi on Wednesday night at Trustmark Park. Two of the M-Braves’ seven Southern League All-Star selections – announced on Wednesday — played key roles in the victory, which moved the team to 30-29. The M-Braves are 3 games back of first-place Pensacola in the SL South with 11 games left in the first half. The amazing Ronald Acuna went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and fellow All-Star Joey Meneses put up a 2-for-4, including a single to open the 12th and start the winning rally. Acuna, 19, is batting .367 with four homers, 20 RBIs and 14 steals in 28 Double-A games. Of the other star picks, Travis Demeritte – the team’s home run leader — had an off-night (0-for-6), and Luis Valenzuela, who’s been sidelined for several days, walked as a pinch hitter. Catcher Kade Scivicque, the Southwest Mississippi Community College product, got a night off, and 19-year-old aces Kolby Allard and Mike Soroka had already worked in the series. After tonight’s game against the Shuckers, the M-Braves travel to Pensacola for five. … Atlanta had 19 players picked for minor league All-Star Games, including DeSoto Central High product Austin Riley in the Florida State League. The third baseman is batting .248 with eight homers and 35 RBIs for the Florida Fire Frogs.

20 Jun

seeing stars

The stars will come out to play on Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl, sometime around 7:30 p.m. The 2016 Southern League All-Star Game will feature a bunch of “local talent,” with Mississippi Braves Dansby Swanson and Dustin Peterson and Biloxi Shuckers Brett Phillips, Garrett Cooper and Jacob Nottingham expected to be in the starting lineup for the South stars, managed by Luis Salazar. Biloxi’s Josh Hader, who leads the league with a 0.95 ERA, and hard-throwing Atlanta prospect Mauricio Cabrera are on the South pitching staff. League home run leader Daniel Palka (Chattanooga), stolen base leader Yefri Perez (Jacksonville) and pitching strikeout leader Jacob Faria (Montgomery) are also on the rosters, along with highly rated MLB prospects such as Amir Garrett (Pensacola), Willy Adames (Montgomery) and Jake Peter (Birmingham). This is the second SL All-Star Game to be held at the TeePee. The other was in 2007, when eight M-Braves played for the South Division team managed by Phillip Wellman. J.C. Holt and Carl Loadenthal had three hits apiece, but the South stars lost the game before an announced 4,555. Jackson hosted two Texas League All-Star Games at Smith-Wills Stadium, in 1984 and 1992. Both were decided by walk-off home runs by East Division stars, the first by the Jackson Mets’ Billy Beane, the second by Greenville native Adell Davenport, who was playing for Shreveport.

18 Jun

whatever happened to …

Diory Hernandez, who helped the Mississippi Braves make the postseason for the first time in 2007, is currently wearing out the Mexican League. The 32-year-old from the Dominican Republic is batting .336 with 16 homers and 70 RBIs for Aguascalientes. The home run and RBI totals lead the Triple-A caliber league. Hernandez, primarily a shortstop in his career, batted .307 with seven homers and 59 RBIs for the ’07 M-Braves and was among six from the team to start the Southern League All-Star Game played in Pearl that summer. He started the next year in Mississippi before getting a promotion after 22 games. Hernandez played in 75 major league games for Atlanta, batting .157. … William Beckwith, the Crawford native and former Atlanta prospect, is playing in the independent Frontier League. The lefty-hitting first baseman, who didn’t play in 2015, is batting .244 with a homer and eight RBIs for the Lake Erie Crushers. Beckwith hit 15 homers at Class A Rome in 2012 and played in the 2013 exhibition game at Trustmark Park that matched the Atlanta Braves against a team of Braves minor league stars. P.S. Congratulations to former Delta State player and assistant coach Greg Goff for getting the Alabama job; Goff took Louisiana Tech to the NCAA’s Starkville Regional this season. … Mark it down: On June 17, Tim Anderson got his first major league steal for the Chicago White Sox. The East Central Community College product stole 94 bags in 332 games in the minors.

23 Jun

star power

Mississippi’s minor league clubs will be on prominent display in tonight’s Southern League All-Star Game at Montgomery, Ala. The Mississippi Braves’ Mallex Smith and the Biloxi Shuckers’ Orlando Arcia, Nick Ramirez and Michael Reed are in the projected starting lineup for the South stars, and there are several pitchers from the two teams on the roster, including highly rated prospects Tyrell Jenkins of the M-Braves and Tyler Wagner of the Shuckers. In addition, Ramirez will participate in the pre-game Home Run Derby. Smith, a center fielder and leadoff batter, has emerged as one of the most exciting players in the Double-A loop. He is second in the league in hitting at .340 and in steals with 23. Penciled in at Nos. 3-5 in the lineup, Arcia is hitting .307, Ramirez .289 (with nine homers) and Reed .300 for first-half champion Biloxi. Former East Central Community College star Tim Anderson is slated to play shortstop and bat second for the North. He is hitting .313 with 23 steals for Birmingham. Game time is 7:20 (MiLB.TV). The 2016 SL All-Star Game will be at Trustmark Park in Pearl; the M-Braves previously hosted the game in 2007. P.S. Scott Copeland, the ex-Southern Miss ace, made his first MLB start for Toronto on June 10, allowing one run in seven innings. His next start came June 16, when he yielded three runs in four innings. Then came Sunday: seven runs in 1 1/3 innings. Currently back at Triple-A Buffalo, Copeland has been up and down so many times he could be excused for suffering dizzy spells.