Tag Archives: Southern Miss

01 Apr

on the docket

This promises to be a terrific Tuesday. Among the numerous compelling matchups is Game 2 of the Maloney Trophy Series, with Millsaps College visiting Belhaven University at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The Majors won the first game and can clinch the trophy with a victory. Both of these NCAA Division III teams are good: Millsaps is 19-7, Belhaven 17-9. The Blazers are 13-3 at Trustmark. … In Oxford, Ole Miss, 21-6 and ranked 10th by Baseball America, hosts Jackson State, which is 16-10 but likely doesn’t have the pitching depth (5.65 ERA) to subdue the Rebels’ bats. The Tigers lost to Mississippi State 16-3 two weeks ago. … Southern Miss (20-8, ranked 24th by BA) plays host to old rival Tulane in Hattiesburg. Going back to 2005, the Golden Eagles lead the series 26-23. USM is coming off a gritty Sun Belt series win over South Alabama, while the Green Wave (17-11) was just swept by AAC rival South Florida. … Mississippi State, reeling from a sweep at LSU, visits Memphis, reeling from an eight-game losing streak. The Bulldogs are 16-12. Memphis — coached by Mississippi native Matt Riser and listing numerous state prep products on its roster — is 11-16, including a loss to Ole Miss. … In the junior colleges: No. 2-ranked Pearl River Community College (29-5, 9-1 MACCC) might be tested in a trip to Meridian CC, which has been ranked this season and sits at 21-13, 8-4. Of note: PRCC will play an exhibition game Wednesday against the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers at Keesler Federal Park in Biloxi. East Central CC (27-7, 9-3), ranked fourth in NJCAA Division II, visits Hinds on Tuesday, and No. 8 Jones College (23-8, 9-3) hosts Copiah Lincoln. … In the big leagues, former Jackson Prep star Will Warren will make his 2025 debut for the New York Yankees, starting against Arizona at Yankee Stadium. At West Sacramento, new home of the A’s, George County High product Justin Steele (1-1, 8.00 ERA) will pitch for the Chicago Cubs against the A’s and ex-MSU slugger Brent Rooker. P.S. Jake Mangum (see previous posts) delivered a 4-for-4 performance — three singles and a double — in his second big league game, driving in two runs, scoring one and stealing two bases in Tampa Bay’s 6-1 win Monday night against Colorado. Ex-Mississippi State star Mangum even had two hits from both sides of the plate. “I can’t wrap my head around it still,” the 29-year-old rookie, already a fan favorite in Tampa, said in an mlb.com story. … Ex-Ocean Springs High standout Garrett Crochet has received a 6-year, $170 million extension from Boston. The 25-year-old lefty, acquired from the White Sox in an off-season trade, has a 3.29 ERA in 105 MLB games, 33 as a starter the last two years. He was an All-Star in 2024.

29 Mar

ring ’em up

For those aficionados of the game who consider a punchout by a pitcher as cool as a home run, Southern Miss’ J.B. Middleton produced a toast-worthy performance Friday. The junior right-hander struck out 12 batters over eight shutout innings in an 8-2 win against South Alabama at Taylor Park in Hattiesburg. It was the most strikeouts in a game for USM since the much-decorated Tanner Hall punched out 12 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette in 2023. Middleton, out of tiny Benton Academy, allowed just one hit and one walk against the Jaguars. He is 5-1 with a 2.20 ERA for the nationally ranked Golden Eagles (19-7, 6-1 Sun Belt). Middleton had a 4.34 ERA working mostly as a reliever in 2024. … Jackson State pitchers also enjoyed some K-rations, striking out 28 Grambling State batters in a doubleheader split at Braddy Field. Eric Elliott fanned 13 in six innings and Erick Gonzalez K’d four more in 1 2/3 in relief in the Tigers’ 6-3 win in Game 2. Elliott, who walked seven, is 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings for JSU (15-10, 3-5 SWAC). JSU’s staff ERA is 5.72. … At Trustmark Park in Pearl, Belhaven got a dominant effort from Colton Sylvester in a 4-0 win that completed a twinbill sweep over Covenant College (Ga.). Sylvester punched out eight in six innings as he improved to 4-1, 2.79, for BU (16-9, 5-3 CCS). … Delta State relied on the home run to batter visiting Alabama-Huntsville twice at Ferriss Field in Cleveland, blasting seven long balls all told in winning 10-8 and 12-7. Dylan Coleman, from Madison via Hinds Community College, hit three out in Game 1, including a walk-off shot in the ninth. Coleman leads the NCAA Division II nationally ranked Statesmen (24-8, 17-3 Gulf South) with nine homers. Drew Capobianco, from Guntown via Itawamba CC, hit a three-run bomb in an eight-run sixth inning that decided Game 2.

28 Mar

cue the highlights

With one triple to his name over his first four big league seasons, Nick Fortes delivered a second three-bagger Thursday that helped Miami make a little history. The former Ole Miss catcher led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a triple off the center-field wall, and moments later Kyle Stowers knocked in pinch runner Javier Sanoja to give the Marlins their first opening day walk-off win, 5-4 over Pittsburgh. Fortes, whose defense is his real forte, sorta picked up where he left off in 2024, when he batted .290 after the All-Star break. His big hit was one of several highlights for Mississippians in the majors on opening day: Austin Riley, the ex-DeSoto Central High star, hit the first 2025 home run by a Magnolia State product, going yard for Atlanta in its 7-4 loss at San Diego. … Mississippi State alum Jordan Westburg smacked one of the six homers Baltimore hit in a 12-2 rout of Toronto. … After all those fireworks had settled, former Southern Miss star Nick Sandlin pitched a clean ninth inning in his Blue Jays debut. … Garrett Crochet, Ocean Springs High product, threw five innings (two runs, four strikeouts) in his Boston debut and got a no-decision in a game the Red Sox won late, 5-2, at Texas. … Ex-George County High standout Justin Steele allowed three runs in five innings, good enough to get the win for the Chicago Cubs in a 10-6 victory at Arizona. … Biloxi High alum Colt Keith had a chance to be a hero for Detroit but, with two on and two out in the ninth, fouled out against Blake Treinen, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 win in their home opener. Keith went 0-for-5. … A couple of lowlights: Brent Rooker, the former State slugger, went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts for the A’s in a 4-2 loss at Seattle, and East Central Community College product Tim Anderson went 0-for-4 with three punchouts in his Angels debut, an 8-1 loss to the White Sox, his original team.

27 Mar

appetizers

Fun facts about MLB’s Opening Day:
Garrett Crochet will make his second straight opening day start when he takes the bump for Boston against Texas. The Ocean Springs native started Game 1 for the Chicago White Sox last year and — perhaps foreshadowing the team’s dismal season — took a loss despite allowing just a lone run in six innings against Detroit, which won 1-0 behind Tarik Skubal. Incidentally, ex-Biloxi High star Colt Keith made his big league debut in that game and got his first hit off Crochet.
The record for consecutive opening day starts by a Mississippi native belongs to Roy Oswalt, the Weir High and Holmes Community College alum who made eight starts for Houston between 2003-10. The right-hander, who won 163 games in his stellar career, was in his third big league season when he got the Day 1 call for the Astros in 2003, and he beat Colorado, yielding one earned run in seven innings.
The record for highest on-base percentage all-time on opening day (at least 10 starts) is .500, according to mlb.com research. Ellisville native and Mississippi State alum Buddy Myer shares that mark with two others. Myer, a leadoff batter most of his career, played from 1925-41 and had a career .389 OBP, in the top 100 all-time.
The record for home runs on an opening day is three, and Vicksburg native Dmitri Young is among the four players to accomplish that feat. “Da Meat Hook” did it 20 years ago for Detroit; he went 4-for-4 and drove in five runs in an 11-2 victory against Kansas City. Young belted 171 career homers and hit two in a game six times.
The only opening day cycle in major league history belongs to Gee Walker, a Gulfport native and ex-Ole Miss star who pulled it off on April 20, 1937, for Detroit against Cleveland. He went 4-for-4 and scored twice in that game, a 4-3 win; he batted .294 in a 15-year career.
Two former Mississippi Braves standouts — Jordan Schafer and Jason Heyward — homered on opening day in their first career at-bat, both for Atlanta, Schafer in 2009 and Heyward in 2010. Schafer would hit only 11 more homers in a brief career. Heyward, still playing, has 184 bombs.
P.S. The Los Angeles Angels optioned Chuckie Robinson, ex-Southern Miss star, to Triple-A on Wednesday. Now in his third organization, the 30-year-old catcher, a good defensive player, has a career .132 average in 51 MLB games.

24 Mar

a short fall

Pearl River Community College lost its grip on the No. 1 ranking in the NJCAA Division II poll after going 3-1 last week. Now ranked No. 2, PRCC (25-5, 5-1 MACCC) split a twinbill against then-No. 4 East Central CC and blasted then-No. 24 Holmes two times. The Wildcats have 11 wins against ranked teams, per the school website. Caston Thompson, a Brookhaven Academy product, leads PRCC hitters at .390 with six homers, 24 RBIs and 30 runs. Jacob Johnson, out of Pearl River Central High, threw five shutout innings at Holmes and is 6-1 with a 1.26 ERA. … ECCC (23-7, 5-3), ranked No. 1 two weeks ago, remained fourth in the national poll after a 2-2 week. Jones (19-8, 5-3) is 10th after losing two heartbreakers to Northeast on Saturday. Northeast (19-13, 6-2), freshly ranked No. 23, won 7-6 on a walk-off HBP and 2-1 on a walk-off knock by Kody Gilmore. Northeast’s stars included Layth Holliday, who drove in four runs in Game 1, and Dean McCallum, who tossed a five-hitter in Game 2. Also at 6-2 in the league is unranked Meridian (19-11), which got one of the best performances of the season by Brennon Wright, a Starkville High alum who hit for the cycle and stole two bases in a 29-9 victory Saturday against Delta. MCC ran out of ammo in Game 2 and lost 6-3. The big game upcoming is Jones hosting Meridian on Wednesday. P.S. After a show of power that swept away Missouri over the weekend, Ole Miss moved up to No. 15 (from 19) in Baseball America’s new poll. Isaac Humphrey, a Louisville transfer, belted four homers and drove in 13 runs in that series for the Rebels, now 18-5, 4-2 SEC. They’ll face No. 19 Florida in Oxford next weekend. The top five teams — and 11 of the top 19 — in the BA poll are SEC schools. No. 5 LSU hosts scuffling Mississippi State (15-9, 1-5) next weekend. Southern Miss, which beat Ole Miss last week in Pearl and swept Louisiana-Monroe on the road over the weekend, is No. 23 in the BA poll. The Golden Eagles are 18-6, 5-1 Sun Belt. … It’s been a rough start to the SWAC season for the Mississippi schools. Alcorn State is 0-6, Mississippi Valley State 0-5 and Jackson State 2-4. Senior Erick Gonzalez, one of JSU’s best arms, got shelled on Sunday, surrendering 10 runs in three innings in a rubber-game loss to Bethune-Cookman at Braddy Field. Valley (4-9 overall), for whatever reason, has had 13 games cancelled this season. … The top five in the new MaxPreps Mississippi poll has Magnolia Heights and Lewisburg at 1-2 again, followed by Madison Central, Hartfield Academy and Ocean Springs. Purvis, Jackson Academy and Southeast Lauderdale slipped to the second five.

22 Mar

sitting on ready

No one would appear more ready for the MLB season (stateside version) to begin than Garrett Crochet. The former Ocean Springs High standout, now with the Boston Red Sox, threw 5 1/3 shutout innings Friday in a Grapefruit League game against Pittsburgh and pronounced himself “pumped” for his opening day start. The Red Sox launch the 2025 campaign at Texas on Thursday. Crochet, a 2024 All-Star acquired in an off-season trade, has a 0.57 ERA over 15 1/3 innings this spring. Commanding a 97-mph four-seamer, a sinker and a cutter, he has struck out 30, roughly half the batters the 6-foot-6 left-hander has faced. Crochet was 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA for the lowly Chicago White Sox last season, when he threw just 146 innings. The Red Sox will want their new ace to shoulder more of a load in his second season as a starter. … Who else is ready? Jackson Prep product Will Warren, likely to be in the New York Yankees’ rotation, has posted a 1.09 WHIP and a .219 average against this spring over 19 1/3 innings. His big league debut was a little rocky last year, but he appears primed for much better things in 2025. … Former Southern Miss star Matt Wallner has belted six home runs for Minnesota, tied for the spring training lead entering today’s play. The lefty-hitting outfielder is batting .231 with 14 RBIs. He has been pegged by mlb.com as an X-factor in the Twins’ bid to make the playoffs this season. … Colt Keith, the ex-Biloxi High standout who shined (.260, 13 homers) as a rookie with Detroit in 2024, has hit the ground running this spring, ranking among the top hitters with a .320 average in 50 at-bats. Having moved from second base to first, the 6-foot-2, 211-pound Keith has four doubles and five RBIs.

20 Mar

roster reality bites

The wait will continue for Jake Mangum, the ex-Mississippi State star who was optioned to Triple-A by the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. Mangum, 29, in pro ball since 2019 but yet to make his MLB debut, batted .429 with two homers and nine RBIs this spring. “The disappointment of not making the club is real, and it should be real for them because of the type of camp they had,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told mlb.com, referring to Mangum and fellow outfielder Kameron Misner. Tampa Bay is the third organization Mangum has played for, and this is his first spring on a 40-man roster. “Just going to keep going. I think one day it will happen,” Mangum told Rays Beat last week. Flowood native Mangum, who left MSU as the all-time hits leader in the SEC, is a .296 career hitter in the minors. … Also sent down by the Rays on a day when the MLB transactions page was humming was Ole Miss alum Jacob Waguespack, 31, who has a 5.11 ERA in 31 big league appearances spread over three seasons (2019, ’20 and ’24). All told, nine Mississippi products on 40-man rosters have been optioned out so far. … On the minor league level, ex-Southern Miss pitchers Hunter Stanley (Cleveland), Walker Powell (Chicago Cubs) and Billy Oldham (Minnesota) landed on the injured list to start 2025, as did Ole Miss products Jack Dougherty (Minnesota) and Cole Tolbert (Boston). Tolbert apparently will miss the entire season. P.S. Tim Anderson, the former MLB All-Star out of East Central Community College, apparently will make the Los Angeles Angels’ 26-man club as a non-roster spring invitee. Anderson, working at second base, shortstop and center field this spring, is batting .267 in the Cactus League. A .278 career hitter, he was released by Miami last summer with a .214 average. … Tampa Bay recently signed MSU alum Hunter Stovall as a minor leaguer. He batted .277 over six seasons in the Colorado system before becoming a free agent last fall.

19 Mar

the early show

Gotta get up early — 5 a.m. local time Wednesday — to watch Justin Steele try to shut down the world champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Former George County High standout Steele is starting for the Chicago Cubs in Game 2 of the Tokyo Series. A 2023 All-Star, Steele is 29-21 with a 3.24 ERA in his career with the Cubs. He is 2-1 all-time against the Dodgers, beating them in ’23 as a starter and in ’21 as a reliever. Max Muncy and Chris Taylor have homers off Steele, who doesn’t surrender many. Tommy Edman is 4-for-10 career against Steele, and Will Smith is 1-for-3. Left-hander Steele has never faced Shohei Ohtani, the reigning National League MVP who went 2-for-5 with two runs in the Dodgers’ 4-1 win in the season opener at the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday. The Dodgers’ starter will be Roki Sasaki, the Japanese import who will be making his MLB debut. P.S. On a breezy Tuesday night in Pearl, Southern Miss did a lot of good things in a 6-2 win over Ole Miss at Trustmark Park. You want defense? In the first inning, left fielder Davis Gillespie went to the fence — and maybe over it — to make a catch on a high drive by Ole Miss slugger Ryan Moerman. USM second baseman Nick Monistere made a slick snatch while lying on his back to record an out at the bag and save shortstop Ozzie Pratt from a costly error. Golden Eagles third baseman Drey Barrett made two sweet plays, including starting a 5-3 double play that ended the game with the bases full of Rebels. You want pitching? Matt Adams worked a strong 4 2/3 to get it started for USM. Josh Och got eight outs in the middle innings, allowing just two walks and punching out three. Closer Colby Allen escaped a tight spot with a punchout to end the eighth and then worked in and out of a jam to end the game for his fifth save. The bats made some noise, too. After Jake Cook drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first, Pratt ripped a double for a 1-0 lead. With two outs in the first, a Monistere single made it 2-0. In the fifth, Gillespie blasted a go-ahead three-run homer to left in a park that doesn’t yield a lot of bombs. Carson Paetow capped the four-run fifth with a two-out RBI double. That was all the Eagles needed to take it home. With a crowd of 3,498 looking on, USM improved to 15-6, avenging a loss last month at Oxford. Ole Miss slipped to 15-5.

17 Mar

poll watching

“What helps me as a baseball player is, before the game, knowing that I can affect the game in multiple ways — defensive side of the ball, stealing a bag, scoring runs, getting on base, not just focusing on hitting. I think whenever I go out there aggressively to be able to affect a game in so many different ways, I always like to say, ‘Count the positives.’ If I have more positives than negatives that day, I had a good day.” Those words were spoken by Corey Dickerson after a walk-off hit in a big league game some time back. One can imagine the former MLB outfielder from McComb delivering that same kind of message to his Jackson Academy players, who are off to an 11-2 start in Dickerson’s debut as head coach. The Raiders, who went 4-0 in last week’s Battle at the Beach, have bolted to No. 3 in MaxPreps Mississippi Top 25. Dickerson was a .280 career hitter in the majors, with over 1,000 hits, posted a .323 on-base percentage and won a Gold Glove. The Raiders are hitting .331 as a team with 61 stolen bases and a .963 fielding percentage. Foster Meacham is batting .475, one of three Raiders hitting .400 or better. … Magnolia Heights is No. 1 in the MaxPreps poll, followed by No. 2 Lewisburg, JA, Southeast Lauderdale at No. 4 and Purvis at 5. … Ole Miss (15-4) dropped from 13th to 19th in Baseball America’s new poll and is the only state school ranked. UM is No. 18 and Southern Miss (14-6) No. 19 in both the ESPN and d1baseball.com polls. The two meet Tuesday night (6 p.m.) at Trustmark in Pearl in what ought to be a spirited affair. The Rebels beat the Golden Eagles 15-8 in Oxford last month. … Pearl River Community College moved up a spot to No. 1 in the new NJCAA Division II poll. PRCC (22-4) swept Northwest 16-1 and 13-1 on Sunday, hitting seven homers and allowing just seven hits. Ethan Garner hit two bombs for the Wildcats. East Central dropped from No. 1 to fourth, Jones is sixth, Gulf Coast 21 and Holmes 24. … Millsaps College took two of three from NCAA Division III nationally ranked Center, beating the Colonels 10-4 on Sunday to improve to 13-5, 2-1 SAA. The Majors might crack the d3baseball.com poll this week. … Delta State, ranked 12th in the NCBWA D-II poll last week, is poised to move up at 19-6 and 12-3 Gulf South. Mississippi College, 17-9, 10-5 GSC, with 10 wins in its last 11 games, might crack the D-II Top 25 this week.

16 Mar

good vibes

Atlanta Braves fans breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday when Austin Riley returned to the lineup following a worrisome HBP the day before. “We dodged a bullet,” the former DeSoto Central High star told reporters after an impressive display in batting practice. Riley was hit in the right hand and left Friday’s game, but he returned Saturday to play third base and hang out a 1-for-3 in a 4-0 loss against Minnesota. Riley missed several weeks at the end of last season with a broken right hand. He is hitting .310 with a homer this spring. A two-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner, he enters 2025 with a .272 career average and 153 bombs. … In that same Saturday game, former Southern Miss standout Matt Wallner went 1-for-3 with his 13th RBI of the spring for Minnesota. Wallner, batting leadoff (see previous post), is tied for second in MLB spring training stats in both RBIs and homers (five). He hit two on Friday. He’ll enter the new season with 29 career bombs in 169 games. … Elsewhere, Tanner Hall, the 2022 Ferriss Trophy winner from USM, started and threw two scoreless innings for the Twins’ Spring Breakout team. Hall, a fourth-round draft pick in 2023, went 4-3 with a 5.40 ERA in A-ball in his pro debut last season. He was 22-8 with a 2.92 in three years in Hattiesburg. Hall is not listed among the Twins’ Top 30 prospects. … Ole Miss alum Doug Nikhazy, Cleveland’s 22nd-ranked prospect, was optioned to Triple-A. He had a (misleading) 7.27 ERA in four spring appearances and impressed Guardians staff, who reportedly want him to build up innings in the minors.