you can't have enough

The Mississippi Braves’ rotation has lived up to expectations so far. Through three games, M-Braves starters have not allowed a run in 13 innings. Today, Gus Schlosser, the 2012 Carolina League pitcher of the year, gets the call, following Aaron Northcraft, J.R. Graham (KO’d after two innings Friday by a line drive off his leg) and Alex Wood. Gary Moran, the Southern League ERA champ from last year, will start on Monday in the series final against Mobile. M-Braves manager Aaron Holbert said he can’t imagine that there’s a better starting five in the SL than his group. Now if the hitters can just provide some run support … . P.S. In an MLB matchup of former M-Braves aces on Saturday, Tommy Hanson of the Los Angeles Angels beat Matt Harrison of Texas. Harrison, who got a fat contract after a stellar 2012 campaign, has allowed 10 runs in his two starts this season, both losses.

a warming trend

Zack Cozart didn’t want to dwell on his 0-for-11 start to this season. “But you’re going to think about it,” the former Ole Miss standout and current Cincinnati Reds shortstop told mlb.com. Cozart has something else to think about now – he hit two home runs and picked up a career-best five RBIs on Friday as the Reds crushed Washington 15-0. … Southern Miss product Brian Dozier, also off to a sluggish start, went 2-for-4 for Minnesota and drove in three runs, his first RBIs of the year. … Still looking for a hit is ex-Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland, who is 0-for-13 for Texas. Moreland won the Rangers’ first-base job with a great spring, but he might be feeling some heat now. P.S. There can’t be a player in Mississippi having a better year than Tim Anderson of East Central Community College. The sophomore shortstop, a UAB signee, was named NJCAA player of the week on Thursday and is batting .495 with 20 RBIs and 25 steals in 31 games. The Warriors, tied for first in MACJC South with Jones County (both 9-3), play big doubleheaders today at Pearl River (8-4 South) and at home against JCJC next Tuesday.

back to reality

Remember the good old days? Way back on March 15, Ole Miss was 18-1 and Mississippi State was 18-2. Sizzling was the word. Then Southeastern Conference play began – and the sizzling starts were doused. Gut checks are now in order. Both the Rebels and Bulldogs host conference series this weekend, and it’s time to get busy. UM is 23-6 overall and 4-5 in the SEC, fifth in the West, with East leader Vanderbilt coming to Oxford-University Stadium. State is 24-8 and 3-6, sixth in the West, with ever-dangerous Florida up next at Dudy Noble Field. Yes, the going gets tougher in the SEC, and it shows in the numbers. Ole Miss, batting .285 overall, is at .220 in SEC games. The Rebels’ staff ERA is 3.94 in SEC play, 2.77 overall. State has had similar struggles. The Dogs are batting .298 overall, .244 vs. the SEC. Overall staff ERA: .255. Against the SEC: 3.91. P.S. Tyler Aldridge’s Delta State-record 28-game hit streak ended last Friday, but he hasn’t had a chance to start a new one. Weather has kept the Statesmen, 24-4-1 and ranked No. 1 in one NCAA Division II poll, off the field ever since. They’ll play — they hope — Gulf South Conference newcomer Shorter this weekend in Cleveland. Aldridge — they hope — will get a shot at improving his .426 average.

magical moments

Evan Gattis’ home run for Atlanta on Wednesday night wasn’t as jaw-dropping as the bomb he hit at Trustmark Park on Saturday, but it was more significant, of course. Wednesday’s game counted, and it was Gattis’ first in the big leagues, completing his improbable oddysey. From out of the game to homering off Roy Halladay in four short years. Gattis, who hit nine homers in a partial season with the Mississippi Braves last season, is the 69th M-Braves alumnus to make the majors – and not the only one to make magic happen right off the bat. Brian McCann was the first, back in 2005. Called up straight from Double-A, McCann debuted on June 10 and got a hit in his first at-bat. He homered in his second big league game. Jeff Francoeur joined McCann in The Show later that summer and homered in his first big league game. Jordan Schafer and Jason Heyward did Francoeur one better, homering in their first MLB at-bats, Schafer in 2009, Heyward in 2010.

double dipping

Vito Perna, a junior DH/pitcher at William Carey University, has pulled off a neat double play. On Tuesday, he was named the Southern States Athletic Conference player of the week. In mid-February, Perna was the conference pitcher of the week. The former Jones County Junior College star from Laurel hit .600 last week with 10 RBIs and for the season is at .372 with two home runs and 27 RBIs. On the mound, he is 4-2 with a 3.25 ERA. He is not the Crusaders’ ace, however. That label would have to go to sophomore left-hander J.D. Little, who is 6-0 with a 1.15. Carey, which hopped into the NAIA Top 25 last week, is 27-11 and 15-6 SSAC. The pitching-rich Crusaders host Emmanuel College in a league series this weekend.

a kind of hush

Opening day (or days) 2013 was kinda lackluster for Mississippians in the majors. Desmond Jennings, the former Itawamba Community College standout, takes best in show; he went 2-for-4 with an RBI, two runs and a steal in Tampa Bay’s loss today to Baltimore. Ole Miss product Seth Smith was 2-for-3 in Oakland’s loss on Monday, but he was the only other Mississippi native or college alum to get a hit in an opener. Brian Dozier, the Southern Miss product now starting at second base for Minnesota, was 0-for-3 with a walk; UM alum Chris Coghlan was 0-for-4 for Miami; ex-Rebels star Zack Cozart was 0-for-4 for Cincinnati; and, in Sunday’s MLB lidlifter, Mississippi State alum Mitch Moreland put up an 0-for-4 for Texas.

second chance

There is a bundle of prospects on the 2013 Mississippi Braves’ roster. J.R. Graham, Christian Bethancourt, Alex Wood and Edward Salcedo are highly rated by one publication or another. Yet it would not be terribly surprising if the key player for this team is an ex-prospect, a soon-to-be 27-year-old outfielder who was recently released by another organization. Kyle Russell was signed by Atlanta about a week ago and assigned to Mississippi. Russell was an All-American outfielder at Texas who led the nation in home runs with 28 in 2007. The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him in the third round in 2008, and he blasted 26 homers in A-ball in 2009, his first full pro season. But his progress stalled when he reached Double-A in 2010. Even though he hit a combined 30 homers at Double-A Chattanooga in 2011 and ’12, his strikeout numbers apparently were troubling for the Dodgers. The 6-foot-5, 195-pound lefty hitter has a cryptic 666 whiffs in five pro seasons. The Dodgers cut Russell loose in late March. Atlanta, seeking some power for its Double-A club, is giving him a second chance. Sometimes that’s all a player needs.