Tag Archives: William Carey

22 Aug

numbers can deceive

He has only four wins in 21 starts, but don’t let that fool you: Justin Steele has been an ace for the Chicago Cubs this season. The ex-George County High star threw seven superlative innings today in a 10-2 win against Detroit at windy Wrigley Field. He allowed just four hits — two by Biloxi High alum Colt Keith — walked none and struck out 10. Steele doesn’t have enough innings to qualify for the official ERA stats — he missed a month-plus at the start of the year with a hamstring injury — but his 3.07 would rank eighth. The 2023 All-Star’s career ERA over four seasons is 3.24. Not a flamethrowing type, he has 125 strikeouts and just 32 walks in 123 innings. The left-hander befuddled the Tigers with pinpoint command, throwing 68 of 94 pitches for strikes. The proverbial “one mistake” he made was surrendering a two-run homer to Spencer Torkelson with one out in the seventh. The Cubs are 63-65, with barely a pulse in the National League wild card race. Imagine where they’d be without Steele. P.S. Tough day for Southern Miss product Nick Sandlin, who made “one mistake” in his outing for Cleveland against the New York Yankees. With the Guardians down 1-0 in the fifth, the sidearming Sandlin was called on to face Aaron Judge with two runners on and one out. Sandlin threw two balls, then walked Judge intentionally. Good call. He got a sac fly from Austin Wells that made it 2-0. One strike from escaping the jam, on a 3-2 pitch, Sandlin gave up a three-run bomb to Giancarlo Stanton. Ouch. The Yankees went on to win 6-0. Sandlin, with a 3.88 ERA, has seven wins, eight holds and a save in 56 appearances — but Thursday was not one of his better days. … Former William Carey standout Patrick Lee, signed as an undrafted free agent by Detroit in May, was promoted to Double-A Erie. He hit .272 with five homers, 29 RBIs and 32 steals at two levels of A-ball.

19 Jul

whatever happened to …

Aiden Moffett, the former Taylorsville High flamethrower, picked up his second win of the Cape Cod League season on Thursday. The 6-foot-3, 221-pound right-hander threw a scoreless, hitless 2 2/3 innings in relief for Yarmouth-Dennis, striking out six and walking four. Moffett is 2-1 with a 5.08 ERA over seven games, 12 2/3 innings. He pitched the last two seasons at LSU, entered the portal and recently announced a transfer to Texas for 2025. An All-State pick at Taylorsville, Moffett went 9-1 with a 0.54 ERA and 128 strikeouts (with 32 walks) in 52 innings as a senior in 2022, according to MaxPreps. He was a highly rated recruit with a 99-mph fastball but pitched in only one game for LSU in 2023, when the Paul Skenes-fueled Tigers won the national title. Moffett worked 17 2/3 relief innings for the Tigers this past season, putting up a 5.60 ERA with 21 K’s and 12 walks. If he can harness his stuff, he’ll be a weapon for the Longhorns. P.S. Mississippi Valley State alum Dreylin Holmes went 2-for-5 in his MLB Draft League debut on Thursday. Holmes, 6-2, 215, was a .300 hitter with 29 homers and 29 steals in three seasons for the Delta Devils. Also in the Draft League, A.J. Stinson, a former William Carey star from Hattiesburg, threw a scoreless inning in his ’24 debut. Stinson won 18 games for Carey in 2022-23. The Draft League is a pro league in the second half of its split season.

09 Jun

a case for cooperstown

Today is Dave Parker’s 73rd birthday, which makes it a good time to ask, Why is he not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame? There is only one native Mississippian in Cooperstown: Starkville’s Cool Papa Bell, a star in the Negro Leagues. Parker, born in Grenada, should be there, too. He was a seven-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner, two-time batting champion, two-time World Series champ and one-time National League MVP. He was drafted out of a Cincinnati high school in 1970 and played in the majors from 1973-91, batting .290 with 2,712 hits, 339 home runs and 1,493 RBIs. He had one of the best right-field arms in the game in his prime. Nicknamed “The Cobra,” he was baseball’s first million-dollar-a-year player. He had a controversial side. He endured weight problems and injuries at various times and was embroiled in the cocaine scandal of the early ’80s. That’s probably what hurt him with the BBWAA voters; he fell off that ballot in 2011, never coming close to election. His fate now rests with the special selection committees. Parker, who is battling Parkinson’s, is in the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame. He really ought to be in Cooperstown. P.S. Hurston Waldrep is set to become the 22nd Southern Miss alumnus to play in the big leagues. The right-hander is slated to start for Atlanta today at Washington. Waldrep, the Braves’ top draft pick in 2023 and current No. 2 prospect, pitched at USM in 2021-22 before finishing his college career at Florida. … Former USM standout Justin Storm, a seventh-round pick by Miami last summer, is having a fine season at Low-Class A Jupiter. The Madison Central High alum, a 6-foot-7 lefty, is 3-1 with a 0.55 ERA in 10 games. The lone run he allowed in a three-inning stint on Saturday against Lakeland was a homer by former William Carey standout Patrick Lee, who recently signed with Detroit as a free agent. … Ex-Madison Central star Braden Montgomery suffered a broken ankle Saturday in Texas A&M’s win against Oregon in the NCAA Super Regional. He is done for the season. Montgomery — a likely first-round MLB draft pick next month — hit .322 with 27 homers for the Aggies.

09 May

ouch

Having a rough week? Can’t be much worse than what the Ole Miss team is enduring. On Sunday, the Rebels squandered a ninth-inning lead and lost 10-9 at Auburn on a walk-off passed ball. On Wednesday, back in Oxford, they squandered a sixth-inning lead — for the first time all season — and lost 12-9 in 15 innings to Murray State. And now the Rebels get a day to recover before Texas A&M, 41-8 and ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation, comes to Swayze Field for a three-game SEC series. The Rebels (25-23) used 10 pitchers against Murray State — a 31-win team — and they combined to allow 12 hits with eight walks and two HBPs in the 5-hour, 40-minute marathon. To their credit, UM relievers hung up zeroes from innings 10-14, but a grand slam — the Racers’ third bomb — spelled doom in the 15th. Ole Miss’ staff ERA is 6.06, and they have allowed double-digit runs in four of their last eight games. A&M’s hitters, who have 113 homers (fourth in the nation), must be licking their chops. Former Madison Central High star Braden Montgomery, a Golden Spikes finalist, has 24 of those 113 and is batting .342 with 76 RBIs. P.S. The Collegiate Conference of the South Tournament at Maryville, Tenn., was pushed back a day because of weather. Second-seeded Belhaven plays Huntingdon (Ala.) today in the tourney opener. … The NAIA Tournament field will be announced today. SSAC champion William Carey is hosting an Opening Round (regional) at Wheeler Field in Hattiesburg. Blue Mountain Christian, SSAC runner-up, has earned an at-large invite.

20 Apr

big numbers

Behind Gabe Broadus and Davis Gillespie, Southern Miss rode a 10-run third inning to a 14-3, run-rule win Friday against Louisiana-Monroe at Taylor Park. But hold on. A few miles down the road in Hattiesburg, Blue Mountain Christian put up an even bigger number, stunning William Carey 19-5 at Wheeler Field. Carey entered the game in third place in the SSAC with a 16-8 record and is ranked No. 25 in NAIA. BMC came in with a 9-15 mark in eighth place. Carey led 32-6 in the all-time series in this burgeoning rivalry. But the Toppers went off Friday, grabbing the lead with a four-run fifth and scoring eight times in the eighth to add insult to injury. BMC had 16 hits and drew 11 walks plus two HBPs. Carey used six pitchers and all of them gave up runs. The Toppers’ big bopper, Arderrius Townsend, wasn’t a factor, going 0-for-2 before being ejected in the fifth inning. Stepping up, Carson Gault went 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs; Josiah Rivera was 2-for-4 with a homer, three RBIs and three runs; and Hayden Redding went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs. A doubleheader is slated for today. P.S. Props to Spencer Turnbull, the Madison Central High product who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning as Philadelphia beat the punchless Chicago White Sox (and Ocean Springs’ Garrett Crochet) 7-0 in the big leagues. … Ex-Mississippi State star Brent Rooker came off the injured list Friday and homered — his third — for Oakland, but the A’s lost to Cleveland 10-2.

19 Apr

watch for it

A couple of former Mississippi high school stars will face off tonight as opposing pitchers at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Both Garrett Crochet (Ocean Springs alum) of the Chicago White Sox and Spencer Turnbull (Madison Central) of the Phillies — the former in a new role, the latter with a new team — have had very good results to date. But they will face very different challenges in this game. Left-hander Crochet, a former first-round pick out of Tennessee, is 1-2 with a 3.57 ERA over four starts in his first season after converting from reliever to starter. He goes against a Phillies team that is 11-8 and trots out a lineup loaded with sluggers (see Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm, et al). Turnbull, a former second-rounder out of Alabama, is 1-0, 1.80, in three starts with the Phillies as he attempts to bounce back from a couple of injury-wracked seasons with Detroit. The right-hander faces a 3-15 White Sox team that has some of the worst offensive numbers in the big leagues. It’s worth noting that several Chicago batters have experience against Turnbull from his time with the Tigers (see Eloy Jimenez, three home runs), while few of the Phillies have ever faced Crochet. Citizens Bank is a hitters park, so perhaps we shouldn’t expect a pitchers’ duel. P.S. Where are they now: Ex-big leaguer Bobby Bradley (Harrison Central), who played independent ball last year, is playing for Tijuana in the Mexican League. … Gavin Collins (Mississippi State), another indy baller in 2023, is now at Triple-A Memphis in the St. Louis system. … Thomas Dillard (Ole Miss), also an indy leaguer in 2023, has signed with Celburne of the independent American Association. … Onetime big leaguer Chris Ellis (Ole Miss/Mississippi Braves) recently signed with Long Island of the indy Atlantic League; he did not pitch in 2023. … Patrick Lee (William Carey) has joined Evansville in the indy Frontier League. … Dalton Moats (Delta State) has re-upped with Kansas City of the American Association, where he pitched in 2023.

21 May

coming attractions

Tournament time arrives this week for the nation’s major colleges, many of which are still battling for NCAA Tournament bids. Southern Miss shouldn’t have to fret about a regional berth, but the Golden Eagles would certainly like to collect a Sun Belt Conference tourney title for outgoing coach Scott Berry. USM (37-16 with 15 wins in its last 16 games) is in its first year in the SBC and enters the tournament in Montgomery, Ala., as the No. 2 seed (behind Coastal Carolina). The Golden Eagles will play Wednesday at Riverwalk Stadium against the winner of Tuesday’s play-in game between James Madison and Old Dominion. … Jackson State (28-23) enters the SWAC Tournament as the 4-seed from the East Division and will play West No. 1 Grambling State on Wednesday at Georgia Tech’s Chandler Stadium in Atlanta. JSU beat Grambling in their only meeting in the Andre Dawson Classic back in March. Mississippi Valley State and Alcorn State did not qualify for the SWAC tourney. … The SEC Tournament starts Tuesday in Hoover, Ala., but Mississippi State and Ole Miss — the last two national champions — won’t be there. (And since there is no NIT in baseball, their seasons are over.) MSU went into the final weekend with a chance to qualify for the SEC field but lost two of three to Texas A&M and came up short. … William Carey will open Friday in the NAIA World Series against Bellevue (Neb.) at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho. Carey is the No. 4 seed in the 10-team field. Region 23 champ East Central Community College will get its next assignment on Tuesday when the NJCAA Division II World Series brackets are announced. The Enid, Okla., tournament starts Saturday.

08 May

turn the beat around

If you’re looking for a defining moment in Southern Miss’ resurgent season, zoom in on April 22, when the Golden Eagles were smacked around 20-7 at Coastal Carolina, their second straight blowout loss there. How would USM respond? By bouncing back for a 15-7 win on April 23 that ignited a win streak that reached 10 games on Sunday. “The biggest turnaround is the attitude and the purpose we have when we go to the plate …,” USM coach Scott Berry told Hattiesburg’s WDAM. “Our guys have been able to cool the storm down a little bit.” Indeed. After beating South Alabama 6-1 on Sunday at Taylor Park, USM is 32-15 and 17-7 in the Sun Belt Conference, tied with Coastal for the league lead. The win streak is the longest in the nation. The national polls will surely take notice again. All nine batters in the USM lineup got at least one hit on Sunday, and three pitchers combined on a five-hitter, with Niko Mazza working the last five and striking out nine. Dustin Dickerson leads the Eagles’ offense with a .322 average. Slade Wilks has provided big power with 18 homers and 52 RBIs, and Matthew Etzel has swiped 16 bases while batting .300. The pitching hasn’t been as formidable as in 2022; the staff ERA is 4.98. But there are reliable arms. Tanner Hall, a preseason All-America pick, has pitched like the ace he is with a 9-3 record and 2.71 ERA. Justin Storm has eight saves, and Mazza is 5-1 with two saves. Will Armistead has pitched to a 2.33 ERA in 11 appearances. How far will this surge carry the Eagles? Two more conference series await, then the SBC Tournament at Montgomery, Ala., then an NCAA Tournament berth. Stay tuned. P.S. Delta State plays on today in the GSC Tournament, taking on Valdosta State in Oxford, Ala. After an opening loss, the eighth-seeded Statesmen have won two straight in the double-elimination event. … William Carey apparently ran out of pitching in Sunday night’s GCAC Tournament title game, surrendering 17 hits and 12 walks in a 22-10 loss to Mobile in Hattiesburg. Carey (44-9) is expected to receive an NAIA Tournament bid on Thursday. … Belhaven bowed out of the CCS Tournament in LaGrange, Ga., with a pair of losses on Saturday.

05 May

winners and losers

Behind the dominant pitching of Brett Sanchez, Belhaven University beat Covenant 2-1 Thursday in the first round of the Collegiate Conference of the South Tournament at LaGrange, Ga. Sanchez (6-2), an NCAA Division III All-American, allowed four hits with eight strikeouts over nine innings. The Blazers, seeded second, play a winners bracket game today. … Top-seeded William Carey, upset by Blue Mountain Christian on Wednesday, bounced back with a 14-1 rout of Middle Georgia on Thursday to stay alive in the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament in Hattiesburg. Jake Lycette homered and drove in four runs for the Crusaders, Kris Jones notched three RBIs and Andrew Shirah (8-1) threw all seven innings and punched out 11. Carey gets a rematch with Blue Mountain in an elimination game today. BMC was thumped 14-2 Thursday in a winners bracket game against Loyola of New Orleans. … Millsaps was run-ruled 11-1 by Birmingham-Southern, the No. 9 team in NCAA D-III, in the Southern Athletic Association Tournament at Birmingham. The Majors play an elimination game today against Centre. … In the MACCC playoffs, the home team won in each of the openers in the best-of-3 series: Meridian Community College beat East 15-1; Pearl River beat Southwest 23-1; Itawamba beat Hinds 8-4; and Northeast beat Jones 14-8. The four series winners go to the NJCAA Division II Region 23 Tournament at Eunice, La. East Central, the MACCC champion, and LSU-Eunice are already in the field. … Delta State opens play today in the Gulf South Conference Tournament against West Florida, the No. 1 seed, in Oxford, Ala.

19 Jul

it’s a wrap

Major League clubs found a deep pool of talent in Mississippi this year, selecting 23 players from the state over the 20 rounds of the three-day draft. The picks ranged from Mississippi State pitcher Landon Sims at No. 34 overall to Arizona to Meridian Community College outfielder Ke’Shun Collier at No. 593 in Round 20 to the Chicago Cubs. National champion Ole Miss saw seven players drafted, the first being pitcher Derek Diamond in the sixth round to Pittsburgh. Seven MSU players also were picked, including the first position player from the state to go off the board, catcher Logan Tanner at overall pick No. 55 in Round 2 to Cincinnati. Five Southern Miss players were drafted, all pitchers, topped by Dalton Rogers, third round to Boston. William Carey’s Chris Williams Jr., an outfielder, was picked in the 18th round by Detroit. South Panola outfielder Emaarion Boyd went in the 11th round to Philadelphia and Tishomingo County shortstop Spence Coffman in the 19th round to San Diego as the only high school players selected. No state SWAC school players were picked.