Tag Archives: Southern Miss

28 Jun

team usa beckons

Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez, left-hander Hunter Elliott and righty Mason Nichols, fresh off winning the national championship with Ole Miss, are among the 50 players invited to Cary, N.C., to compete for 26 positions on USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team. Also there are Southern Miss pitchers Tanner Hall and Hurston Waldrep, former Madison Central High star Braden Montgomery (an outfielder/pitcher now at Stanford) and Lewisburg High product Brady Tygart (a pitcher now at Arkansas). Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco is the manager of this Team USA. The players will play Stars vs. Stripes intrasquad games June 30-July 4, after which the roster will be pared to 26. The team will compete at the Honkbalweek Haarlem tournament in The Netherlands. The first game is against Japan on July 9. Cuba is also in the field. … St. Stanislaus High outfielder Seth Farni is also in Cary, vying for a spot with 99 other prep players on the Under-18 Team USA as part of MLB’s Prospect Development Pipeline League. Farni hit .364 with nine homers as a junior in 2022. Select players from this camp also will be invited to the MLB/USA Baseball All-America Game in Los Angeles on July 15.

28 Jun

starting fresh

The Mississippi Braves, no doubt happy to put the first half behind them, and Biloxi Shuckers face off tonight at MGM Park to begin the second half of the Southern League season. The M-Braves lost 17 of their last 23 games to finish 29-40, last in the four-team SL South. With Michael Harris II gone to Atlanta at the end of May, the Double-A M-Braves have struggled to produce runs, scoring just 62 in June so far. No other team in the league has scored fewer than 103 this month. The Shuckers, on the other hand, have been an offensive juggernaut in June, scoring 156 runs. They won seven of their last 10 to finish the first half at 34-33, second place in the division. Aiming to quell the Shuckers’ attack and start the second half on a high note, the M-Braves will start Atlanta No. 9 prospect Jared Shuster (4-7, 3.53 ERA) in Game 1 of the six-game series. Biloxi’s hottest hitter has been Cam Devanney (.291), who’ll take a 19-game hitting streak into tonight’s game. Ole Miss alum Thomas Dillard is batting .227 with five homers for the Shuckers. Andrew Moritz was named the M-Braves’ player of the week for last week after batting .416 with five RBIs in six games. He’s at .268 for the year. The M-Braves count on the power of Drew Lugbauer (15 homers) and C.J. Alexander (12) for much of their offense. … The Shuckers will honor Pearl River Community College’s national championship team in pregame ceremonies tonight. P.S. Ex-Southern Miss star Matt Wallner and DeSoto Central High product Blaze Jordan were named to MLB Pipeline’s Prospect Team of the Week for June 20-26. Wallner, playing for Minnesota’s Double-A Wichita club, went 9-for-21 with three homers, six RBIs, seven runs and six walks; he has 16 bombs on the season. Jordan went 12-for-24 with two homers, five RBIs and five runs for Boston’s Low-Class A Salem team; he is hitting .311 with eight homers for the season. Other notable performances last week, per MLB Pipeline: Hattiesburg’s Joe Gray, Jr., had a two-homer game for High-A Wisconsin in Milwaukee’s system, boosting his total to nine. He’s batting .177, so a promotion to Biloxi isn’t likely anytime soon. … Mississippi State product Jordan Westburg had a five-hit game for Triple-A Norfolk in Baltimore’s system. He is batting .366 with five homers and 16 RBIs in 16 games for the Tides. … Former Itawamba Community College standout Tyreque Reed, having a rough year (.202) at Double-A Portland (Boston), broke up a no-hitter in the seventh inning against Richmond last Friday.

23 Jun

down on farm

It was a quiet day for the few but proud Mississippians active in the majors. In Triple-A, however, it was a different story on Wednesday: Former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson went 3-for-4 with his first Triple-A home run in Louisville’s loss to Iowa. Robinson, a good defensive catcher, started this season with Cincinnati’s International League club, was sent down to Double-A Chattanooga, then bumped back up a few days ago after hitting .276 in 31 games with the Lookouts. Delta State product Trent Giambrone, who had a cup of coffee in the big leagues in 2021, went 0-for-5 for Iowa, the Chicago Cubs affiliate. … Gulfport’s Bobby Bradley, who started this season in Cleveland, hit a pair of homers — doubling his season total — for the Indians’ Columbus club, which lost an IL game to Omaha. Bradley is batting .202. Ex-Mississippi State star Konnor Pilkington, who also has some time in The Show this year, gave up five runs in four innings as the Clippers’ starter but did not take the loss. USM product Nick Sandlin has joined the Clippers’ bullpen, sent down Monday by the Indians despite a 2.98 ERA, but didn’t work Wednesday. … Former MSU standout and erstwhile big leaguer Brent Rooker went 2-for-4, boosting his average to .281, for El Paso, San Diego’s Pacific Coast League team. … Former Ole Miss standout Mike Mayers, recently demoted by the Los Angeles Angels, made a rare start, yielding one run in four innings for Salt Lake in a PCL loss to Reno. Mayers has a 10.57 ERA in three Triple-A games. … MSU alum Jacob Robson, who made his MLB debut last year, went 0-for-2 but swiped his 12th base and scored a run for Toledo, Detroit’s IL affiliate, in a win against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Robson is batting .206. … Ex-Bulldogs star Jordan Westburg was 1-for-5 with an RBI for Norfolk and is batting .365 since his recent promotion to Triple-A by Baltimore. Ole Miss product Aaron Barrett notched a hold for Philadelphia’s Lehigh Valley club, which lost that game to the Tides in the ninth inning. … Rehabbing big leaguer Corey Dickerson, the former Meridian Community College standout, went 0-for-2 in his third game with St. Louis’ Memphis affiliate. Dickerson, 3-for-7 with the Redbirds, appears close to a return to the Cardinals’ roster.

22 Jun

not done yet

Another opportunity has arisen for Billy Hamilton, the 31-year-old former Taylorsville High standout who signed a minor league contract on Tuesday with Miami. He was assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville. This is the definition of peripatetic: Since 2018, his last season with Cincinnati, his original club, Hamilton has hooked up with nine different major league organizations. Hamilton, the all-time stolen bases leader (314) among Mississippians in the majors, is no longer an everyday player but still has value as a pinch runner and defensive replacement in the outfield. A .240 career hitter in 869 MLB games, Hamilton finished 2021 with the Chicago White Sox, signed a minor league deal with Seattle in the spring and hit .168 at Triple-A Tacoma before opting for free agency on June 1. P.S. Brent Rooker, the ex-Mississippi State star, keeps banging away at Triple-A El Paso, hoping for another big league shot with San Diego. After a 3-for-5 game on Tuesday, Rooker is batting .274 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs. Twice the Padres have recalled the outfielder only to option him back to El Paso without giving him an at-bat. He hit .212 with 10 homers in 2020-21 with Minnesota. … Southern Miss product Matt Wallner, hitting leadoff Tuesday for Double-A Wichita in the Twins’ system, had two homers among his three hits and now has 15 on the year to go with a .278 average and 47 RBIs. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound outfielder hit 15 homers in A-ball last year, his second as a pro. … Props to Drew Lugbauer, whose 15th homer of 2022 made him the Mississippi Braves’ career leader with 33 bombs. The lefty-hitting first baseman, in his second Double-A tour, broke a tie with Travis Demeritte and Connor Lein.

18 Jun

whatever happened to …

Jacob Lindgren, the former Mississippi State star, is pitching for the Kansas City Monarchs in the independent American Association. The 29-year-old left-hander has a 2.25 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 16 innings out of the bullpen. Lindgren zipped up to the big leagues in 2015, one year after being drafted by the New York Yankees, but was knocked off course by numerous injuries. His seven MLB appearances seven years ago are all he has made.
Cody Reed, the Northwest Mississippi Community College product, has been on the injured list (a common theme here) all season at Triple-A Durham in Tampa Bay’s system. The lefty, 29, made seven appearances for the Rays in 2021 and has a 5.22 career ERA in 65 MLB games.
Aaron Barrett, the veteran pro from Ole Miss, is pitching (15.00-plus ERA) for Triple-A Lehigh Valley in the Philadelphia chain. Barrett, 34, has a 4.01 career ERA in the big leagues and won a ring with the 2019 Washington Nationals.
Jonathan Holder, ex-MSU standout, has been on the injured list all year at Triple-A Iowa in the Chicago Cubs’ system. The 29-year-old right-hander pitched in just two minor league games in 2021. He has a 4.38 career ERA in MLB, last appearing in 2020 with the Yankees.
Jacob Waguespack, Ole Miss alum, is in Japan, where the 28-year-old righty is 1-3, 4.54 ERA, in seven games for Orix of the Japan Pacific League. He has 27 games (5.08 ERA) on his MLB resume, all with Toronto in 2019-20.
Cody Carroll, the former Southern Miss star, has worked in 12 games (9.00 ERA) for Triple-A Sacramento in San Francisco’s system. Carroll, 29, made 18 big league appearances with Baltimore from 2018-20.
James McArthur, an Ole Miss product who made the Phillies’ 40-man roster in the off-season, is 2-6, 5.00, for Double-A Reading in his second tour at that level.
J.T. Ginn, the former second-round pick out of State, is on the injured list at Double-A Midland, having made only five appearances (6.48 ERA) for the Oakland affiliate. Ginn was traded from the New York Mets to the A’s for Chris Bassitt during spring training.
Cole Gordon, ex-MSU standout, is on the injured list with the Mets’ Triple-A Syracuse club; he has pitched just two innings in 2022. The right-hander has a 3.51 ERA over three minor league seasons.
Jared Johnson, an Atlanta draftee out of Smithville High in 2019, has been on the injured list all season at Low-A Augusta. He posted a 2-6 record, 5.16 ERA, in 15 games in the low minors last year.

16 Jun

prospecting at petco

The state’s high school player of the year and a handful of Mississippi State players are among the 255 prospects taking part in this week’s MLB Draft Combine at Petco Park in San Diego. Jackson Academy star Dakota Jordan is one of two Mississippi high school players at the combine, joined by Emaarion Boyd from South Panola. MSU alums Logan Tanner, Landon Sims (recovering from spring Tommy John surgery), Kamren James and Jackson Fristoe are also there, along with Southern Miss’ Tyler Stuart and Northeast Mississippi Community College’s Colby Holcombe. Three Ole Miss players — Hayden Dunhurst, Derek Diamond and T.J. McCants — are on the list of invitees, but, of course, they have other business to attend to in Omaha. MLB Network will televise portions of the workouts today and Friday beginning at 11 a.m. The MLB draft starts on July 17. Sims, who missed most of the 2022 season after helping the Bulldogs win the national title in 2021, is pegged to go 35th overall to Kansas City by MLB Pipeline in its latest mock draft; the right-hander is the only state player projected to go on the first day. … Holcombe, a State commit, is one of the most intriguing players at the combine. The 6-foot-7, 245-pound right-hander from Alabama went 7-3 with a 2.60 ERA in 12 starts for Northeast, striking out 115 batters in 65 2/3 innings. P.S. MSU product Nathaniel Lowe was part of a history-making occurrence on Wednesday but not in a desirable way. Lowe, playing for Texas, was the first strikeout victim in both of the immaculate innings recorded by Houston pitchers. It’s a rare feat: nine pitches, all strikes, three strikeouts. The Astros’ Luis Garcia and Phil Maton turned the trick, reportedly the first time an MLB team has done it twice in the same game. To his credit, Lowe is batting .276 with eight homers for the Rangers.

15 Jun

kind of a thing

Home runs were kind of a thing on Tuesday. Atlanta hit five of ’em in its 13th straight win, a 10-4 triumph at Washington, with former Mississippi Braves Dansby Swanson and Michael Harris II and Biloxi Shuckers alum Orlando Arcia getting in on the long-ball act. Swanson’s was his ninth of 2022, Harris’ his second and second in as many nights and Arcia’s his second and first since a walk-off bomb on May 11. Arcia was making his first start as Ozzie Albies’ replacement at second base. … Nathaniel (or is it Nate?) Lowe, who has been on a hot streak for Texas, hit his eighth of the season; the former Mississippi State star is batting .317 with five homers in his last 15 games. … Down in Double-A, Southern Miss product Matt Wallner belted his 12th for Wichita and is now hitting .271 with 42 RBIs for the Minnesota affiliate. … Ex-MSU standout Tanner Allen, the 2021 Ferriss Trophy winner, hit his third homer for High-Class A Beloit in Miami’s system. … DeSoto Central High alum Blaze Jordan smacked his fourth for Low-A Salem in Boston’s chain; he is batting .272 with 31 RBIs in his second pro summer. … Brandon Parker, the former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star from Saucier, hit No. 3 for Low-A Augusta in the Atlanta system; he is batting .257. … Also of note, as part of a five-hit game for Birmingham at Trustmark Park, former M-Braves standout Tyler Neslony hit his 10th homer — onto the roof of the Farm Bureau Grill past right field — in the Barons’ 9-4 win against the faltering M-Braves. P.S. Richton High product JaCoby Jones has been released from Triple-A by Kansas City. The erstwhile big leaguer, 30, who was with Detroit for six seasons, was batting .214 with four homers at Omaha. His future would appear to be uncertain. … Ex-Petal High star Anthony Alford, also a former big leaguer, went 1-for-3 in his debut Tuesday with the KT Wiz in the Korean Baseball Organization.

13 Jun

look who’s back

Regardless of which school you root for, you have to be impressed by what the collective bunch has done in baseball. Ole Miss is going to the College World Series. Nineteen times in the last 66 years, Mississippi has sent one of its NCAA Division I schools to Omaha, with Mississippi State winning it all in 2021 in its 12th visit. It ain’t easy to get to Omaha. The postseason, starting with conference tournaments, is a grinder. Sixty-four teams get into the NCAAs; eight get to Omaha. Five No. 1 seeds didn’t get out of their regional this year. The overall No. 1 seed (Tennessee) just lost in the Super Regional. Southern Miss, a regional host, survived a five-game dogfight to advance but seemingly had nothing left for Ole Miss in the Hattiesburg Super Regional, failing to score a run in two games. So Ole Miss, which barely made the NCAA field after a mercurial regular season, is Omaha-bound as a regional 3-seed. This will be the Rebels’ sixth trip, second under Mike Bianco, the school’s all-time winningest coach who nevertheless has taken a lot of heat for his teams’ postseason shortcomings. But what’s past is past. Bianco’s current club may have caught lightning in a bottle this postseason. They’ve pitched. They’ve hit. They’ve won five straight, practically in a stroll. It figures to get tougher in Omaha, but would you bet against them? It’ll be interesting to see how UM fans turn out at the CWS. MSU fans took over the ballpark last year, playing a large role in the Bulldogs’ success. That first D-I natty was a big deal for the Magnolia State. Another would be no less special.

12 Jun

go figure

Pitching is not supposed to be Ole Miss’ strong suit. Well, the Rebels have flipped that script. Continuing a strong show of arms in the Coral Cables Regional, Ole Miss’ Dylan DeLucia and Jack Dougherty combined on a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts in a 10-0 win Saturday against Southern Miss in the opener of the Hattiesburg Super Regional. USM, which has one of the best staff ERAs (3.26) in the nation, allowed nine earned runs in Game 1 of this best-of-3. Starter Hurston Waldrep had a wobbly outing, and the bullpen melted down after he departed. … Former Madison Central High standout Braden Montgomery hit one of Stanford’s incredible eight home runs in the Palo Alto Super Regional, but the Cardinal somehow lost to UConn 13-12 in Game 1. … Chris Stratton has been an effective reliever this season for Pittsburgh, but the Tupelo native’s outing against Atlanta on Saturday was a disaster. He faced five batters and all of them scored. He hit a batter, walked a batter and yielded three hits, including Ozzie Albies’ grand slam. He also allowed two inherited runners to score in the Braves’ eight-run seventh inning that led to a 10-4 win, the Braves’ 10th straight. Former Mississippi State ace Stratton saw his ERA jump from 3.75 to 5.63. … Ex-Bulldogs star Brandon Woodruff, out since May 27 with an ankle injury, is eligible to come off the injured list today for Milwaukee but is experiencing numbness in his pitching hand, delaying his return. He is 5-3 with a 4.74 ERA for the Brewers, who are in a freefall with eight straight losses. … LeDarious Clark, the East Mississippi Community College alum from Meridian, is enjoying a big season with Lancaster in the independent Atlantic League. He is batting .299 with eight home runs, 22 RBIs and 15 steals. Clark, 28, hit 18 homers and stole 28 bags for Lancaster last year after spending six lackluster seasons in the Texas system. … The Double-A Mississippi Braves have lost eight of 11 heading into today’s road trip finale at Rocket City. At 26-30, the M-Braves are in a virtual tie with Biloxi (25-29) for last place in the Southern League South. The Shuckers have also lost eight of their last 11.

11 Jun

short stories

They will be where the action is this weekend. They hit near the top of the order and play in the middle of the field. It won’t be a surprise if the opposing shortstops in the Hattiesburg Super Regional prove to be central figures in the outcome of the best-of-3 series. Southern Miss’ Dustin Dickerson is the leading hitter at .326 for the Golden Eagles, the No. 11 national seed aiming for a second-ever trip to the College World Series. Ole Miss’ Jacob Gonzalez was an All-SEC pick this season and is batting .274 with 17 home runs for a Rebels team seeking a sixth CWS trip. Dickerson played at Laurel’s West Jones High, where he was the Class 5A player of the year for a state champion in 2019. His father, Bobby, played college and pro ball and is now the infield coach for the Philadelphia Phillies. The younger Dickerson can pick it on defense; he made several big plays in USM’s run to the regional championship. He’s not a power hitter but did smack 24 doubles this season, driving in 32 runs and scoring 44. The good-hit, good-field label also fits the UM shortstop. Gonzalez, also the son of a minor league player (Jess), came to Oxford as a highly rated recruit from California. He has lived up to the promise, earning freshman All-America honors last season and making USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team last year and this. He’ll be a high MLB draft pick in 2023. Taylor Park will be slammed for this series, which starts today (3 p.m., ESPNU). It’ll be loud. It’ll be intense. And it’ll be memorable, moreso for one of the two shortstops than the other.