national treasures

It didn't come with the fanfare of Bryce Harper's debut on Saturday, but Tyler Moore got his first taste of the big leagues today with Washington and did just fine. The Northwest Rankin High, Meridian Community College and Mississippi State product started in left field and went 1-for-3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Moore got his hit, a single, in his second at-bat against Chris Capuano. Uber-prospect Harper went 1-for-3 in his Nationals debut. Moore, who blasted 62 home runs the previous two seasons in the minors, had seven in 77 ABs at Triple-A Syracuse when he was called up.

another shot

Fred Lewis has signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets and will begin his 2012 season at Triple-A Buffalo. The Stone County and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product was released by Cleveland at the end of spring training. A lefty-hitting outfielder, Lewis batted .231 with Cincinnati last season. He previously played in Toronto and San Francisco and has a .267 career average.

more punch, please

Though the Mississippi Braves continue to have problems scoring runs — they rank last in the Southern League through 20 games — there have been some bright spots in the attack. Ian Gac, the power-hitting first baseman, is batting .314 with two home runs (the club’s only two) and 14 RBIs. Phil Gosselin, a promising second baseman, is hitting .296 and Andrelton Simmons, the hot-shot shortstop, is at .295. All three are first-year Double-A players. On the downside, there is this group, all returnees from the 2011 club: Matt Kennelly, the backup catcher, is batting .194; outfielder Cory Harrilchak is at .191; and outfielder Mycal Jones is at an abysmal .121. They need to pick it up. Somewhere between those highs and lows is Christian Bethancourt, the catcher who is rated among Atlanta’s Top 10 prospects. Bethancourt is hitting just .219 with one extra base hit and three RBIs in 56 at-bats. But measure this against the fact that the Panama native is only 20 years old in an advanced league. There were concerns about his commitment last season, but he reportedly made strides while batting .303 at low-A Rome and .271 at high-A Lynchburg. Baseball America tagged him the No. 10 prospect in the Carolina League. Bethancourt goes 6 feet 2 and 200 pounds, and while he hasn’t hit much for power so far, he should develop some. He has a good arm and is improving defensively. This isn’t a make-or-break year for him, but the team certainly would benefit if he starts to produce a little more. P.S. Despite the lack of punch, the M-Braves are 8-12 heading into a five-game homestand that starts tonight. They’re just 3 games out of first place in the SL South.

sorting it out

A new poll is due out today for NJCAA Division II schools, but the greater anticipation is for what might happen on various fields across Mississippi. As the jostling for MACJC playoff positions continues, Itawamba (16-4 North) is at Northeast (12-9 North); Northwest (12-9 North) hosts Delta (11-9 North); Hinds (14-7 South) is at Gulf Coast (12-12 South); Jones County (12-7 South) is at Southwest (9-11 South); and East Central (11-9 South) hosts Pearl River (9-11 South). Stay tuned. … Meanwhile, Meridian CC (29-19 after a win over Shelton State on Tuesday) is tied for first place with Baton Rouge at 5-4 in the Miss-Lou Conference. They’ll meet this weekend in a three-game series at Baton Rouge to decide the championship in that NJCAA D-I league. MCC’s Wade Wass, an Alabama signee, is batting about .450 with 19 home runs, and Wes Stokes, a former West Lauderdale standout, is 4-0 with a 2.85 ERA. P.S. Former Hattiesburg High star Robert Carson has been summoned to the big leagues by the New York Mets. The hard-throwing left-hander, who made the Mets’ 40-man roster over the winter, had a 3.18 ERA in five appearances at Double-A Binghamton this season.

the pearl jam

Mason Robbins has had a sensational freshman campaign for Southern Miss, batting a team-best .352 heading into tonight’s contest against Mississippi State at Trustmark Park in Pearl. MSU’s offensive ills have been well-chronicled, but Adam Frazier has been largely immune to that malaise. The sophomore is batting .342. Those hot hitters aside, the most interesting aspect of the game might be the pitching matchup between USM’s Boomer Scarborough, a sophomore out of St. Stanislaus, and State’s Brandon Woodruff, a freshman from Wheeler. They are potential future aces for these clubs. Scarborough, who pitched well against the Bulldogs in this game last year, is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA. Woodruff, who hasn’t gotten as much work as his Golden Eagles counterpart this year, is 0-1, 4.76 but was a centerpiece in the 2012 recruiting class. Both teams are playing well. The Bulldogs come in 24-16, the Eagles 23-16. State leads the all-time series 76-36 and won last year’s Atlanta Regional matchup, but USM has gained ground in this rivalry in recent years. A good game is in the offing. P.S. Ran across a list of the attendees at the recent Fenway Park 100th anniversary celebration. Among the 200-plus ex-Boston players to show up were Mississippians Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, Wes Chamberlain, Steve Dillard, Jerry Moses and Bill Selby.

long ball longing

Seth Smith, the former Hillcrest Christian and Ole Miss standout, hit his first home run as a member of the Oakland A’s on Sunday. Smith, who has 40 at-bats through the A’s 17 games, is a little behind his career home run pace of about 1 every 25 ABs (51 in 1,285 entering 2012). He is also hitting just .205, 70 points under his career average, and has only four RBIs. Oakland acquired Smith from Colorado in the off-season for his left-handed power. Smith has time to pick it up, but one has to wonder now how his playing time (mostly at DH) will be affected when Manny Ramirez is eligible to play again at the end of May. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves outfielder Jordan Schafer, now with Houston, hit his first career grand slam on Sunday. Wonder if the Braves miss Schafer? Nah.

postseason appointments

Tournament time is upon us. Millsaps, Mississippi College, Belhaven and William Carey enter the fray this week. Millsaps (25-14) lost two of three at powerhouse Birmingham Southern over the weekend and will enter the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed. The Majors open with old rival Trinity, ranked fourth in NCAA Division III, on Thursday in Millington, Tenn. Mississippi College (18-21) won two of three at Ozarks to clinch a berth in the American Southwest Conference postseason. MC will travel to Texas Lutheran on Friday for a best-of-3 opening round series, with the winner going to the ASC Tournament proper. William Carey (28-25) swept Brewton-Parker in a three-game set to clinch the No. 6 seed in the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament, which begins Thursday in Columbus, Ga. Belhaven (32-22) lost three straight to NAIA third-ranked Lee at Smith-Wills Stadium but managed to claim the No. 8 seed. The defending tourney champion Blazers will meet top-seeded and fifth-ranked Faulkner on Thursday, while Carey plays 3-seed Auburn-Montgomery. P.S. Delta State moved into a tie for first place in the Gulf South Conference standings with a weekend road sweep of old rival Christian Brothers. DSU, nationally ranked in Division II, is 30-11 and 14-7 GSC, tied with North Alabama. Of course, it might not be quite accurate to term the DSU-Christian Brothers series a rivalry. The Statesmen lead it 74-11. … Blue Mountain has hit a rough patch, losing nine straight games to fall to 21-26.

the pitching news

There was a whole lot of pitching going on in the state the past few days. Among the Big Three NCAA Division I colleges, Mississippi State allowed four runs in 34 innings while sweeping SEC foe Tennessee three straight in Starkville; Ole Miss yielded two runs in 18 innings in taking the first two games of a three-game SEC set from Arkansas in Oxford; and Southern Miss checked C-USA rival Memphis on a single run in two Golden Eagles victories in Hattiesburg. … Meanwhile, in the big leagues, several Mississippi-connected hurlers also enjoyed some sweet results. On Saturday, MSU product Paul Maholm notched his first win as a Chicago Cub and ex-Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz pitched an effective five innings for Colorado. He was denied a W when the bullpen blew a lead. Itawamba Community College alum Tim Dillard got the last six outs for Milwaukee in that one. On Friday, Lance Lynn won his third game (see previous post) for St. Louis and fellow ex-Rebel Matt Maloney picked up his first W as a Minnesota Twin. And ex-Bulldog Jonathan Papelbon went 3-for-3 in save chances during the week for Philadelphia. Mississippi Braves alums and current Atlanta starters Mike Minor, Brandon Beachy and Tommy Hanson beat Arizona in consecutive days; another ex-M-Brave, Randall Delgado, will try to make it four straight over the Diamondbacks today. M-Braves product Matt Harrison won his third game for Texas on Saturday, and ex-Jackson Generals ace Freddy Garcia was bailed out of a rocky start when the New York Yankees rallied from a 9-0 deficit to beat Boston 15-9. Also on Saturday, current M-Braves starter Zeke Spruill threw seven shutout innings at Birmingham to move his record to 2-1. … The news was not so good for Meridian CC product Cliff Lee, who went on the disabled list for the Phillies on Saturday, three days after his brilliant outing in San Francisco (see previous post).

very lynn-teresting

Lance Lynn certainly has made himself right at home in the St. Louis rotation. Handed the role when ace Chris Carpenter went on the disabled list in spring training, former Ole Miss star Lynn is now 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA in three starts after beating Pittsburgh 4-1 on Friday night. “I was just trying to fill up the zone and make them hit my pitch,” Lynn told mlb.com. In seven innings, Lynn allowed four hits, one of which was a leadoff, inside-the-park home run by Alex Presley, who played with Lynn in Oxford in 2006. (Zack Cozart and Chris Coghlan were also on that Rebels club; how did they not get to Omaha?) Lynn and Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay are the only National League pitchers with three wins.

can't hold these tigers

So many hot spots for state college baseball this weekend it’s hard to decide where to focus. Starkville, Oxford, Hattiesburg? How ’bout Lorman, where old rivals Jackson State and Alcorn State collide in a SWAC series? The Tigers (26-11, 16-2) already have clinched a share of the East Division title with four series left before next month’s SWAC Tournament in Baton Rouge, La. JSU has one of the Magnolia State’s top hitters in Kendall Logan (.353, 10 homers, 42 RBIs), but it’s the Tigers’ pitching that truly sets them apart. “That’s how we’ve survived the whole year,” said JSU coach Omar Johnson. “Our weekend guys have given us an opportunity to win almost every time out.” The weekend rotation features Desmond Russell (7-2, 2.53, six complete games), Quintavious Drains (8-3, 2.82, six CGs) and Jose Garcia (4-1, 4.68). The Tigers do have three regulars other than Ferriss Trophy candidate Logan batting .300: Charles Epperson, Glenn Walker (who has 23 steals) and Frank Solis. Alcorn is the defending SWAC champ, and the Braves would like nothing better than to recapture some of that swagger this weekend. P.S. NAIA leviathan Lee (Tenn.) University comes to Jackson’s Smith-Wills Stadium for a Southern States Athletic Conference showdown with Belhaven. They’ll play a twinbill today (4 p.m.) and a solo game Saturday (1 p.m.). Lee is 43-8-1 and 23-4 in the conference. The Flames roll out a lineup that includes SSAC batting leader Blake Barber (.450) and homer and RBI leader Roberto Reyes (13, 72). Top starter Kris Hall is 8-0 with a 1.47 ERA, and Patrick Merkling and Jose Samoyoa are a combined 14-1. Anthony Doss and his fellow Blazers have their work cut out. BU (32-19, 14-12) is currently fifth in SSAC standings. Lee is second. … Mississippi College, still fighting for a spot in the American Southwest Conference postseason, heads to Ozarks for a huge series. The Choctaws (16-20) are currently third in the ASC East at 7-8; the top four make the playoffs. … Millsaps ends its Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season with a trip to Birmingham Southern, which leads the league with a 12-0 mark. The Majors (24-12) are second in the East Division at 8-3. The SCAC Tournament, the last for Millsaps and several other departing league members, is next week in Millington, Tenn. … Caleb Baucum hit a walk-off home run in the 12th inning in Game 1 on Thursday to propel Hinds Community College to a 7-6 victory over Southwest. The Eagles (29-9, 13-6 MACJC South) won Game 2 8-1 behind a complete game performance from Carey Taylor, now 9-0.

gunfight at at&t park

Way out West and deep into the night, a classic duel was waged on Wednesday. Meridian Community College product Cliff Lee of Philadelphia and San Francisco’s Matt Cain hooked up in a battle of aces that ultimately ended in a 1-0 Giants victory in 11 innings. Neither was involved in the decision, which seems absurd. Both had a profound impact on the game at the Giants' AT&T Park. Cain went nine, retiring the last 13 he faced. Lee lasted 10, posting seven strikeouts and retiring 12 in a row at one stage. “It doesn’t get any better than what we saw tonight,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy told mlb.com. The Phillies find themselves in last place in the loaded National League East. They’ll have to rely heavily on the arms of Lee, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and new closer Jonathan Papelbon, the ex-Mississippi State star, to reach the postseason for a sixth straight year. Left-hander Lee, a former Cy Young Award winner, was 17-8 with a 2.40 ERA in 2011, sort of a down year by his standards. He appears to be back on form, though he doesn’t have a win yet in 2012. P.S. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in Starkville tonight. Mississippi State coach John Cohen has challenged his swooning Bulldogs to be mentally tougher. They’ll send ace Chris Stratton (7-0, 2.98 ERA) to the bump to face Tennessee in a 6:30 game to be televised by ESPNU. If Stratton falters and the Dogs fall in this one … .

frosh faces

Remember the great recruiting classes reeled in by the state’s Big Three for the 2012 campaign? All three programs were ranked in the top 14 in the nation by Baseball America and in the top 20 by Collegiate Baseball. What kind of impact have the freshmen in those classes had? At Southern Miss, quite a lot. Mason Robbins, Mr. Baseball from George County, is hitting a team-best .357. Connor Barron, from Sumrall, is at .287, pitcher Taylor Nunez has put up a 3.86 ERA (1-3 record) in 21 innings and Bradley Roney has five saves. Others have also contributed. The frosh at Ole Miss and Mississippi State have not contributed as much, though the Rebels’ Hawtin Buchanan stood out in Tuesday’s Governor’s Cup Game to record his first college win. Buchanan, a man mountain from Biloxi, has a 0.93 ERA and 18 strikeouts in limited action (9 2/3 innings). Josh Laxer, from Madison Central, is 3-0 for the Rebels but has a 6.43 ERA, highest on the staff. UM’s most touted recruit, two-sport star Senquez Golson from Pascagoula, who turned down major money from the Boston Red Sox, is hitting .204 in 54 at-bats. MSU started one of its heralded freshmen hurlers, Brandon Woodruff from Wheeler, on Tuesday, but he got knocked around and took the loss. His ERA is 4.24 in limited time. Jacob Lindgren from St. Stanislaus has a 3.18 ERA in 11 1/3 innings, but the shining star among Bulldogs newcomers has been Jonathan Holder of Gulfport. In 16 innings, he has not allowed an earned run and has recorded a W and a save. P.S. Props to Millsaps for claiming the Maloney Trophy on Tuesday with a 4-1 win over Belhaven. The Majors went 4-2 in the small college series, beating BU three times. The Blazers (2-3) and Mississippi College (2-3) finish off the series next Monday at Smith-Wills Stadium.

indian uprising

There’s a long, long, long way to go before a region champion will be crowned in junior college baseball. But we can compile a short list of viable candidates. There’s the defending NJCAA Division II Region 23 champion, Jones County, which began the year ranked No. 2. There’s Hinds, which also has made an appearance in the national top 10. And then there’s Itawamba, which moved to No. 4 in the poll last week. Yes, the Indians (29-7) lapsed by losing their first two games after getting the No. 4 nod — but they bounced back to sweep MACJC North Division challenger Northwest over the weekend. ICC’s got pitching. Ben Hudspeth is 7-0 with a 1.19 ERA and threw a no-hitter against Northwest. Dylan Earnest is 6-1 with a 1.09. On the offensive side, Cody Shrewsbury is a rare talent. The Tupleo product is hitting .438 with six homers and 28 RBIs. Catcher Zack Randolph, a Mississippi State signee, is regarded as the best defensive catcher in the league and is hitting .345 to boot. ICC has six division games left, then the mine field that is the juco postseason begins. When the smoke finally clears, the Indians just might be the last team standing. ICC hosts East Mississippi today, while Jones is at Copiah-Lincoln. Hinds hosts Southwest on Wednesday.
P.S. Former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland reportedly has had surgery on an abscessed tooth but is ready to go again for the Texas Rangers. Hitting just .150 in six games, Moreland needs more bite from his bat.

the other game

If you don’t want to fight the crowd at Trustmark Park for Tuesday night’s Ole Miss-Mississippi State game, there’s an equally intriguing contest at Smith-Wills Stadium, where UM and State used to play the old Mayor’s Trophy Game. Millsaps and Belhaven will battle (at 6 p.m.) in a game that could decide the Maloney Trophy Series. The visiting Majors, who have won the small college round-robin series four times, are 3-2, with two wins over the Blazers. BU is 2-2 (with another game to play against Mississippi College next week). These are two good clubs, both of which should be eager to get back on track after lost weekends. Millsaps (23-12) dropped two of three at home to rival Rhodes to fall to 8-3 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Belhaven (31-18) was swept three straight on the road against Shorter to slip to 14-13 in the Southern States Athletic Conference. Belhaven is 22-4 on the synthetic turf at Smith-Wills and features a prime Ferriss Trophy candidate in Anthony Doss (.400, seven homers, 45 RBIs). But Millsaps counters with a big three: Stephen Gates (.412), Ryan Zemke (.398) and Wes Perkins (.371, seven homers, 46 RBIs). Smith-Wills doesn’t usually play as a hitter’s park, but it would not be shocking to see a bunch of crooked numbers go up Tuesday, especially if second-line pitchers get the call.

big stuff

Drew Pomeranz, the touted Ole Miss product, is scheduled to make his 2012 MLB debut today. The Colorado left-hander will face Arizona at Coors Field. ... Mississippi State alumnus Paul Maholm makes his second start as a Chicago Cub, hoping for better than his first start (six runs in four innings). He faces St. Louis at Busch Stadium. ... Ex-Ole Miss star Lance Lynn beat the Cubs on Saturday and is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in two starts for the Cardinals. ... Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product Tony Sipp has a 19.29 ERA for Cleveland but somehow has managed to record two holds for the 3-4 Indians. ... Ex-Southwest Mississippi CC star Jarrod Dyson, recalled by Kansas City last week, is 2-for-8 with two runs scored in his two games as the Royals' new leadoff batter. ... Itawamba CC alum Desmond Jennings has seen his average dip to .194 as Tampa Bay's leadoff man. ... Also scuffling are former Ole Miss standouts Alex Presley (.269 for Pittsburgh after a hot start) and Chris Coghlan (.158 for Miami). Coghlan, the 2009 National League rookie of the year, has not been the same player since suffering an injury during a postgame celebration in 2010. ... Former Mississippi Braves closer Craig Kimbrel is 4-for-4 in saves for 4-4 Atlanta. Kimbrel hasn't allowed a run, but not all of the saves have been tidy. ... Ex-M-Braves catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, under scrutiny in Boston, belted one of the five homers the Red Sox hit on Saturday in a 13-5 win over Tampa Bay at Fenway Park. Salty is batting just .118. ... Former M-Braves star Jeff Francoeur is now hitting second in the order for Kansas City and is off to a .333 start. ... M-Braves alum Jason Heyward, who needed a good start this season, has had one, batting .346 for Atlanta. He appears to have made some adjustments in his set-up.

the perfect club

Colton Mitchell, a junior left-hander from Lake by way of East Central Community College, earned a very special place in the Delta State record book on Saturday by throwing the school's first perfect game. Mitchell retired all 21 batters he faced in the seven-inning second game of a Gulf South Conference twinbill as the Statesmen beat New Orleans 4-0. Mitchell, now 5-0, struck out seven. He came into the game with a 4.05 ERA. His no-no was the 11th in DSU's long history, according to a school release, and came exactly 50 years after the first, tossed by A.C. Williams against Mississippi College. DSU (26-10, 11-6 GSC) won both games on Saturday and goes for the sweep today at Ferriss Field in Cleveland.

wanted: some runs

Patience is a virtue, and Aaron Holbert seems to be a virtuous man. The Mississippi Braves manager has watched his team get off to a 2-6 start, but he is not throwing tantrums. (At least not publicly.) His team isn’t scoring: 22 runs so far, and eight of those came in one game (a victory over Montgomery on Wednesday). The M-Braves are hitting just .237 with one home run. “We’ve got a good group,” Holbert said before Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Biscuits at Trustmark Park. “There are some things we need to do better, but we’ll come around.” There are several prospect-types in this year’s lineup. But it is a young lineup. On Thursday, it featured seven starters in their first year of Double-A ball. Some adjustment time should be expected. Mobile, which beat the M-Braves four of five in the first series, leads the Southern League in ERA. That might have had something to do with the sluggish start. Montgomery, on the other hand, is last in the league in ERA. Maybe the attack will perk up again in the last two games of this homestand. Patience, Holbert would say.

family matters

Welcome to the meat of the conference season in college baseball. The magnitude of each game grows larger, especially for the smaller schools, whose seasons are winding down. … NCAA Division III Mississippi College (14-19, 5-7 American Southwest Conference) faces a key series at home this weekend against East Texas Baptist. The Choctaws, who’ve dropped five straight games, are currently fifth in the ASC East; the top four make the postseason. … D-III Millsaps (22-10, 7-1 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) is sitting pretty at the moment but certainly wants to keep its momentum in a home series against rival Rhodes. … NAIA Belhaven (31-15, 14-10 Southern States Athletic Conference) goes on the road to Shorter. The defending league champion Blazers, beaten in a league series by in-state rival William Carey last weekend, are seeking consistency. … Carey, meanwhile, is 25-20 and 12-11 SSAC and also headed to Georgia for a league series against Emmanuel. … D-II Delta State (24-10, 9-6 Gulf South Conference) welcomes league newcomer New Orleans to Ferriss Field in Cleveland. The Statesmen surely are eyeing a sweep. … In the Division I SWAC, first-place Jackson State (21-10, 13-2) faces a road test at Alabama State, while in-state rivals Alcorn State (7-27, 6-6) and Mississippi Valley (7-26, 6-9) face off in a pivotal series in Itta Bena. … Ole Miss got a jump — sort of — on the weekend with a Thursday night game at Georgia. The nationally ranked Rebels (23-11, 6-7 SEC) were tripped up by the Dawgs as closer Brett Huber absorbed his second loss of the year and saw his ERA rise to 5.25. Ouch. … Mississippi State (21-12, 5-7) faces the unenviable task of taking on defending national champ South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. USC is just 5-7 in the SEC and very hungry. … And Southern Miss (19-13, 3-3 Conference-USA) gets nationally ranked Central Florida in Hattiesburg. There is no overstating how big that series is for the young Golden Eagles.
P.S. A nod to Blue Mountain, which is 19-20 and 7-8 in the TranSouth Conference in just its second season of baseball. Keep an eye on this NAIA program.

feeling cozy

Zack Cozart's impressive but injury-curtailed big league debut last summer apparently was no fluke. The former Ole Miss standout, starting at shortstop for Cincinnati, is batting .455 in six games. He has two triples, two doubles and two RBIs. According to reports, he is the first Reds rookie since 1947 to hit safely in the club's first six games. Cozart, 26, said he feels very comfortable hitting in the 2-hole ahead of slugger Joey Votto. Cozart hit .324 for the Reds in 2011 but was KO'd by a shoulder injury. He looked fine in the spring, batting .345 and easily winning the shortstop job. Meanwhile, former Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton, another Reds shortstop prospect, is batting .217 at high-A Bakersfield. Sports Illustrated suggested in its March 26 baseball preview issue that Cincinnati should push the 21-year-old Hamilton to The Show this season. Hamilton, whom SI calls "the fastest man in the minors," stole 103 bases in low-A last year and has five in six games in 2012. But he also has three errors, giving him 61 in 247 career pro games. Obviously, his defense needs polish. One thinks Cozart's job is safe for a while.

in the juco jungle

In the predictably unpredictable junior college ranks, Itawamba Community College celebrated its rise to No. 4 in the national poll by dropping a doubleheader at home to Holmes CC on Wednesday. ICC, 27-5 overall and 13-1 in the MACJC North going in, fell to Holmes (15-15, 6-8 going in) 4-2 and 9-2 in Fulton. The Indians managed just eight hits and committed six errors on the day. The Bulldogs' Steven Blanchard, a freshman from Louisiana, got the win in Game 1 to move to 6-2 and homered in Game 2. Also getting swept on Wednesday was the North's second-place team, Northwest, which fell to East Mississippi (now 14-19, 5-10). Northwest is 9-5 in the division, still 3 games back of ICC. In the South, No. 15 Hinds (26-8 overall) swept Copiah-Lincoln on Wednesday to move into a virtual first-place tie atop the division with Jones County. The Eagles are 10-5, the Bobcats 9-4. East Central is 9-5 after a split with Southwest. JCJC, which was swept by non-MACJC member Meridian (25-17 in NJCAA Division I) on Tuesday, plays Pearl River on Saturday. Stay tuned to this spirited race for postseason spots.

brrr, that's cold

It was a rather cold night at Wrigley Field on Tuesday — and the weather matched Paul Maholm's start. In his Chicago Cubs debut, former Mississippi State star Maholm yielded five runs in the first inning and six all told in four innings of work. The left-hander, who signed as a free agent in the off-season after leaving Pittsburgh, took the L in a 7-4 defeat against Milwaukee. "To put it bluntly, I (stunk)," Maholm told mlb.com. Maholm had a good spring, but it wasn't there for him Tuesday. Of his 80 pitches, only 45 were strikes. He gave up six hits and two walks for the 1-4 Cubs.
P.S. Props to former Mississippi Braves standout Tyler Pastornicky for hitting his first big league homer on Tuesday in Atlanta's first win of the season. ... Former Delta State star Eli Whiteside had a big double in his debut for Triple-A Fresno on Tuesday. Whiteside was beaten out by Hector Sanchez for the San Francisco Giants backup catcher job. He's got work to do to get back to the majors. ... MSU product Mitch Moreland hit his first homer of the year on Monday for Texas but went 0-for-3 Tuesday and is at .167 for the season. He may find playing time harder and harder to come by. ... Millsaps whipped Mississippi College 10-9 on Tuesday to move to 3-2 in Maloney Trophy Series play. The Majors, who've won seven straight, face Belhaven (2-2 Maloney) next Tuesday at Smith-Wills Stadium with the trophy on the line. BU and MC (2-3 Maloney) play at Smith-Wills on April 23. ... Southern Miss can make a statement tonight against LSU in Metairie, La. The Golden Eagles (19-12) are 11-36 all-time against the perennially strong Tigers (25-7), who are ranked No. 7 in one poll.

eye on ...

The test is yet to come for Andrelton Simmons. The prized prospect had two hits in his Mississippi Braves debut on Monday night, which is great. But it'll take a few weeks, if not longer, to truly gauge his bat at the Double-A level. The Curacao native, 22, answered some questions about his hitting ability last season, when he batted .311 at Class A Lynchburg. Double-A pitching, of course, is a cut above that level; he'll see major league-caliber arms fairly often. Simmons, drafted in the second round out of an Oklahoma junior college in 2010, can throw 98 mph, which is why Atlanta initially wanted to develop him as a pitcher. But he convinced the Braves to let him play shortstop. He has great range and the big arm, and everyone seemingly was impressed in big league camp as he battled former M-Brave Tyler Pastornicky for the starting shortstop job. Simmons' bat cooled after a hot start, and then he was shelved with a minor injury near the end of spring. Pastornicky went to The Show, and Simmons came to Mississippi. He is listed at 6 feet 2, 170 pounds, but he has some power, having rapped 35 doubles in A-ball last summer. He can run a little, too. "He has no fear," his former Lynchburg manager, Luis Salazar, has said of Simmons. That's one of the main qualities needed for success in Double-A. We shall see if he has the others.

he's here

Andrelton Simmons, the Atlanta Braves shortstop prospect who took spring training by storm, made his Mississippi Braves debut tonight. Simmons got a hit in his first Double-A at-bat, facing Mobile at Trustmark Park. Simmons hit .311 with 35 doubles, 52 RBIs and 26 stolen bases at Class A Lynchburg in 2011. And he's said to be big-league ready with the glove. He should be worth the price of admission at the TeePee, where the M-Braves were off to an 0-4 start.

a major way

No team in the state is hotter than Millsaps, which is 21-10 overall, 7-1 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and has produced the conference's top hitter two weeks running. Wes Perkins earned the honor today after going 8-for-17 with three doubles, a home run and 12 RBIs in a 4-0 week (that included coach Jim Page's 600th career victory). Perkins follows Ryan Zemke as the SCAC's feted hitter. For the year, Perkins, a junior catcher, is batting .366 with four homers and 35 RBIs. He leads the club in homers and RBIs but trails Stephen Gates (.405) and Zemke (.384) among Majors regulars in average. The Majors are batting .324 as a team going into a Maloney Trophy game at Mississippi College on Tuesday night.
P.S. William Carey's Kye Wilson earned pitcher of the week honors in the Southern States Athletic Conference after hurling a three-hit shutout at Belhaven on Saturday. Senior right-hander Wilson (5-2) helped the Crusaders clinch the SSAC series against the nationally ranked Blazers.

roster spotting

A few thoughts on the Mississippi Braves' 2012 roster: First of all, no Andrelton Simmons or Joe Terdoslavich; maybe they'll be added later. ... Christian Bethancourt is a rising star at catcher. ... Lefty Sean Gilmartin, Atlanta's top draft pick in 2011 from Florida State, should fit nicely somewhere near the top of the rotation. ... Zeke Spruill and Chris Masters won 10 games each between Class A Lynchburg and Mississippi in 2011. ... Billy Bullock is a seasoned Double-A closer, having posted 11 saves for the M-Braves last season. ... Former Princeton star David Hale is another pitcher of note. ... Infielder Ian Gac, in A-ball with the Chicago White Sox last year at age 26, has hit 75 homers the past three seasons. Wonder how he'll do at Trustmark Park, never a homer haven. ... Second baseman Phil Gosselin was a star at Virginia in 2010 and is a prospect worth watching. ... Outfielder Adam Milligan hit 12 homers with a .291 average at Lynchburg last summer, and outfielder Keenan Wiley stole 19 bases while hitting .285. ... Catcher Matt Kennelly and center fielder Mycal Jones are the only returning position players.
P.S. Atlanta's trade of J.J. Hoover makes it three former M-Braves who have moved on to other organizations in just the past couple weeks. Jairo Asencio (the former Luis Valdez) was traded, and Brandon Hicks was lost on waivers.

sweeping up

Belhaven and Emmanuel put on an award-worthy drama in three acts at Smith-Wills Stadium. Belhaven swept the Southern States Athletic Conference series, winning each game in its last at-bat. Jaime Bruno hit a walk-off grand slam on Friday night, and the Blazers scored the winning run in the bottom of the 10th in both games of Saturday's doubleheader. It was a big sweep for BU, now 29-12 and 13-8 in the SSAC. In Saturday's opener, the Blazers saw ace closer Josh Clarke blow a save in the seventh but showed some remarkable spunk thereafter. Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 10th, the third extra frame, Clay Bonds squeezed home Tyler Wrinkle with the game-winner. BU fell behind 6-0 in the fourth inning of Game 2 and trailed 7-6 heading to the bottom of the 10th. But Wrinkle led off with a double, Dillon Berry singled and then errors by the visiting Lions enabled the Blazers to score the tying and winning runs. A little Smith-Wills magic must have been at work. BU is now 21-4 at home. ... Delta State, in need of some magic, swept a pair on the road against NCAA Division II defending national champion West Florida. The Statesmen (19-8, 6-5 Gulf South Conference) got outstanding pitching from Aaron Newcomb and Colton Mitchell in the 8-1 and 8-2 sweep. Jonathan Andrews had the team's first five-hit game of the 2012. DSU goes for the series sweep today at Pensacola, Fla. ... Surging Millsaps swept a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference twinbill at Centre as Wes Perkins posted five hits and four RBIs on the day. The Majors have won seven of nine and stand 4-1 in the SCAC and 17-10 overall. ... And there was some broom work done in Raymond on Saturday, as well, with Hinds Community College blowing away Mississippi Gulf Coast 6-0 and 17-5 in an MACJC South Division doubleheader.