Tag Archives: Southern Miss

30 Mar

worth noting

The Gwinnett Stripers, Atlanta’s Triple-A club, opened their season Friday and Southern Miss alum Hurston Waldrep was not on the roster. That has fueled speculation that the Braves’ No. 2 prospect will start the season with the Double-A Mississippi Braves, who open next week. Waldrep posted a 1.53 ERA (and 41 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings) over four levels of the minors in 2023, after being drafted in the first round out of Florida. He allowed no runs in 4 1/3 innings in the Grapefruit League for Atlanta this spring. … Ex-Mississippi State standout Jake Mangum homered in his first Triple-A game on Friday for Durham (Tampa Bay system) and threw out a base runner from center field. … USM product Chuckie Robinson, starting at catcher, got a hit and threw out a runner attempting to steal in his debut with the Chicago White Sox’s Triple-A Charlotte club. … Perhaps disappointed not to make the New York Yankees’ 26-man roster, ex-Jackson Prep star Will Warren allowed three hits, three walks and five runs while getting just one out in his start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. … Former Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz has signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers after being released by the Angels. … Tim Anderson, ex-East Central Community College standout, is 3-for-8 in his first two games for Miami, where he signed as a free agent after the White Sox cut him loose after last season. … In college ball, the state’s six NCAA Division I schools went 0-6 Friday, the most glaring loss suffered by Alcorn State, a 29-3 loser at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Also of note: Mississippi State squandered a 6-2 lead in the eighth inning and fell at Florida 7-6.

29 Mar

tough start

Quite the hard-luck day for the two Mississippi natives who got the nod as starting pitchers on Opening Day in the big leagues. Ocean Springs’ Garrett Crochet pitched brilliantly for the Chicago White Sox in his first career MLB start Thursday but was saddled with the loss when the ChiSox came up empty in a 1-0 defeat against Detroit. Much worse was what happened to Lucedale’s Justin Steele, who was sailing along in the fifth inning for the Cubs when he injured his left hamstring fielding a bunt. He is expected to land on the injured list with what was labeled a strain. “Spirits are high,” Steele told mlb.com postgame. “I’ll have a speedy recovery from this … . ” Steele, a 16-game winner in 2023, yielded three hits, a walk and a run with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings in a game the Cubs would lose 4-3 at Texas. Crochet, a converted reliever, allowed one run (a sac fly) and five singles with eight strikeouts, including the first batter he faced, over six innings. “He’s got weapons to get people out. So he stood out there like a man today and did his job,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said in an nbcsportschicago.com article. One of the hits yielded by Crochet was an infield knock by Biloxi High product Colt Keith, who was making his MLB debut for the Tigers. The hit glanced off Crochet’s glove and rolled under the second baseman’s hand. “I was imagining a bomb to right-center, but that’ll work, too,” Keith said with a chuckle in a TV interview. For the record, the first hit (and RBI) of the season by a Mississippian (native or school alum) was a first-inning single by ex-Mississippi State star Jordan Westburg, whose Baltimore team whipped the Los Angeles Angels 11-3. P.S. Kudos to Southern Miss leadoff batter Dalton McIntyre, who banged out five hits and scored four times in the Golden Eagles’ 14-4 win over visiting Troy. USM (17-9, 5-2 Sun Belt) had 20 hits (six doubles) all told in the seven-inning game.

23 Mar

watch for it

As spring training winds down, Will Warren is ramping up his bid to make the New York Yankees’ starting rotation. The Jackson Prep product pitched five strong innings on Friday, allowing three hits, two walks and a lone run in a Grapefruit League game against the New York Mets. Right-hander Warren, the Yanks’ No. 8-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, is competing with several others for the fifth starter job. He is 3-1 with a 3.52 ERA in five games this spring. “He’s got the starter repertoire, a lot of confidence and a great demeanor on the mound,” New York manager Aaron Boone said in an mlb.com article. “He’s done a nice job and earned (a chance) to be in this position.” The 26-man roster should be announced soon. The team opens March 28 at Houston. Featuring a wipeout slider, Warren went 10-4 with a 3.35 between Double-A and Triple-A last season. After going 7-0, 1.39, as a senior at Jackson Prep in 2017, Warren signed with NCAA Division I Southeastern Louisiana, where he posted a 3.90 ERA in 53 games over four seasons. The Yankees drafted him in the eighth round in 2021, and he has made steady progress in their system. P.S. Pitching against Warren and the Yankees on Friday was ex-Southern Miss star Tyler Stuart, drafted by the Mets in the sixth round in 2022. The 6-foot-9 Stuart allowed two runs in three innings against the likes of Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Rated the Mets’ No. 18 prospect, Stuart was 7-2, 2.44, between High-Class A and Double-A in 2023.

20 Mar

there and here

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the first game of the MLB season today in Seoul, South Korea, beating San Diego 5-2. Mississippi Braves alum Evan Phillips registered the first save of 2024. And Mississippian Lance Barksdale, working the plate, registered the first umpire’s interference call of the season, which he called on himself in the first inning for inadvertently disrupting the catcher’s throw to second base on a steal attempt. … On this date in 1981, former big leaguer Gerald “Gee” Walker died at age 73. The Gulfport native and ex-Ole Miss star has a historic connection to MLB’s opening day, having hit for the cycle on April 20, 1937, for Detroit. It is the only opening day cycle in major league history. … The projected starting pitchers announced Tuesday for MLB’s stateside version of opening day include two Mississippi natives (Justin Steele and Garrett Crochet), two M-Braves alums (Spencer Strider and Alex Wood) and two ex-Biloxi Shuckers standouts (Freddy Peralta and Corbin Burnes). … In a 3-hour, 4-minute game that “featured” 12 pitchers, a 14-pitch at-bat, 17 hits and 20 strikeouts, Ole Miss beat Southern Miss 8-3 Tuesday night at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The most eye-catching number from the game was 3,269 — the announced attendance, surely a disappointment to all involved. … At Trustmark tonight, NCAA Division III rivals Millsaps and Belhaven will play the first game of the Maloney Trophy Series. The opener of the three-game series was originally scheduled for March 5 at Millsaps’ Twenty Field but was rained out. … At Starkville, Dakota Jordan hit yet another home run, his 11th in 22 games, as surging Mississippi State whipped Memphis 17-9. … Jackson State swiped five more bases, boosting its season total to a national-best 67, in a 13-3 rout of Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Braddy Field. Jordan McCladdie got two bags Tuesday and has 15 for the year for JSU, 16-4 with six straight wins. … Top-ranked East Central Community College swept a doubleheader at Hinds (12-2 and 5-0) to improve to 30-0. No. 5 Pearl River took two from No. 12 Meridian (14-2 and 5-2) to improve to 28-5 with 15 straight wins. (ECCC and PRCC are slated to meet April 17 at Poplarville.) … Big league veteran Mike Mayers, an Ole Miss product, has signed a minor league deal with Toronto. He pitched in the Kansas City and Chicago White Sox systems in 2023. … Former Petal High star Demarcus Evans, an erstwhile big leaguer, has signed with Yucatan of the Mexican League. Evans did not pitch in a game in 2023 because of injury.

19 Mar

on the mound

Midweek starters in college baseball generally don’t rate the spotlight. But the two matching up tonight at Trustmark Park in Pearl should be the centers of attention before what figures to be a huge crowd. It feels highly appropriate for this rivalry game that both Ole Miss’ Riley Maddox and Southern Miss’ Cole Boswell are Mississippi boys, products of tradition-rich high schools. Maddox, from Pearl, was an All-State performer at Jackson Prep before heading to Oxford. Boswell, from Collinsville, pitched at West Lauderdale and then at Meridian Community College before moving on to Hattiesburg. Maddox is 1-1 with a 5.03 ERA in five games (four starts) for the 15-6 Rebels, who, like the 14-6 Golden Eagles, have surged into the national polls this week. Boswell is 0-0, 5.87, in four games and three starts, including one earlier this month at Trustmark against Mississippi State. Maddox was hurt most of last season at UM after posting a 5.24 as a freshman in 2022. Boswell went 11-1, 2.49, at Meridian CC last season and was the juco league’s pitcher of the year. Pitchers’ duels are not uncommon at the TeePee, the home of the Double-A Mississippi Braves that typically plays as a pitcher’s park. Maybe we get one tonight. It would be highly appropriate. … For the record, a pair of Mississippi products will hook up in Starkville tonight, as well, when MSU sends lefty Bradley Loftin (ex-DeSoto Central star) to the mound against Memphis’ 6-foot-6 right-hander Cade Davis (from Ripley via East Mississippi CC). … A few miles down the road from Pearl, at Joe G. Moss Field in Raymond, Hinds CC is hosting a twinbill against East Central, undefeated (28-0) and ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA Division II poll. Hinds is 15-14, including a loss to Warriors back on March 2. The spotlight in Raymond likely will be on ECCC sluggers Mo Little, Brady McGee and Trey Bridges, who have seven home runs each.

19 Mar

circle the date

The news was stunning even for the guy who was the subject of the announcement. Garrett Crochet, the former Ocean Springs High star, has been named the opening day starter for the Chicago White Sox; it’ll be the first career big league start for the fifth-year pro. “Very shocked to say the least,” Crochet said in an Associated Press story. The former first-round pick (2020) out of Tennessee has made 72 relief appearances over three seasons with the ChiSox, posting a 2.71 ERA. He entered spring training hoping to earn a spot in the rotation and has been very impressive, routinely hitting 100 mph while striking out 12 batters in nine scoreless innings. “I’ve worked my tail off this spring,” the 6-foot-6, 245-pound left-hander said. He has been rewarded. Chicago opens on March 28 against Detroit. … In Chicago’s Cactus League game on Monday, ex-Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson went 1-for-2 with a couple of RBIs. The 29-year-old catcher, in camp as a non-roster invitee, has played quite a bit this spring and hit .292 with a homer and four RBIs in 24 at-bats. Robinson has some big league experience. The White Sox aren’t exactly stacked at catcher, with 37-year-old Martin Maldonado listed as the starter, backed by 33-year-old Max Stassi and Korey Lee. P.S. While Texas has announced that Mississippi State alum Nathaniel Lowe will miss the start of the season with an oblique injury, the Rangers have not named a replacement at first base. Justin Foscue, another former Bulldogs slugger, is in the running to start along with several others, including ex-Mississippi College star Blaine Crim, a non-roster player in camp. Foscue went 0-for-3 Monday and is batting .243 with one homer over 37 ABs this spring.

18 Mar

cue the highlights

One series into the conference season, Southern Miss, Mississippi State and Ole Miss already have great material for their 2024 highlight reels. USM (14-6) swept three from visiting Marshall. Take your pick of the biggest moment at Taylor Park: Lawson Odom scoring the game-winner in the 13th inning Saturday on a controversial catcher’s interference/obstruction call at home plate … or Carson Paetow’s game-turning three-run homer in the seventh inning of Sunday’s 7-5 win. MSU (15-6) run-ruled defending national champ LSU in Sunday’s rubber game, winning 15-5 in eight innings. Dudy Noble Field hit a fever pitch when Dakota Jordan and Hunter Hines belted back-to-back homers in the fifth inning that broke a 3-3 tie and put the Bulldogs up 7-3. Ole Miss (15-6) took two of three from South Carolina, including an emphatic 12-3 win at Swayze Field on Saturday that featured three homers by Andrew Fischer, the slugging transfer from Duke. Forget college basketball for a moment. Baseball March Madness will continue in Mississippi on Tuesday when USM and Ole Miss meet at Trustmark Park in Pearl while State takes on Memphis in Starkville.

16 Mar

pen pals

It was quite an opening night of conference play for the state’s Big 3 NCAA Division I schools, with each scoring a win Friday before a big home crowd. Stars abound, but a trio of relief pitchers rate some special recognition. Here are the names to know:
Nolan Stevens, Mississippi State: The freshman left-hander from California came out of the bullpen in the fourth inning and worked 5 2/3, yielding one hit and one run with eight strikeouts in the Bulldogs’ 10-4 SEC win against No. 2 LSU at Dudy Noble Field. Hunter Hines hit two home runs, good for four RBIs, for State, now 14-5.
Connor Spencer, Ole Miss: The well-traveled senior from Hernando came on with two runners on in the eighth and retired the last five batters, registering his fourth save as the Rebels beat nationally ranked SEC foe South Carolina 5-4 at Swayze Field. Luke Hill went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for UM, 14-5 with eight straight wins.
Kros Sivley, Southern Miss: The sophomore lefty from Sumrall pitched the last 2 2/3 in relief of Niko Mazza (4-0), allowing no runs on two hits and a walk for his second save in the 8-4 victory over Sun Belt rival Marshall at Taylor Park. Davis Gillespie went 3-for-4 with a bomb and five RBIs for the Golden Eagles, 12-6.

14 Mar

clearing the bases

Anthony Alford hit his first home run of the spring Wednesday for Cincinnati in the Cactus League. The two-run shot by the former Petal High star, in Reds camp as a non-roster invitee, came at the expense of former Mississippi State standout Ethan Small, who yielded five runs (two homers) in two innings in San Francisco’s 19-11 loss. Small, trying to earn a spot in the Giants’ bullpen, has a 9.53 ERA this spring. … Southern Miss alum Matt Wallner hit his first homer of the spring for Minnesota in the Grapefruit League. Wallner, USM’s all-time homer leader, belted 14 in 76 games for the Twins last year. … Aaron Downs, a junior out of Heritage Academy, delivered an 11th-inning walk-off single for MSU in a 2-1 win over New Orleans at MGM Park in Biloxi. It was the first RBI of the season for Downs. The Bulldogs (13-5) play defending national champion LSU in Starkville this weekend to open SEC play. … Ole Miss (13-5 with seven straight wins) launches SEC play Friday against nationally ranked South Carolina in Oxford. … Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson will host a pair of SWAC series over three days this weekend with Mississippi Valley State playing Bethune-Cookman and winless Alcorn State meeting Grambling State in three-game sets. … In the first regular season NAIA coaches poll released on Wednesday, William Carey — preseason No. 4 — fell out of the Top 25. The Crusaders, who made the NAIA World Series in 2023, are 13-9 and 4-5 in the SSAC. Blue Mountain Christian (18-5, 5-4 SSAC) did not get any votes in the new poll. … East Central Community College, ranked No. 1 in NJCAA Division II, beat No. 15 Meridian 7-5 and 4-3 to improve to 27-0 and 4-0 MACCC. … Jackson Prep, 18-2 and ranked No. 2 in the state by Prep Baseball Report, beat ninth-ranked Sumrall 7-2 to finish a 3-1 run through the Battle at the Beach. Patriots star — and LSU commit — Konnor Griffin threw six one-hit innings with 12 strikeouts and got two knocks in the Sumrall win. Lewisburg, ranked No. 1 by Prep Baseball Report, plays in the four-team Southeastern High School Baseball Classic at Trustmark Park this weekend. … MaxPreps’ latest state rankings have Hartfield Academy No. 1, followed by Lewisburg. Prep is fifth in that poll.

11 Mar

and that happened …

With Myles White and Robert Tate delivering RBI hits in the 10th inning and freshman Shemar Harris notching a clean save, Jackson State beat host Memphis 6-4 in Sunday’s finale of the Grind City Classic. The JSU bullpen didn’t allow a hit or run over the final 4 1/3. JSU (12-4) won two of three in the four-team event. … Blue Mountain Christian (16-5) swept an SSAC series at Mobile, winning Sunday’s finale 18-2 as Arderrius Townsend — remember that name — belted two homers and drove in six runs. He has 12 homers for the year and is batting .479. … Dakota Jordan homered in all three games — he has eight for the season — as Mississippi State (12-4 with nine straight wins) swept past Evansville in Starkville. Hunter Hines, who hit 38 homers for the Bulldogs in 2022-23 and 13 in the Cape Cod League last summer, got homer No. 1 of ’24 in Saturday’s game. … Ole Miss (12-5) scored 29 runs in a home sweep of Morehead State plus got a sterling pitching effort from Grayson Saunier (3-1, 2.55 ERA), who tossed five shutout innings on Sunday before the bullpen nearly coughed up the W. … East Central Community College blew past Coahoma in a twinbill on Sunday to reach 25-0. Twenty-five and oh. … Southern Miss (10-6) won two of three and scored 31 runs in its series at Louisiana Tech but allowed 18 runs in the loss on Sunday, when the Golden Eagles trotted out 12 pitchers. Twelve. … Millsaps College, playing at home, lost two of three to SAA foe Rhodes, and ace Wil Wood allowed 13 hits and 10 runs in four innings in one of the defeats. … Delta State allowed 30 runs in losing two of three GSC games at Alabama-Huntsville. The Statesmen are 13-10 despite a 6.47 ERA. … Mississippi College used two sac flies and an RBI HBP to score a walk-off win against West Florida — the No. 8 team in NCAA Division II — but the Choctaws lost the other two games of the GSC series. … Belhaven University also got a walk-off win on a clutch knock by Josh Neutze but fell in the other two weekend contests against Hanover at Trustmark Park.