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>>> MSM | MISSISSIPPI SEEN
Priceless... Approximately 15,000 Bulldog fans made the trip to Jacksonville for the 2011 Gator Bowl and the Dawgs play on the field did not disappoint them. Chris Relf accounted for four touchdowns, Vick Ballard ran for three scores and coach Dan Mullen’s Bulldogs routed Rich Rodriguez’s Wolverines 52-14 on New Year’s Day. The 38-point drubbing was the worst bowl loss in Michigan’s storied history. Photo by Bobby McDuffie - Mississippi Sports Magazine
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>>> MSM | MISSISSIPPI SEEN
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Jump around... MSU Head Coach Dan Mullen celebrates with 2010 Conerly Trophy Winner Chris White after the Bulldogs blocked a Michigan punt in the first quarter. The blocked punt led to a 42-yard field goal by Derek DePasquale and gave State 10-7 lead. Photo by Bobby McDuffie - Mississippi Sports Magazine
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>>> MSM | MISSISSIPPI SEEN
An eye for the endzone... Chris Relf rushed for one TD in the 2011 Gator Bowl and was named the games MVP. Relf also completed 18 of 23 passes for 281 yards and three touchdowns. The 281 passing yards were the second most in MSU bowl history, behind the 287 thrown by Greg Plump versus North Carolina in the 1993 Peach Bowl. They are also the only two MSU quarterbacks to throw for more than 200 yards in a bowl game. Photo by Bobby McDuffie - Mississippi Sports Magazine 6 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
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>>> MSM | PUBLISHER’S NOTE www.mssportsmagazine.com
C’mon man!!!
Volume 3, Issue 4 January/February 2011
G
reg Pevey. Publisher. Clinton High School. Clinton, Mississippi. Now all of my buddies who attended the same junior college and four year college (and my frat brothers) are about to blow up my cell phone and Facebook page full of texts and wall messages because I did not give any of them credit for my accomplishments. That’s what happens on some of these message boards when a current NFL player who played his college ball at a Mississippi school does not give credit to the college he attended. Grown men get bent all out of shape that this player “dissed” his alma mater. As the ESPN NFL pregame crew loves to say every weekend, “C’mon Man!!!” Here are a few quotes off said boards that you can expect to see. Now let me preface this by saying not all the posters on these boards give a rats behind about all this, but here are a few examples of both sides... Whinney_Fan - “Let the griping commence. X player declares school as ‘said high school’ instead of ‘X college’. He’s starting tonight for ‘NFL team here’ on NBC.” Obsessed _Fan - “Hey, they just finished #1 in the nation and we just went 4-8 - can you blame him???” Crybaby_Fan - “Is ‘said high school’ the school that provided him with money to go to college and make a name for his self so he could get drafted in the Pros.” Upsetfan007 - “He is not a true ‘mascot here’!!! The only one we have is ‘NFL player’”!!! Annoyed_Fan - “These players have a chance to promote ‘said school’ nationally and they just don’t do it. They need to support their school and remember where they came from.” These rants go on thread after thread after thread. Why these fans let this get under their skin is beyond me. If they want to look back in time, they can look at Joe Horn who said his junior college in his introduction. I know, I know, he went straight to the NFL from JUCO, but that’s when other guys started giving props to their Junior College or High School. Randy Moss was right behind Horn on all this by declaring his hometown high school shortly after. Some fans are so obsessed with these players intros that they will use the DVR to go back and re-watch the beginning of the game just to torture themselves. These fans feel that these players owe it to their school to promote it every opportunity they can. And most players do. Look, these guys can say whatever they want. What’s wrong with giving props to their high school and hometown? At least they have not forgotten where they came from as some other players do. During the game if a player makes a play they will put up a little bio about him which almost always shows the college they played football at. Some people actually think a recruit is going to sign with their school if they know Mike Wallace, Jerious Norwood or Michael Boley played there. “C’mon Man!” Lighten up. If a kid wants to know more about a NFL player they will go online and read their bio and they’ll see where he played his college ball. Most people who follow these stars already know where they played college ball anyway. People think that if this recruit knows how many players are in the NFL from their school it will influence a kid to sign there? I doubt it.
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Published by Pevey Publishing, LLC Publishers Greg & Mendy Pevey Featured Columnists Kevin Broughton, Steven Godfrey Contributing Writers Kevin Broughton, Lanny Mixon, Tonya M. Huffman, Paul Jones, Donell Maxie, Chuck Stinson Contributing Photographers Philadlephia Phillies, Chris Myers, Bobby McDuffie, Greg Pevey, The Bolivar Commercial, Sports Information Offices of Ole Miss, Miss. State, Southern Miss, Jackson State, Alcorn State, Miss. College, Belhaven College Advertising Sales Greg Pevey, Jay Pevey, Mendy Pevey Mississippi Sports Magazine™ is published bimonthly by Pevey Publishing, LLC to promote Mississippi’s sportsmen and women, colleges, universities, high schools, communities and citizens in an informative and positive manner. We welcome contributions of articles and photos; however, they will be subject to editing and availability of space and subject matter. Photographs, comments, questions, subscription requests and ad placement inquiries are invited! Return envelopes and postage must accompany all labeled materials submitted if a return is requested. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Mississippi Sports Magazine are those of the authors or columnists and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, nor do they constitute an endorsement of products or services herein. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Pevey Publishing, LLC is not affiliated with any institution, college, university, or other academic or athletic organization. Subscriptions are $24 (1 year, 6 issues). Make checks payable to Pevey Publishing, LLC and mail to: 405 Knights Cove West, Brandon, MS 39047 or subscribe online at www.mssportsmagazine.com.
Pevey Publishing, LLC Mississippi Sports Magazine 405 Knights Cove West • Brandon, MS 39047 Phone: 601-503-7205 • Fax: 601-992-2885 email: publisher@mssportsmagazine.com www.mssportsmagazine.com
>>>MSM | 2011 COLLEGE BASEBALL PREVIEW
Contents
Inside 10 GODFREY’S TAKE
Steven Godfrey - A red and blue
Baseball Previews begin on pg. 28
debunking of MSU’s best season in decades.
12 SPORTS MEDICINE
Has Southern Miss become Mississippi’s top college baseball program? A recent CWS berth and three pre-season All-American players makes a strong case for the Golden Eagles.
Dr. Larry D. Field of
Mississippi Sports
Medicine and Orthopedics warns us of arm injuries for pitchers of an early age.
14 alan
Golden Eagle All-American pitcher, Todd McInnis
belcher reaches mma pinnacle
D’Iberville’s Alan Belcher is riding high
18
22
60
MS OUTDOORS
52 ROY OSWALT
Hill Denson
“Boo” Ferriss
Pete Ponds
Considering he has won over 1,000 games during his coaching career it seems a bit odd that Belhaven baseball head coach Hill Denson hesitated when asked if baseball is his first love.
If the life of Dave “Boo” Ferriss was a book, between each line would be baseball. For most of his life, Ferriss has been involved in the game of baseball.
All Pete Ponds has ever wanted to do is fish. Now, to all the anglers thinking, “Big deal, I’d fish every day if I could, too,” don’t speak out of turn.
By Chuck Stinson
By Donell Maxie
By Kevin Broughton
COLLEGE BASEBALL
COVER STORY
on the UFC Circuit
The crowd goes oooh, ahhh, ohhh over Oswalt
64 OVERTIME
WITH KEVIN BROUGHTON
MSM’s newest columnist, Kevin
To Contact MSM > LETTERS, STORY IDEAS AND PHOTO SUBMISSIONS • Email MSM at publisher@ mssportsmagazine.com or mail to Mississippi Sports Magazine, 405 Knights Cove West, Brandon, Mississippi 39047. Letters should include writer’s full name, address and home phone number and may be edited for clarity and space.
Broughton, gives us his take on the Cam Newton saga
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>>> MSM | GODFREY’S TAKE
A red and blue debunking of MSU’s best season in decades
By Steven Godfrey Featured Columnist
S
orry: I still don’t hate Mississippi State. Even after their second consecutive Egg Bowl win, in which the Bulldogs out-everythinged Ole Miss. Even after their nationally televised New Year’s Day whipping of Michigan. Even after months of Dan Mullen’s laughable needling of “The School Up North” and the rest of his “rivalry insults for beginners” barbing of my fair alma mater. I’ll admit it, Mississippi State football is absolutely bonafide. Meanwhile, my Rebels have imploded, much to the delight of longsuffering Dog fans and Arkansas partisans in love with hating Houston Nutt. I still don’t hate State, though, and I suppose that’s a huge insult to some who gladly return the favor. As an objective observer, there’s little to criticize the MSU program for this season, but that won’t stop me from offering a largely objective, somewhat red and blue shaded debunking of what I’ve seen posted on various web sites, message boards, blog and overheard from countless fans on both sides. “After the Gator Bowl win, Mississippi State is going to own in-state recruiting in 2011” Can I profess to be too unqualified to comment? As much as I relish being considered some sort of college football “insider,” the less I know about a particular recruiting saga, the happier I am. No one “owns” anything in the SEC, especially when the property in question is the decision making process of teenage boys. February is the most overhyped month on the entire football calendar. The year Eli Manning supposedly took the Rebels to “the next level” with a 10-win season, a woeful Mississippi 10 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
State team with no coach was able to snag recruits away from Oxford. Most of what you hear before National Signing Day is a cliché, but the recent salvo that “one game and one season doesn’t convince a recruit to sign” has a lot of truth. Madison Central’s standout wide receiver Tobias Singleton should’ve long since gone Bulldog if the here and now were paramount. But for the time being, Mississippi’s instate recruiting has more maroon stripes than any other color. And if I were Singleton, I’d be hard pressed to turn down playing receiver in Dan Mullen’s offense. And for the record – “owning” your home state in recruiting doesn’t equal automatic success, even in the talent-rich Southern states. Ole Miss’ back-to-back Cotton Bowl runs were built largely with Louisiana players, and LSU wouldn’t be contending for the division year in and year out without invading Houston for talent. State’s success inside the Magnolia is commendable, but it’s about more than state lines. This is the beginning of the end of Houston Nutt era at Ole Miss” Maybe, but if that’s the case, it’s got little to nothing to do with the Bulldogs. Ole Miss has to address a woeful Rebel defense, an unforgivable loss to Jacksonville State and huge questions at the quarterback position (again) for next season. After their second successful campaign, Nutt’s staff was richly rewarded – the most of all being defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix, who then promptly delivered one of the worst units in Division I football this season.
Mississippi State has scored two solid Egg Bowl wins – any Rebel making excuses or arguments to the contrary is a fool. But those games were symptoms of a larger problem in Oxford, one that the Bulldogs didn’t cause. Dan Mullen and MSU are no higher or lower than Houston Nutt and Ole Miss were exactly two years ago to the day that State trounced the Wolverines in Jacksonville, and the two teams could switch places again in the same span. “The 2010 season changed the regional perception of Mississippi State football.” True, a hundred times over. No matter that Florida and Georgia were both suffering down seasons – beat those teams, spank your rival twice and throttle ANY Big 10 program, and you’ll earn the respect of the big boys. LSU, South Carolina and Alabama all have to travel to Davis-Wade in 2011, and none of those teams are looking forward to it. When was the last time State fans could claim that? And Rebel fans? More than a few I’ve spoken to are resigned to the reality of losing a third straight Egg Bowl. Keep in mind that with a higher profile comes more scrutiny. I’m curious to see what the SEC will do after a year of experimenting with a foolish resolution to encourage “responsible ringing” of cowbells at State home games. You message board conspiracy theorists are dead on – when you win, people take notice. It’s not much of a shadowy plot, though: the difference between 20,000 disinterested fans occasionally ringing their cowbells and a sold-out near-60k stadium of maniacs means
one thing: THINGS ARE LOUDER. Whether or not their unfairly loud is the SEC office’s issue to deal with. To me it’s as clear as day (they should be banned), but your A.D. succeeded with a mush-mouthed campaign centered on “tradition” and absent of logic. Who am I to hate if the head honchos in Birmingham are down? “The 2010 season has changed the national perception of Mississippi State’s athletic program.” False. The Dogs impressive 9-4 year is a great starting point for Mullen and Stricklin to rebrand the MSU image, but just two days after the Gator Bowl, ESPN pundit Michael Wilbon slammed Mississippi State (and here’s the important detail) as a single entity when the subject of head basketball coach Rick Stansbury reinstating embattled transfer forward Renardo Sidney came up. The bad news is that State has a long, long way to go. The good news is that they’ve laid down tracks in that direction for the first time in decades. College sports fans (especially younger ones) tend to forget that schools can completely reinvent themselves with the right amount of success. If you’re under 30, I promise you that Florida was once a laughingstock. Teams like Virginia Tech under Frank Beamer and Kansas State under Bill Snyder (pre-Ron Prince) were football doormats and
nationally unknown until the right coaches showed up and set down roots to build a winner. Which brings us to… “Dan Mullen is all but gone from Starkville after next season.” Probably, but not certainly. Poll the national media and they’d be stupefied to think anyone would forgo a potential job opening at a UCLA, Texas or Georgia to stay in little old Starkville, Mississippi. But most of the national media can’t even tell Mississippi teams apart, so what do they really know? If Mullen stays, Mississippi State can be a contender in the SEC West on a regular basis. Without talking in terms of compensation (a big factor not to consider), I’d suspect that every coach wants to know they can helm a program with the potential to compete on the field and off. If Mullen believes that’s the case at State, why leave the SEC? “Dan Mullen has saved the Egg Bowl.” True. I’m not sure if MSU fans will take this as an insult or not, but the Rebels care again – to the point that they refuse to admit just how much they DO care again. I’m one of those insufferable Ole Miss alumni who cares more about beating LSU, and with Louisiana inlaws I’ll probably always be that way (all hate is relative).
But even I’m willing to admit that the State game is no longer an afterthought and the decade-dead vitriol is back flowing. And what’s so wrong about that? If the Rebels bounce back in 2011, the Egg Bowl could finally feature two teams with winning records for the first time since Tommy and Jackie. That’s a point of pride when we’re both forced to suffer an errant Alabama fan now and again. “Ole Miss fans are now forced to admit that State is their one, true football rival.” Not likely, champ. It’s the same old song across the country between various “snobby” liberal arts universities and their “redneck” agriculture land-grant rivals – we’re elitists, you’re populists. As long as blood flows through camouflaged Lee County “cigar boys” and their pompous Northeast Jackson socialite adversaries, the dynamic is the same – we’re not snobs, we’re just better than you. Although not at football. For the moment. Steven Godfrey is a freelance writer based in Nashville, Tennessee. Contact him at sgodjr@ gmail.com or on Twitter, @IACGodfrey.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Brian Hadad will return in the March/April issue with his “Dawghouse” column.
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>>>MSM | SPORTS MEDICINE
Shoulder and Elbow Injuries in the Young Pitcher
A
ccording to USA Baseball, baseball is the safest sport for children to play, but is not without risk of injury. The pitcher is the most likely to develop injuries. Youth baseball pitchers are at risk for developing elbow problems due to the increased forces on these joints during the repetitive pitching motion aggravated by improper pitching mechanics, excessive pitch counts, and poor pitch selection. The injuries usually seen in major league players are now thought to be a result of cumulative microtrauma which began to develop while the child was playing little league.
By LARRY D. FIELD, M.D.
Recommendations On the basis of some reports, recommendations have been Mississippi Sports Medicine and made to track pitch counts for all pitchers at all levels and Orthopedic Center that breaking pitches (i.e., curve balls, sliders, etc.) should not be thrown until skeletal maturity. It has also been suggested that baseball participation should be limited to no more than nine months per year and that pitching should be limited to one team per season. In addition, pitch count limits were suggested per game and per season for ages 9 through 14, with gradual increases in each limit with progressive age and level of play. The table below outlines pitch-count recommendations for various pertain to pitches in competition and do not include warm-up throws, throws from other positions and practice throwing. AGE Per Game Per Week Per Season Per Year 9-10 years........................ 50................................. 75...........................1000.............................2000 11-12 years...................... 75................................ 100..........................1000.............................3000 13-14 years...................... 75................................ 100..........................1000.............................3000 15-18 years..................... 100.............................. 150..........................1500.............................4000 *From USA Baseball Medical & Safety Advisory Committee: Position Statement on Youth Baseball Injuries, May 2006 Conclusions Numerous studies over the past 15 years all point to the same conclusion: too much throwing is dangerous to the health of growing and developing athletes. If the goal is to continue to compete and play at subsequent and higher levels, heeding this advice seems like common sense. Yet the number of injuries continues to rise, as do the number of travel teams, showcases and multi-season leagues. In order to achieve success in baseball at higher levels, participation as a youth is likely required. However, we as parents, teacher, coaches, and physicians must temper our desire to see our children succeed by keeping in mind that there are limits to what their bodies are capable of. Summary of Recommendations 1. Throwing should not be painful. Persistent pain with throwing should be evaluated. 2. Pitch counts per game and per season should be kept and adhered to for all levels of throwing. 3. Pitchers should only pitch for one team per season. 4. Multiple-season pitching is discouraged. 5. Showcases, travel teams and all-star programs should be limited. 6. Breaking pitches should be avoided until the cessation of growth (14 years old). 12 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
n e x t i ss u e Here’s a peek at what to look for in the March/April 2011 Issue...
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SCHOLARSHIp
Receive UP TO TwO yeaRs fRee TUiTiOn while Remaining a fUll-Time sTUdenT, wiTh a gUaRanTeed JOb afTeR gRadUaTiOn. Through the U.S. Coast Guard’s College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI), you can receive: • Up to $2200 monthly salary while in school • Up to two years of tuition, fees, and books • Paid medical and dental insurance • 30 days annual paid vacation, and more...
In order to apply for one of only 48 CSPI scholarships available in 2011 you must be a sophomore or junior student enrolled or accepted for enrollment in a bachelor degree program at an accredited college or university designated as a HBCU, HSI, TCU, or a college or university located in Guam, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Visit GOCOASTGUARD.COM/CSPI to learn more.
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>>> MSM | STATEWIDE
D’Iberville’s Alan Belcher Reaches MMA Pinnacle
BY LANNY MIXON Contributing Writer
M
ixed Martial Arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the country, and it’s popularity is growing in the Magnolia State. In the last issue of MSM we featured a trio of Jackson area fighters who are looking to take their game to the next level. In this edition we feature Mississippi’s most popular fighter
Alan Belcher who fights out of Remix MMA in D’Iberville. Belcher has reached the pinnacle of his chosen sport – The Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC). UFC is the worlds largest MMA promotion and features the best of the best in the world of mixed martial arts. For Belcher the road to the UFC was long and he’s had
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setbacks along the way. Belcher began taking karate classes at age eight. “My parents put me in Tae Kwon Do classes because I was having some problems with discipline and focus. It was good for me. I learned to set goals, self-respect and how to focus on tasks,” Belcher said. The Jonesboro, Ark., native was
like most boys growing up in the South he loved sports and loved being outside, and for much of his youth he focused as much on baseball as on martial arts. “I graduated from high school I went to college to play baseball,” Belcher said. “I had been training in Ju Jitsu and Muay Thai when I was 14, but there wasn’t really anything competitive to do with it at the time.” Sometimes timing is everything. While Belcher was in college playing baseball at Dyersburg in 2002, the UFC was beginning to become a household name and MMA was becoming more widely accepted as a legitimate sporting endeavor. “It 2002 or 2003 and MMA was going mainstream,” Belcher said. “All I wanted to do was train and fight so I left school and began training full time.” Belcher made his pro debut in July 2004 and scored a TKO in the first round of his first professional fight. Two years and ten fights later Belcher found himself in the big leagues, at UFC 62 he faced a much more experienced fighter in Japanese star Yushin Okami. In a three round decision the more experienced fighter prevailed but Belcher had shown that he had the talent to fight on the biggest stage. Over the next year and a half Belcher went 4-2 in the UFC. In January of 2009, something clicked for Belcher and he began a streak of four fights where he showed a focus and determination that had at times been missing in his career. At UFC 93, Belcher fought highly regarded Pride FC veteran Dennis Kang. Kang held an upper hand for most of the first two rounds before Belcher caught him with a tight guillotine choke late in the second round. Belcher earned a submission of the night bonus from UFC president Dana White for this performance. The showing earned him a spot on the UFC 100 card which is regarded by many as the great-
est card in UFC History. That evening Belcher fought seasoned Japanese fighter Yoshihiro Akiyama to a controversial split decision. The match earned Fight of the Night honors from White and both fighters pocked an extra $100,000 for their efforts. Belcher would bounce back at UFC 107 and defeated Brazilian Wilson Gouveria by TKO in the first round. The victory put Belcher back on the right track, the short but highly entertaining fight garnered Fight of the Night honors from White and paid each fighter and additional $65,000. It also meant that Belcher had pocketed three major performance bo-
nuses in 2009. Performance in the cage is what moves fighters up in the UFC and catches the eye of UFC President Dana White. In May of 2010, Belcher climbed another rung up the later when he submitted former championship contender Patrick Cote with a rear naked choke mid-way through the second round. Again Belcher picked up a performance bonus earning another $65,000 for Submission of the Night. After the win over Cote, he expressed his interest in fighting UFC Middle-weight Champion Anderson Silva.
In the late spring and early summer of 2010, Belcher appeared to be making his way towards a shot at Silva’s belt. He was scheduled for his first headlining event, UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Belcher. He was scheduled to fight Demain Maia, who would have been coming off of a championship fight against Silva. In August of 2010, Belcher traveled to Brazil to train for his upcoming match with Maia, while there the unexpected occurred. “While I was training in Brazil I began losing vision in my right eye,” Belcher said. “I spoke to a doctor down there and he told me to get back home immediately.” Over the course of the next six weeks Belcher underwent two separate operations to repair the detached retina. “It’s been tough,” he said of the recovery process. Belcher was unable to train at all for weeks after the operations but has began to be more active over the past few weeks. And while he’s been unable to train for competition he’s found plenty to do, his Gym Remix MMA is bursting at the seems, on any given night classes for ages 4 through adult pack the D’Iberville gym past capacity. Each morning the gym is closed except for those hard core
MMA practitioners who are preparing to follow in Belcher’s footsteps as professional fighters. Belcher is making quite the name for himself as a trainer and coach, recently he showed up in the corner of rising star Ben Askren when Askren defeated Lymond Good for the Bellator Welterweight Championship. When asked about his future training professionals he had this to say. “I love it,” he said. “That’s something that I always wanted to be involved in, I love training from kids all the way to the professionals.” Remix MMA is in the process of moving into a brand new state of the art 10,000 sq foot facility that will provide Belcher and his staff the much need room to expand and personalize training regiments for a wider variety of martial enthusiasts. “I make a great living training, the only reason I am still fighting is to win a belt.” he said. It won’t be long until Belcher is back on track, but the biggest question is what weight class will he compete in when he returns to the UFC? “I’ve been fighting at 185 since my first fight,” Belcher said. “My body has matured and it’s getting harder making weight.” Belcher may be most comfortable at a catch-weight of 195-pounds. “I feel like I am the best fighter in the world at 195,” he said. “That’s the perfect weight for me.” Right now he has a better feel on when he’ll fight than who and at what weight. Belcher’s doctors released him for hard physical contact in mid-December and sparing in January. “I’ll be ready for a fight in late spring,” Belcher said. “The Maia fight is still a possibility if he doesn’t take a fight then. He had some interest before in fighting at 195, so that fight could be at 185, 195 or 205.” RemixMMA is located in D’Iberville and can be reached by telephone at 228-392-0034. MSM
MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 15
something outstanding Hinds Eagles are winners in baseball • Won the 2010 MACJC state championship and hosted the Region XXIII championship • The 2010 team had eight Division One signees and 14 team members sign four-year scholarships. • The Eagles have made three consecutive postseason appearances. • 2010 NJCAA Spring All-Academic team with a team 3.12 GPA • Seven sophomores from 2011 team named Who’s Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges for academics
Michael Porter Jackson Prep
Trey Prentiss Vicksburg High
Hinds Community College offers equal education and employment opportunities and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability or veteran status in its programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Dr. George Barnes, Vice President for Administrative and Student Services, 34175 Hwy. 18, Utica, MS 39175, 601.885.7001.
JACKSON
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affordable ad rates for any size business!!! 1. Magazine readership has grown over the past five years. 2. Average paid subscriptions reached nearly 300 million in 2009. 3. 4 out of 5 adults read magazines. 4. Magazines deliver more ad impressions than TV or Web in a half-hour period. 5. Magazine readership in the 18 to 34 segment is growing. 6. Since Facebook was founded, magazines gained more than one million young adult readers. 7. The average reader spends 43 minutes reading each issue. 8. Magazines are the No. 1 medium of engagement — across all dimensions measured. Studies show that magazines continue to score significantly higher than TV or the Internet in ad receptivity and all of the other engagement dimensions, including “trustworthy” and “inspirational.” 9. Magazines and magazine ads garner the most attention: Research studies show that when consumers read magazines they are much less likely to engage with other media or to take part in non-media activities compared to the users of TV, radio or the Internet. 10. Magazines outperform other media in driving positive shifts in purchase consideration/intent. 11. Magazines rank No. 1 at influencing consumers to start a search online – higher than newer media options. *Sources available on request.
CALL US TODAY TO RESERVE YOUR SPACE FOR THE MARCH/ APRIL 2011 RECRUITING ISSUE! SPACE DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 18 For advertising information call Greg Pevey at 601-503-7205, Mendy Pevey at 601-941-1323, or Jay Pevey at 601-209-7000
PUBLISHING
Mississippi Sports Magazine • 405 Knights Cove West Brandon, MS 39047 • Phone: 601-503-7205 email: publisher@mssportsmagazine.com Visit us online at: www.mssportsmagazine.com MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 17
>>> MSM | LEGENDS
For the Love of the Game BY CHUCK STINSON Contributing Writer
C
onsidering he has won over 1,000 games during his coaching career it seems a bit odd that Belhaven baseball head coach Hill Denson hesitated when asked if baseball is his first love. But he did. “Yeah…(short pause)I don’t know. I liked football and basketball too. I never really played football but I played basketball”, said the legendary coach who first put the Southern Miss baseball program on the map prior to building Belhaven into a national NAIA power. He wasn’t fooling anybody though. A triple Hall of Famer (Southern Miss 1990, Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame 2008 and Belhaven 2010) Denson thought back to his days of playing semi-pro ball in Jackson during his days just after graduating from Southern Miss in 1966 and you could hear in his voice where his sporting heart had always been. “I did play semi-pro baseball in the summers and fell in love with baseball during those times.”
Entering his 11th season at Belhaven and 25th in college baseball, the Bay Springs graduate’s passion for the game is the same as it has always been. He loves the sport, he loves the players. He loves the game. His coaching career started at Chamberlain-Hunt Academy in Port Gibson where he coached every sport and started the baseball program all while teaching five classes of Chemistry, “It was a busy time back then’, he laughed. Denson moved around coaching mostly high school ball all while courting his bride to be Judy Moon. You don’t talk about Hill Denson without mentioning Judy, the former host of WLBT’s Coffee with Judy has been by the coaches side for just over 42 years now. It’s been not only a marriage but a partnership. “She has been right there by my side. We have made some moves for her and some moves for me.” Denson’s moves included one away from coaching to help accommodate his wife’s career. She got a job with The Nashville Network in 1981 and they packed up and headed to the Music 18 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
Photo courtesy Miss. State Sports Information
Photo by Greg Pevey, MSM
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City. While Judy worked with one of the hottest networks of the time, Denson hooked up with the Nashville Sounds. It was a job that would help shape his future in more ways that one. In 1984, two years after getting to Nashville, the Southern Miss baseball job came open. “They offered it to me and she is burned out and we take off for Hattiesburg.” Denson was not overly impressed with what he saw waiting on him. “It was very much like an intramural program. We were really, really bad. We were actually better here (Belhaven) when I took over than when I took over at USM. I knew I was in trouble when I was talking to a graduate assistant coach about personnel and he said we have a centerfielder that is also our first baseman. Those aren’t quite the same position. It turned out he did play centerfield for us but he couldn’t catch a fly ball. That was problem.” The lack of players wasn’t his only problem. He had a new field but no support help to keep it in shape. Save for the dragging of the field that the physical plant crew did for a weekend series. On Friday and only on Friday. “We were practicing for our first game I look up and here comes the physical plant crew and they said that we had to get out there. They said they had to drag the field for the weekend series. What they had been doing was dragging the field on Fridays and it would not be drug again no between games not anytime.” The first year the Golden Eagles won just 13 games. “We went 13-36. If you think it doesn’t take a long time to get your record over a 13 and 36. We were losing to Mississippi College and Delta State and everybody we played.” Denson wasn’t sure what he had gotten himself into. I don’t know why they gave me the job. I’d only been in high school. “I had no idea about recruiting and all that.” Denson had no fulltime assistants on his team so he started to rely on pro scouts to build his squad. He credits the hire of two assistants a as a big part of getting the program headed in the right direction. “The biggest thing I did right was hire Corky Palmer in the fall of 1984 and Charlie Gray in 1985. I knew Charlie was a good coach at Nicholls State and a good recruiter. I was trying to recruit myself and field a team too. Recruiting in baseball is hard because it’s at the same time you are playing. Once I got Charlie in we started getting good players.” After another losing season in his second year the winning started with ten 30 wins seasons and two 40 win marks that also included two NCAA tournament appearances in 1990 and ’91. A tougher job back then because just 48 teams would get in and he was fighting with the likes of then Metro Conference powerhouse Florida State to get one of the few coveted bids to play for the national champi20 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
Photo courtesy Miss. State Sports Information
Photo by Greg Pevey, MSM
onship. He ranks those two years among the top accomplishments in his career because of that fact. Denson doesn’t look past the fact that the sport of baseball was an afterthought for most schools which also helped him build the program. “I just got good players. Keep in mind there are so few baseball scholarships and at that time and nobody was trying to win at that time. Mississippi State was a power and Florida was a power. LSU was terrible at that time. The SEC was bad and all the Louisiana schools were bad.” Winning wasn’t the only thing Denson brought to the Southern Miss program. He also laid the foundation for fan support. “In 1988 we were in the top 15 in the country in attendance.” That might have been a product not only of winning baseball but Denson’s business philosophy he learned while work-
Photo courtesy Southern Miss Sports Information
Photo courtesy Miss. State Sports Information
Photo courtesy Southern Miss Sports Information
LOOKNG BACK: “The biggest thing I did right was hire Corky Palmer in the fall of 1984 and Charlie Gray in 1985. I knew Charlie was a good coach at Nicholls State and a good recruiter. I was trying to recruit myself and field a team too. Recruiting in baseball is hard because it’s at the same time you are playing. Once I got Charlie in we started getting good players.” ing for the Nashville Sounds. He felt he had to make his program attractive by selling it despite being told that baseball would not generate any money. “I got a little experience in selling and marketing there. I knew that you had to charge. If it’s free people come and they might leave. They might come by every once and a while but they were not going to stay.” He was told he couldn’t charge because he couldn’t make enough to pay a ticket taker. So he started charging what he could get. A
dollar, fifty cents, a quarter. Anything to get the program started. Restricted from developing a booster club, Denson found ways to market the program. He started selling outfield signs that he wasn’t even sure if his program benefited from it. “We sold 24 of them. As far as I know they just went and bought some football with them. I just wanted to show them that it could be done. That was one thing I could do. I could sneak around and raise money.”
“We started selling the great field and it started to look like a ballpark. We were then selling the stadium seats after we got the lights in 1988.” It was all coming together and that was culminated by the Golden Eagles appearances in the NCAA tournament in back to back years. The next six years resulted in 30 win seasons but no appearances in the tournament. “It was understood that Florida State was in from the Metro. Our only chance was to be a second team invited.” The bitter disappoint eventually led to frustration for Denson who started to think about his future. In 1997 he got out of the game by making what he termed a knee jerk decision. Disappointed that he Golden Eagles were left out of the tournament again, combined with the loss of Charlie Gray’s talents as a recruiter and a bit of burnout led Denson to resign as the coach. Ironically the NCAA opened the field up to 64 teams the very next year. The decision had been made and he turned his attention to the administrative side of the Southern Miss athletic department. “I had people telling me I was going to be the next Athletic Director. Assistant AD Nick Floyd told me he was going to resign and I was thinking I needed to get some experience. I resigned thinking that coach Mac (Bill McLellan-AD) was going to give me that position before we worked it out. Later on I found out he really didn’t want me in that position. He put me in the Eagle Club to raise money. Well I knew how to raise money. I wanted to learn how to schedule football and all that other stuff.” Denson regretted the move, “that was my mistake for doing that.” He has regret but not ill feelings toward his alma mater where the field they play on is named after him following his 14 seasons at the helm. He was quite happy that his former grad assistant and handpicked successor Corky Palmer guided the Golden Eagles to the school’s first College World Series berth 12 years later. It was a moment that the coach admits left him wondering ‘what if ’. Denson’s time out of baseball was spent in the Eagle club and selling commercial real estate part time and he knew that his chances to be the next AD at USM were tailing away like a good slider. The itch to coach started to surface during his third year away from the field. That’s when the University of Memphis called him for an interview. He didn’t get the job but his natural instincts to coach were resurfacing. “I was all excited about getting back in again.” Two months after that Belhaven came to him with an offer. That was appealing because he and Judy had ties to Jackson where he had SEE HILL DENSON
- CONTINUED ON PAGE 27
MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 21
>>> MSM | COVER STORY
They call him
“Boo” BY DONELL MAXIE The Bolivar Commercial
If the life of Dave “Boo” Ferriss was a book, between each line would be baseball. For most of his life, Ferriss has been involved in the game of baseball. From watching it with his father, to playing it and coaching it, Ferriss has proven his passion and commitment to America’s favorite past time and serves as a steward of the game hoping to leave it in a better shape for the future.
M
ost people simply know him as “Boo” but not understanding where it comes from. As a child Boo had an older brother, not much older than him. When he tried to say brother, he was told it came out as ‘Boo’ so his family started
to call him that. The Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer and legendary coach of the Delta State University Statesmen has lived an incredible life. On Dec. 5, Ferriss turned 89 and the Shaw native explained he was simply just thankful to be around. Growing up in Shaw was an amazing experience for Ferriss. The small Delta town had everything the young Boo would need and want
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“That was a wonderful little town to grow up in. It was a lively place. Main street was alive, every store was filled and everything you needed was in that town. We had drug stores, department stores, grocery stores, hardware stores, barber shops and bakery shops. Of course everything centered around the churches and the high school,” Boo explained. Not only did Ferriss have main street, he also had baseball. His love for baseball came naturally inheriting the passion from his father. William Douglas Ferriss, who had played semipro ball and then managed several semipro teams and also worked as an umpire. He was a farmer, raising cotton, and worked as a cotton buyer as well. “I remembered going around with him (dad) to ball games. He took me to my first pro game in Memphis to see the Chicks play when I was nine years old. I decided then that I wanted to play pro ball I guess,” Boo said. Riding his bicycle around town with his hat and glove was a norm for young Boo. One day that obsession would prove to be beneficial. As a seventh grader Boo was sitting in the bleachers watching Shaw High play Shelby High School. One of the players from Shaw became injured and Coach Bo Hollomon was short handed and called Boo out of the stands to play second base. “I was sitting up there with my cap and glove around 12 years old and I was always hanging around with them and coach knew all about me. He called me out of the stands to play second base. On an attempted steal by a Shelby player, I was covering the bag and he ran over me
Photo by Greg Pevey, Mississippi Sports Magazine
MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 23
and I fell over and broke my right wrist and that was the start of my playing career.” The next season as an eighth grader Boo went out for the team and made it and played second base regularly with the high school squad for that season and his ninth grade year. Boo’s pitching career began under Coach James Flack around the latter part of his sophomore year. Flack, who was an outstanding athlete at Delta State, felt Boo had a strong enough arm to pitch for the team. Boo’s first start came against Benoit High, which ironically was Shaw’s rival team. “I was 15 years old and we played Benoit. They had a good ball club and was coached by Tom Swayze who later coached at Ole Miss. I was fortunate to pitch against them and we stopped their 15-game win streak.” Boo only pitched three games that season, but in his junior and senior seasons Boo pitched regularly and compiled a high school record of 19-2. One of Boo’s highlights came in 1938 as his Shaw Hawks defeated Benoit for the County Championship and also defeated Tunica for the Delta Championship in a three game series. Boo pitched the last game and won it 4-2. Although Boo is certainly a Red Sox fan, growing up the lanky youngster loved Dizzy Dean and the St. Louis Cardinals. Boo said, “I knew the whole lineup and I knew all the players on the Cardinals growing up in the early 1930s. That was back when Dizzy Dean was in his hay day. We could get the broadcast here in Cleveland on a station called KMOX. My grandfather had an old radio and I would go to his house and listen to those Cardinals play,” said Ferriss. Following his high school career, Boo attended Mississippi State University. His enrollment at MSU marked the first time a baseball player received a full scholarship to Mississippi State. He pitched there on the 1941 and 1942 teams. He was drafted by the Red Sox in 1942, but was then called up for military duty during World War II. After being discharged early from the military because of asthma, he was sent to the Red Sox’ minor league team in Louisville, Kentucky. When the Sox made a slow start, Boo was called up, and made his debut for the Sox on April 29, 1945, pitching a two-hitter. He went on to set the American League record for scoreless innings to start a career, with 22. The record was broken by Brad Ziegler of the Oakland Athletics on July 22, 2008. Boo spent 10 years in the organization (five years as a pitcher and five years as the pitching coach). He was named “Rookie of the Year” with a 21-10 record, and he defeated each American League team the first time he faced them while winning his first two major league starts with shutouts. In 1946, Ferriss was the American League’s number one pitcher with a 25-6 record and he 24 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
FAST START: In 1946, Ferriss was the American League’s number one pitcher with a 25-6 record and he pitched the Red Sox to a 4-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1946 World Series. His major league record was 65-30. Ferriss holds several major league records that include the most consecutive home wins of 13 in 1946.
Photo courtesy Delta State University
pitched the Red Sox to a 4-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1946 World Series. His major league record was 65-30. Ferriss holds several major league records that include the most consecutive home wins of 13 in 1946. Boo’s Baseball career as a player came to an end when he suffered a shoulder injury in a game against Cleveland. “We were in a 0-0 ball game on a rainy day in Cleveland. It was a light rain all day but it was a packed crowd and they weren’t going to call it. I had a 3-2 count with the bases loaded on a hitter that had been a teammate of mine
in Boston. I didn’t want to give him the fastball so I curved it. I cracked down on that curve ball and he missed it to end the inning, but in doing so I snapped something in my right shoulder and found out later that I tore my labrum. Backed then they didn’t know what to do with it.” Boo continued to play the ball game, but the next day he couldn’t get his arm up. He rested for a while and came back and pitched pretty well, but didn’t have his fastball anymore. Outside of playing ball in the majors, Boo’s
Photo by Greg Pevey, Mississippi Sports Magazine
PEDIGREE: Under his direction, twenty Statesmen players earned All-American honors and twenty-three continued their baseball careers on the professional level. Twenty former players received Academic All-American honors and forty former players are now coaching in the high school and college ranks. greatest joy came when he met and married a music teacher named Miriam. “I was on furlough from the military and I came home to Shaw. She was the music teacher at the high school. She was a graduate of Blue Mountain College,” said Boo. The pair have been married for 62 years and Boo said she has been the best baseball
wife a man could ever hope for. “She didn’t know anything about baseball when we got married, but she has saw many games that she can call it pretty good now. She has been right there with me through the good and bad the hot and the cold and it was some pretty cold days when I coached at Delta State. I could not have done it without her,”
Boo said. After his professional career. Boo became the head coach of the Delta State University Baseball team. For 26 seasons he coached the Statesmen. A legend in national collegiate baseball coaching circles, Boo was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1988 in Atlanta, Ga. He compiled a 639-387-8 record, all at Delta State and his coaching record ranks him among alltime national coaching leaders at the NCAA Division II level. His 1988 team was ranked 9th nationally in the Collegiate Baseball poll. When Boo took over the baseball program in 1960 he started it from the ground level. The Statesmen played many of their games off campus and he coached without the benefit of an assistant. He directed DSU teams to the NCAA Division II Playoffs in eight of his last 12 years, including three trips to the NCAA Division II championships where the Statesmen finished third, second and third respectively in 1977, 1978 and 1982. Gulf South Conference championships came in 1978, 1979, 1985 and 1988, with the Statesmen finishing second in 1981 and third in 1982. Forty-nine of his players earned All-Gulf South Conference honors. He also earned several honors for his coaching accomplishments. In 1988, he received the United States Baseball Federation Service Award for his contributions to the game. He has been named NCAA Regional “Coach of the Year” three times while also earning Gulf South Conference coaching honors three times. In 1978 and 1982 he was selected as “College Baseball Coach of the Year” in Mississippi and was runner-up in that category in 1985. His 1985 team was ranked No. 1 in the nation for several weeks in the NCAA Division II poll. Under his direction, twenty Statesmen players earned All-American honors and twenty-three continued their baseball careers on the professional level. Twenty former players received Academic All-American honors and forty former players are now coaching in the high school and college ranks. In addition to his DSU coaching duties, Ferriss also served at various intervals as Athletic Director and Director of the DSU Foundation. He is a 1989 inductee into the Delta State University Sports Hall of Fame and is a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the Mississippi State University Sports Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Mississippi Semipro Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981 and to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2002. In addition to all the awards, Boo is very proud of the Cellular South Ferriss Trophy, which is awarded annually to Mississippi’s top college baseball player and named in his honor. In the fall of 2003, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame announced that it would be MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 25
Photo by Greg Pevey, Mississippi Sports Magazine
sponsoring a “Mississippi Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year” and the trophy would bare the name and likeness of Dave “Boo” Ferriss. “I was overwhelmed when they established the Ferriss Trophy. It was a fine honor and not because it bares my name, but because it provides a great boost for college baseball,” Boo said. Thinking about how pitching has changed or baseball as a whole, Boo simply said, “baseball is a specialized game now. “Baseball has become a specialized game. You have very few complete games anymore. You have a starter ‘they tell him to go 5 or 6 innings and they come and get him’ you have a set up man and you have a closer. We didn’t know how to spell that (closer) back when I was playing. They just gave you the ball and expected you to go nine innings,” Boo said. “You see low scoring games at 2-1 and a team will use five pitchers because they matchup pitchers with hitters. We had a bull pen of course in Boston with Relief pitchers but they were only called on when the starting pitcher got in trouble and needed to be relieved. They have what they call a pitch count, no pitch count back then,” Boo explained 26 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
Photo by Greg Pevey, Mississippi Sports Magazine
laughing. In his later years Boo has become and ambassador for baseball and a strong supporter of anything Delta State. He resides in Cleveland with his wife and remains proud of Mississippi and particularly the great athletes that come from a state without a great deal of resources.
“We have done pretty good. You look at Walter Payton, Jerry Rice and Archie Manning and a whole lot of other people who have gone on to play in the bigs of their sports from Mississippi. We have done all right. The Mississippi Sports Museum in Jackson shines the light on all those guys,” Boo concluded. MSM
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coached in high school winning a state title at Callaway in 1981, Judy had been such a popular figure on TV and their two daughters were born in the Capital City. And the fact that Belhaven was a NAIA program was not a factor at all said Denson, “ It’s college baseball.” Denson has proved that the fire still burns and burns white hot which seems to be appropriate for the coach of a team nicknamed the Blazers. Denson has built Belhaven into not only a Gulf Coast Athletic Conference power but a national power as well guiding the team to 44 wins last year and it’s first NAIA World Series in Idaho. “I felt we could get it done here. I thought we could build this into a good program that people could come to and support. We were one of the top ten teams in the nation playing for the championship. We weren’t quite good enough to win it last year but we aren’t far off. The next step is winning it.” Denson says a key factor in the Blazers rising to the top has been the teams move to historic Smith Wills Stadium where they play on an all artificial surface. “Overnight we had everything that we were trying to build. A clubhouse, lights. We have a great facility. We have as good a facility as 99% of the Division One schools to play in. That is good when it
comes to recruiting.” Recruiting is never far off topic when college coaches talk about success and Denson says it’s not much of a factor that he is coaching an NAIA team except around the metro area. “We were still building that reputation in Hattiesburg that kids would want to come to USM. They always wanted to go to Mississippi State. It’s the same thing here. You have to win for a number of years and become a big thing for people to want to come here. For little kids to come out and want to play ball at Belhaven.
I probably won’t ever see that built because it takes a long time.” Denson said that is not an indication that he is walking away from the game anytime soon it’s just that successful programs take time to build. The coach says that the only real difference he has noticed from his days at Southern Miss to his time at Belhaven is the depth on the field. A few more guys throwing 90 or a few extra bats on the bench but in the end it’s just baseball. That is why he loves it, without any hesitation. - MSM
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MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 27
2 011 M S M C O L L E G E B A S E B A L L P R E V I E W
Southern Miss
By Lanny Mixon biggoldnation.com Photos courtesy Southern Miss. Sports Information
GOLDEN EAGLES 2011 SCHEDULE
|
2010 RECORD: 36-24; 14-10 CUSA
HEAD COACH: SCOTT BERRY
FEBRUARY 18 EASTERN ILLINOIS 19 EASTERN ILLINOIS 20 EASTERN ILLINOIS 22 LOUISINA-MONROE 23 ALCORN ST. 25 @ Troy 26 @ Troy 27 @ Troy MARCH 2 @ Alabama 4 LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 5 LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 6 LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 8 SOUTH ALABAMA 9 ALABAMA A&M 11 MISSOURI ST. 12 MISSOURI ST. 13 MISSOURI ST. 15 @ Northwestern St. 18 College of Charleston# 19 Rhode Island# 20 Conneticut# 22 @ Louisiana-Monroe 25 TULANE 26 TULANE 27 TULANE 30 OLE MISS APRIL 1 @ UCF 2 @ UCF 3 @ UCF 5 Miss. State* 8 @ Memphis 9 @ Memphis 10 @ Memphis 12 Ole Miss* 15 NEW ORLEANS 16 NEW ORLEANS 17 NEW ORLEANS 20 LSU (Zephryr Park) 22 MARSHALL 23 MARSHALL 24 MARSHALL 26 ALABAMA 29 @ East Carolina 30 @ East Carolina MAY 1 @ East Carolina 4 @ South Alabama 6 UAB 7 UAB 8 UAB 13 @ Houston 14 @ Houston 15 @ Houston 19 RICE 20 RICE 21 RICE 25 CUSA TOURNEY-Pearl, MS # College of Charleston Tourney * Trustmark Park - Pearl, MS
adam doleac
Golden Eagles look to continue the success of the past two seasons in 2011
E
ven in the dead of winter when one walks into the Rogers, Thames and Welsh Baseball Center there’s a feeling of excitement. It’s hard not to be excited with all the activity that’s going on, players in the lounge watching ball games and having a good time. Assistant coaches scurrying about tending to a hundred different things from touching base with coaches, recruits and major league scouts, hammering down the final details on winter show case camps. At the center of all the activity is
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second year head coach Scott Berry. Berry an integral part of Southern Miss’ current run to national prominence while serving under long-time skipper Corky Palmer took the reigns a season ago and continued an unprecedented run of success for the Eagles. The Southern Miss baseball Eagles are fresh off of two of the best years in program history. In 2009, the Eagles struck gold and appeared in the first College World Series in program history. They promptly followed that up with a Conference USA Championship in
2010. The Eagles have plenty of reasons to be optimistic, the program returns a nice mix of seasoned veterans, solid contributors and talented first year players. To win in C-USA, one of the nation’s top baseball leagues having that experience is important. “I think that it’s important that we still have that taste of a championship,” Berry said. “We have a lot of new guys coming in this year so that’s important continuing that tradition and instilling it in the younger guys.”
In each year since it’s formation, C-USA as a baseball league has gotten stronger and stronger and expect 2011 to be no different. “The league is strong,” Berry said. “There’s so much parity in the league. There are no weak sisters in the league now, any of the teams can beat you on any given day.” Most analysts project Southern Miss to once again be at the top of the league battling it out with other national powers Rice and East Carolina. Programs on the rise include Central Florida, Marshall and Memphis. Traditional powers Houston and Tulane are looking to rebound after recent struggles. PITCHING Last season the Southern Miss coaching staff did a masterful job piecing together a pitching staff that was plagued with injury and inexperience. Despite the setbacks the Eagles finished the year with a somewhat respectable 5.96 ERA which landed them in the middle of the pack. Gone from a year ago is Scott Copeland and his All-American earning 11-1 record, that’s the bad news. The good news is that Copeland will be far and away the most significant loss from the staff. “The big year that Scott Copeland had was just outstanding,” Berry said. “With Todd (McInnis) being banged up we hung our hat on Cope and he carried us well.” Todd McInnis was slowed for much of the season with lingering arm problems for much of the year, but the tough righty still gritted it out and finished the year with a 6-5 record with a team low ERA of 3.30 in 16 starts. McInnis had a light fall and is rounding back into form nicely according to Berry. “He’s been throwing,” Berry said. “He looks like the same old Todd to me. He’s one of those guys who has a presence when he’s out there.” With a healthy McInnis the Eagles have their Friday Night starter locked in, but the only other slot that is certain is the closer Colin Cargill returns for his senior season. Cargill who has already been named to a number of pre-season All-American Teams delivered in a big way for the Eagles last year. His 1.75 ERA was the best of all pitchers in the league, his 9 saves were also a C-USA best. “I have all the confidence in the world in Colin,” Berry said. “I recruited him out of Hattiesburg High, I’ll never forget when I saw him play in the State Championship game when Hattiesburg won it his senior year. He made me a believer then.” This season the Eagles will have to rely on some talented newcomers to take over at key spots in the weekend rotation. And while Berry wasn’t ready to name any the top candidates for the starting rotation he insists that there are a number of players that fit the role. A few candidates for that starting rotation may be sophomore Geoffrey Thomas who made ten starts as a true freshman a year ago, senior
TODD McINNIS
Seth Hester who has been up and down in his previous three years as an Eagle. Newcomers vying for spots include four experienced JUCO pitchers – Chase Horn, Matt Shaw, Josh Thomason and Jonathan Thompson. But, don’t count out a quartet of high school pitchers that will be looking to make a name for themselves including three former in-state high school starts. Jackson Posey has helped Sumrall to three consecutive 3A State Titles before signing with Eagles. Boomer Scarborough was a key to St. Stanislaus’ run to the 4A State Title in 2010 and Josh Rogers was a stalwart for private school power Hillcrest Christian. “Jackson Posey, Boomer Scarborough and Josh Rogers are all going to see significant time on the mound for us this year,” Berry said. “I thought they preformed pretty good as freshmen in the fall. That’s just the fall and we’re
playing ourselves, we know that. But, I can see there was a confidence about them and their ability to command the zone that really caught my attention.” Infield The Eagles will look to replace three departed seniors in the infield. Gone are catcher Travis Graves, second baseman Taylor Walker and third baseman Joey Archer. All three were two year starters for the Eagles and played key rolls to the success the program has had over the past two years. “We’re certainly going to miss those seniors from last year,” he said. “Particularly what I look at is Taylor Walker and how he played the game. The example he set for our team, Travis Graves and the way he ran our defense and was kind of the spokesman for our team. They all MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 29
contributed in their own way.” Play-turn over is what college sports is all about and each year every program in the country has to start over and move forward with the players they have returning and the new players they have joining program. “New opportunities for new people, Berry said. “That’s what we’re looking at this year. While we do return some key players from last year we’re going to have to ask them to step up even more and we’re going to ask the new guys to fill in some other spots and continue it on the pace it’s going.” Pre-season All-American B.A. Vollmuth returns as the teams most effective hitter from a year ago. The talented 6-foot-4 infielder had a breakout year as a sophomore hitting .386, 20 home-runs and 76 RBI’s. He’ll anchor the middle infield at his short-stop position. Behind the plate expect the Eagles to play two catchers. Last year Chase Fowler saw action as a true freshman spelling Graves. He saw action in 30 games for the Eagles and hit a respectable .314. The other player that will see time behind the plate is redshirt-freshman Jared Bales. “He’s my most improved position player in the fall,” Berry said of Bales. “I’m really proud of the work he put and how he’s made himself better.” Seniors Adam Doleac and Mark Ellis both saw plenty of action a season ago at first base. This year expect both to be on the field and at the plate. “We used a couple of different options at the corners with Doleac playing more at first,” Berry said. “We looked at Ellis a little more at third. I thought both of them played relatively well. We’re going to try to get our most athletic team on the field.” At second base there’s a heated battle going on between two guys who played rolls last year for the Eagles. “Well we have a good battle going on at second base,” he said. “It’s between Issac Rodriguez and Travis Creel, they’re both returners but they didn’t start for us last year. Both played well during the fall. One does one part of the game better and vice-verse, one is more of an offensive guy and one is more of a defensive guy.” Junior college transfer Ashley Graeter, a versatile infield who can play second, shortstop and third could also figure into the mix before things are finalized. Outfield The Eagles return five outfielders that saw action in at least 40 games a year ago. The group is led by true sophomore Dillon Day who hit .355 as a true freshman while holding down the starting spot in center field for much of the year. Tyler Koelling broke out as a junior for the Eagles hitting .333. Kameron Brunty and Marc Bougious also figure in heavily in the outfield where the Eagles have plenty of options. - MSM 30 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
B.A. VOLLMUTH
ROSTER No. Name ................................. Pos. ........B/T ......Ht.Wt. ........... Yr...........................................Hometown (Prev School) 1 Chase Fowler......................... C............B/R......6-1/170.......... SO............................ Cumming, Ga (South Forysth HS) 2 Ashley Graeter......................INF..........R/R......6-1/190...........JR...............................Poplarville, Miss (Pearl River CC) 3 B.A. Vollmuth.......................INF..........R/R......6-4/200...........JR...............................................Biloxi, Miss (Biloxi HS) 5 Andrew Furr.........................OF.......... L/L.......6-4/200.......... FR...............................Ackerman, Miss. (Ackerman HS) 6 Boomer Scarborbough..... RHP/INF......R/R......6-2/235.......... FR.......................Bay St. Louis, Miss. (St. Stanislaus HS) 7 Justin Diliberto......................OF..........R/R......5-8/155.......... SR................................ Hoover, Ala. (Shelton State CC) 8 Jay Myrick...........................RHP.........R/R......5-9/160.......... SO.......................... Spanish Fort, Ala (Spanish Fort HS) 10 Todd McInnis.......................RHP.........R/R......6-1/160........RS SR................... Brandon, Miss (Northwest Rankin HS) 11 Tyler Koelling........................OF..........R/R......6-0/190.......... SR..........................................Luling, La. (Meridian CC) 12 Matt Shaw..........................RHP.........R/R......6-4/180...........JR................................... Oxford, Miss (Northwest CC) 14 Dillon Day........................... LHP.......... L/L.......6-0/160.......... SO...................................Geismar, La. (Dutchtown HS) 15 Michael Sterling....................INF..........R/R.....5-11/165......... FR...................................Meridian, Miss. (Meridian HS) 16 Isaac Rodriguez....................INF..........R/R.....5-10/185......... SO................................. Weston, Fla. (Cypress Bay HS) 17 Travis Creel...........................INF..........R/R......6-0/170........RS SO.............. Ocean Springs, Miss. (Ocean Springs HS) 18 Austin Roussel....................... C............L/R.......6-0/180.......... FR............................................Lutcher, La (Lutcher HS) 19 Joe Martin............................OF..........R/R......5-9/185.......... FR..........................................Zachary, La. (Zachary HS) 21 Kameron Brunty...................OF..........R/R......6-1/160...........JR.................................Pensacola, Fla (Gulf Breeze HS) 22 Taylor Eads...........................OF..........R/R......6-0/215.......... FR....................................... Slidell, La. (Northshore HS) 23 Josh Rogers......................... LHP..........R/L......5-10/160......... FR........................Jackson, Miss. (Hillcrest Christian HS) 24 Paxton King......................... LHP..........R/L.......6-2/210........RS SO....................... Brookhaven, Miss (Brookhaven HS) 25 Mark Ellis..............................INF..........R/R......6-3/220.......... SR..................................Maple Ridge, BC (Chipola CC) 26 Matt Warren.......................RHP.........R/R......6-5/200........ RS JR............................................Petal, Miss. (Petal HS) 27 Seth Hester..........................RHP.........R/R......6-4/215.......... SR...................................... Stringer, Miss. (Stringer HS) 28 Marc Bourgeois....................OF..........L/R.......6-1/210.......... SR...................................Granby, Quebec (Chipola CC) 29 Jake Drehoff........................ LHP.......... L/L.......6-4/185.......... FR............................ Cumming, Ga. (South Forysth HS) 30 Geoffrey Thomas.................RHP.........R/R......6-1/180.......... SO.....................Stone Mountain, Ga. (Stephenson HS) 32 Jared Bales............................. C............R/R......6-3/225........RS FR.................................Picayune, Miss (Picayune HS) 33 Josh Thomason....................RHP.........R/R......6-4/220...........JR............................... Oxford, Miss. (Navarro College) 34 Jonathan Thompson............RHP.........R/R......6-1/200...........JR................................ Baton Rouge, La (Meridian CC) 35 Adam Doleac........................INF..........L/R.......6-4/215........RS SR........Hattiesburg, Miss. (Presbyterian Christian HS) 36 Collin Cargill........................RHP.........R/R......6-2/185........RS SR....................... Hattiesburg, Miss. (Hattiesburg HS) 37 Jackson Posey.................. RHP/INF..... RHP......6-4/220.......... FR.................................Hattiesburg, Miss. (Sumrall HS) 38 Chase Horn.........................RHP.........R/R......6-1/190...........JR.................Alexander City, Ala. (Southern Union CC) 39 Zach Evans............................ C............R/R.....5-10/195......... FR.............................Taylorsville, Miss. (Taylorsville HS) 42 James McMahon............. INF/RHP......R/R......6-0/200.......... FR........................... Hattiesburg, Miss. (Oak Grove HS)
The
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2 011 M S M C O L L E G E B A S E B A L L P R E V I E W
Ole Miss
By John Davis The Oxford Eagle Photos by Mississippi Sports Magazine
REBELS 2011 SCHEDULE
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2010 RECORD: 39-24; 16-14 SEC WEST
HEAD COACH: MIKE BIANCO
FEBRUARY 18 WRIGHT ST. 19 WRIGHT ST. 20 WRIGHT ST. 22 MEMPHIS 23 ARKANSAS ST. 25 @ Houston 26 @ Houston 27 @ Houston MARCH 1 AUSTIN PEAY 2 AUSTIN PEAY 4 TULANE 5 TULANE 6 TULANE 8 W. KENTUCKY 9 W. KENTUCKY 11 LIPSCOMB 12 LIPSCOMB 13 LIPSCOMB 15 JACKSON ST. 18 ALABAMA 19 ALABAMA 20 ALABAMA 22 SAMFORD 25 @ Tennessee 26 @ Tennessee 27 @ Tennessee 30 @ Southern Miss APRIL 1 @ LSU 2 @ LSU 3 @ LSU 5 @ Memphis 8 GEORGIA 9 GEORGIA 10 GEORGIA 12 SOUTEHRN MISS* 15 KENTUCKY 16 KENTUCKY 17 KENTUCKY 19 MISS. STATE* 22 @ Auburn 23 @ Auburn 24 @ Auburn 27 ARKANSAS PINE BLUFF 29 @ Florida 30 @ Florida MAY 1 @ Florida 6 SOUTH CAROLINA 7 SOUTH CAROLINA 8 SOUTH CAROLINA 11 @ Arkansas St. 13 MISS. STATE 14 MISS. STATE 15 MISS. STATE 19 @ Arkansas 20 @ Arkansas 21 @ Arkansas 25 SEC TOURNEY * Trustmark Park - Pearl, MS
alex yarbrough
Bianco welcomes new players to the lineup as well as a new attitude in 2011
E
nergy is something Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco has always brought to the diamond each spring since he led his first team in 2001. The Rebels have played with a great deal of passion over the years and they have been as talented and productive as any program in the Southeastern Conference as a result. This year the enthusiasm level
32 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
in the fall was a little different for Bianco and his staff. Instead of a lineup filled with experienced faces who know what to expect during a normal workout, Bianco was teaching more than he has in the past. It’s not that Rebels are completely new to college baseball — Bianco thinks he has a good mix of returners and newcomers — but the level of enjoyment
coaching the finer points of the game seem to have hit a new level with the 11-year coach. “We all get into coaching to coach. It’s not to worry about season tickets or the academics or to talk to the media. You want to become a coach because you want those two or three hours on the field every day. I think when you have a lot of new faces, that enthusiasm and that excitement
is why we all got into it,” Bianco said. “You get into coaching to teach the bunt defense for the first time, not to teach it to Kevin Mort as he’s a senior. To me it’s refreshing when you have teams like that. We had a lot of fun this fall, a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm and maintained it through a long fall.” Ole Miss heads into spring workouts with a renewed sense of energy and excitement for the game mainly because of the 20 new faces that make up the current roster. There are a good number of returning players, like senior Matt Smith and junior Matt Snyder, but there are also several newcomers like freshman infielder Preston Overby who don’t quite know what to expect just yet. Teaching the young guys how to be a part of program that has been to the postseason the last eight seasons isn’t always easy, but for Bianco, the success of the fall seemed to do him some good and makes him feel better about what his Rebels can accomplish in 2011. “There is a high expectation from the fans and the university and those are welcomed. But there is a greater expectation within the program. This is what we do. We think about it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and not just from a coaching standpoint. From the players to the managers to the trainers and everybody that’s involved in the program, this is what we do,” Bianco said. “All of us touch it in such a way that we strive to be the best that we can be. I think the expectations are very high but I think the players develop that on their own through. It’s neat to talk to them and here those things. You don’t hear the words like rebuilding a lot or young. You don’t hear that within the program. Those are more for the media and other people to say. “We expect to win every year and have success every year. With that being said, if you fall short of your goals there are different reasons why. It was a fun fall because of so many new faces. At times you can really feel the newness,” Bianco added. “The first time they go to weights, the first time they go to practice, the first intrasquad game. You can sense that energy and competitiveness when they’re taking ground balls for the first time. You see them looking over their shoulder at the guy next to them. I thought that brought a great competitiveness to the fall, I thought that brought a lot of energy to the fall that was different than last year. I think that is partly because of the newness and the depth.” Infield Ole Miss will be the youngest on the left side of the infield where a shortstop has to be named to replace Mort and a third baseman has to be found to replace Zach Miller. Overby is the leading candidate to become the new third baseman, while freshman Austin Anderson and junior college transfer Blake
jake morgan
Newalu competed to become the new shortstop. “People will want to know how we’ll be on that side because when you look back at the other side, we return a lot of them with Smith and (Matt) Snyder and the two catchers and (Alex) Yarbrough at second,” Bianco said. “Austin is a solid shortstop with an offensive left-handed bat. Newalu is a quicker, probably more of a prototypical shortstop that is very fast, with great hands. He’s more from the Mort style in the sense that he’ll be more of a bunt, hit-and-run guy at the plate. Then at third base, Preston Overby, a true freshman out of Jackson, Tenn., had a real good fall.” Yarbrough, a returning letter winner, is expected to man second, while Snyder, a power hitter who hit .347 with 12 home runs last season, is projected to be the starter at first. Bianco has two catchers — senior Miles Hamblin and junior Taylor Hightower — back and a solid freshman in Will Allen to choose from. “I think Will Allen, a true freshman, will play in some capacity. It reminds me a lot in ‘09 when Hightower came in and we had two seniors in (Brett) Basham and (Kyle) Henson,” Bianco said. “Allen will find his way on the
field. He could DH, play first, play the outfield. He caught very well and he needs to get him into the lineup. It’s hard to play three catchers, so we’ll have to figure out a way to get Allen They’re all very capable back there.” OUTfield Smith and sophomore Tanner Mathis are returners who have the most experience in the outfield, while senior Jordan King and junior Zach Kirksey both played well in the fall and will be part of the mix to become a starter. “We have some more depth, but we just don’t know how it will fall. I’m less certain of the outfield than anything. Not because of ability, but because of not enough separation between the players,” Bianco said. Depth was an issue Bianco had to deal with last year, but he feels he has more players this year to where that won’t be as big of an issue. “I think this year’s team has got much more depth than last year. That was the thing that ended up getting us. We just didn’t have enough depth around the field and on the mound. There wasn’t a lot of moves to be made. I think that was a mistake I made myself trying to deal with this 35 man roster limiMISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 33
tation. You try to do the right things and only ask the kids to come that you really need and what happens is you fall short,” Bianco said. “The next thing you know you loose some guys to injuries, some to the draft and a couple guys get dismissed and then you look up, and you have 32 guys. When they expanded the rosters in postseason from 25 to 27, the two extra guys we dressed were Jake Morgan and Blair Wright and they couldn’t even pitch. You’re supposed to have 10 more guys on your roster and we only add two more anyway and they couldn’t pitch.” pitchers Morgan, a senior, returning helps solidify the bullpen, while the starters heading into the spring would be junior Matt Crouse, junior right-hander David Goforth and either junior right-hander R.J. Hively or junior left-hander Austin Wright. Bianco said it was good to get back Morgan, who had a good fall, and to have Goforth, who added a new pitch, return. “Jake is 100 percent and looks great. The fall probably was statically as dominant as he would want, people would want, but he looked great as far as strength. His velocity was back up into the low 90s with a slider in the low 80s. He never had a hiccup through his rehab and into the fall,” Bianco said. “We threw him in relief mainly in the fall because we think that’s where he’s going to be but also just as precaution not to pitch him too much. He really pitched super the last couple of weeks. He pitched really good through the whole fall, but he did have an inning here or there where he was un-Morganlike. The last two outings he really looked sharp, like he did in ‘09.” “I’m very proud of David for coming back. He was a guy that had a really good redshirt freshman year and last year it just didn’t work for him. It kind of fell apart early and he lost some confidence. He picked up a cut fastball which is the cutter he used this fall and just made all the difference in the world for him,” Bianco said. “I think this is a pitch that he has better command of. He can throw it into the strike zone at will. It doesn’t get hit. It’s in the low 90s, which is amazing.” Smith, who led the Rebels with a .348 average, and Snyder make Bianco feel good about the lineup on offense. “It’s the first time that I can remember returning two guys that hit double digit home runs from the year before. We got two guys that hit mid teen home runs and Snyder missed 20 games. One is right handed, one is left handed and when you return your three and four guy, the lineup is easier to build around,” Bianco said. “You got two guys that you’re returning at the three and four holes that have batted three and four the last two years. I think that means a lot.” MSM 34 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
matt smith
ROSTER No. 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 11 12 14 16 17 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 44 45
Name ................................. Pos. ........B/T ......Ht.Wt. ........... Yr...........................................Hometown (Prev School) Preston Overbey...................IF....... 6-4/210...... R/R............FR-HS.........Jackson, Tenn. (University School of Jackson) Alex Yarbrough.....................INF..... 5-11/180..... R/R........... SO-1L.................................................Allen, Texas (Allen) Gabe Woods.........................IF....... 5-9/170...... R/R............FR-HS...............................................Albany, La. (Albany) Weston Hoekel....................RHP..... 6-0/190...... R/R............FR-HS............................ Jacksonville, Fla. (Bishop Kenny) Blake Newalu........................IF...... 5-11/185..... R/R............ JR-JC..............................McDonough, Ga. (Chipola CC) David Goforth.....................RHP.... 5-11/191..... R/R............ JR-2L.................... Philadelphia, Miss. (Neshoba Central) Austin Anderson....................IF....... 6-0/190...... L/R............FR-HS............................. Sorrento, Fla. (Mount Dora HS) Zach Kirksey.........................OF...... 6-0/210...... L/R............ JR-JC............................. West Monroe, La. (LSU-Eunice) Tanner Mathis......................OF..... 5-11/180..... L/L........... SO-1L........................................Lake Charles, La. (Barbe) Taylor Hightower................... C....... 5-11/215..... S/R............ JR-2L................................. Cartersville, Ga. (Cartersville) Matt Smith...........................OF...... 6-3/230...... R/R............SR-3L....................................Milan, Ga. (Dodge County) Jordan King........................OF/IF... 5-10/180..... R/R............SR-1L.......................................Jackson, Miss. (Meridian) Jordan Poole.......................OF/IF.... 6-3/215...... R/R............FR-HS......................................... Calhoun, Ga. (Calhoun) Brooks Oursler.....................RHP..... 6-5/221...... R/R......... RS FR-RS...........Nashville, Tenn. (Franklin Road Academy) Bobby Wahl.........................RHP..... 6-3/190...... R/R............FR-HS.......................... Springfield, Va. (West Springfield) Matt Crouse........................ LHP...... 6-4/183...... L/L............ JR-1L...............................Haymarket, Va. (Young Harris) Trent Rothlin........................RHP..... 6-1/200...... R/R............SR-1L..................................Hickory, N.C. (Walters State) Austin Wright...................... LHP...... 6-4/234...... L/L............ JR-JC................................ Schaumburg, Ill. (Chipola CC) Eric Callender......................RHP..... 6-4/210...... R/R............SR-1L.................................. Baton Rouge, La. (Meridian) Miles Hamblin.....................IF/C..... 6-0/205...... L/R............SR-1L........................................Rowlett, Texas (Howard) Peyton Johnson..................C/OF.... 6-0/180...... L/R............FR-HS........................... Jackson, Miss. (Madison Central) Chris Ellis............................IF/OF.... 6-0/205...... L/R......... RS FR-RS........................ Macon, Ga. (Stratford Academy) R.J. Hively...........................RHP..... 6-1/215...... R/R............ JR-JC........ Huntington Beach, Calif. (Santa Ana College) Mike Mayers.......................RHP..... 6-3/185...... R/R............FR-HS................................Grove City, Ohio (Grove City) Matt Tracy........................... LHP...... 6-3/210...... L/L............SR-3L........................Des Peres, Mo. (Christian Brothers) Will Allen............................... C........ 6-3/210...... R/R............FR-HS.....................................Gainesvilel, Fla. (Buchholz) Eric Sauls..............................OF...... 6-1/190...... R/R............ JR-JC.................................Tallahassee, Fla. (Chipola CC) Matt Snyder..........................IF....... 6-6/210...... L/R............ JR-2L.....................................Centreville, Va. (Westfield) Jon Andy Scott.................... LHP...... 6-4/215...... L/L..........RS JR-RS.............. Booneville, Miss. (Northeast Mississippi) Austin Sullivan...................RHP/C... 6-0/180...... R/R............FR-HS.................... Mary Esther, Fla. (Fort Walton Beach) Austin Hartzog....................RHP..... 6-4/206...... R/R............FR-HS.......................... Jackson, Miss. (Hillcrest Christian) Blair Wright.........................RHP......../230......... R/R........... SO-RS........Memphis, Tenn. (Memphis University School) Brett Huber.........................RHP..... 6-2/210...... R/R........... SO-1L............................... Belleville, Ill. (Althoff Catholic) Casey Greene....................RHP/IF... 6-2/178...... R/R............FR-HS......................Olive Branch, Miss. (Desoto Central) Scott Weathersby................RHP..... 6-2/160...... R/R............FR-HS..............................Hattiesburg, Miss. (Oak Grove) Tanner Bailey.......................RHP..... 6-7/225...... R/R............ JR-JC.............................Little Rock, Ark. (Texarkana CC) Jake Morgan.......................RHP..... 6-1/223...... R/R............ JR-2L.......................... Canton, Miss. (Canton Academy) Jimel Judon.........................OF/IF.... 6-5/270...... R/R............FR-HS..............Myrtle, Miss. (Myrtle Attendance Center)
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MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 35
2 011 M S M C O L L E G E B A S E B A L L P R E V I E W
Mississippi State
BULLDOGS 2011 SCHEDULE FEBRUARY 18 AKRON 19 LAMAR 19 AKRON 20 LAMAR 22 NORTHWESTERN ST. 25 BELMONT 26 BELMONT 27 BELMONT
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2010 RECORD: 23-33; 6-24 SEC WEST
By Paul Jones bulldawgjunction.com Photos courtesy Miss. State Sports Information
HEAD COACH: JOHN COHEN
Photo by Mississippi Sports Magazine
MARCH 1 ALCORN ST. 4 IOWA 5 GEORGIA ST. 5 IOWA 6 GEORGIA ST. 8 MS. VALLEY ST. 9 @ UAB 11 SACRED HEART U. 12 SACRED HEART U. 13 SACRED HEART U. 15 EASTERN ILLINOIS 16 @ Lipscomb 18 @ Vanderbilt 19 @ Vanderbilt 20 @ Vanderbilt 25 AUBURN 26 AUBURN 27 AUBURN 29 ALABAMA A&M APRIL 1 @ Georgia 2 @ Georgia 3 @ Georgia 5 SOUTHERN MISS* 8 FLORIDA 9 FLORIDA 10 FLORIDA 15 @ Arkansas 16 @ Arkansas 17 @ Arkansas 19 Ole Miss* 22 SOUTH CAROLINA 23 SOUTH CAROLINA 24 SOUTH CAROLINA 29 ALABAMA 30 ALABAMA MAY 1 ALABAMA 4 @ South Alabama 6 @ Tennessee 7 @ Tennessee 8 @ Tennessee 10 MS VALLEY ST. 13 @ Ole Miss 14 @ Ole Miss 15 @ Ole Miss 17 @ Memphis 19 LSU 20 LSU 21 LSU 25 SEC TOURNEY
WES THIGPEN
Diamond Dawgs look to new faces to help end SEC woes and get back to Hoover
T
his spring, Mississippi State fans would be welladvised to keep the game program handy. Many new faces will don the field and the mound for head coach John Cohen, and that could be a good thing judging from back-to-back losing seasons. Gone are the likes of Connor Powers and company. But that
* Trustmark Park - Pearl, MS
36 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
group also totaled 44 losses in the Southeastern Conference over the past two seasons. Over the past couple of years, however, Cohen and his staff have posted Top 25 recruiting classes. This past summer, five members of the 2010 class were drafted - infielders Demarcus Henderson, Taylor Stark and Daryl Nor-
ris (also a pitcher), outfielder/ pitcher C.T. Bradford and catcher/outfielder Hunter Renfroe. And none of them signed with MLB clubs as they all will be true freshmen Bulldogs in 2011. “We have more depth than we had in the past at a lot of positions, and that does help,” said Cohen. “But I think we are in position to where we can bring the
younger guys along slower that we had to a year ago, for sure. “It’s gonna take a little bit of time for them to get to where we want them to be. But you can’t help but be excited about the speed and athleticism of our new athletes. I feel really good about that.” Of course, to compete in this league, bringing in solid recruits on an annual basis is a must. That was obviously noted last year when the Bulldogs suffered key injuries on the mound, including 2009 southpaw standout Nick Routt, and in the field with third baseman/first baseman Jarrod Parks. “It’s really important and when you look at the league, everyone has great recruiting classes,” said Cohen. “There are no off years and you have to recruit at a high level. What that allows you to do is not to be an injury or two away from being devastated, which is what happened to us last year with Routt and Parks. We couldn’t make any moves while other schools could. “If you play in another league, those injuries are survivable. But it’s not that way in the SEC.” PITCHERS Youth and injuries crippled MSU’s pitching staff in 2010, and it translated into an SEClow 6.87 earned run average. But now a year later, those green freshmen are now sophomores. Guys like Chris Stratton, Chad Girado and Kendall Gravemen are expected to play major roles this year. And last year, Stratton was State’s best option on the weekends, and posted a 5-3 record with a 5.29 era. “Chris was very efficient this fall,” said MSU pitching coach Butch Thompson. “He finished up nicely last year with a strong showing at LSU. We rested his arm this summer and now he just needs to stay on that path of building.” Stratton threw a staff-high 78 innings last spring and struck out a staff-high 76 batters. Now he is focused on adding more to his resume on the mound. “I’ve worked with Coach Thompson about making the curveball my power pitch,” said Stratton, a Tupelo native. “But I want to add more pitches to make it even stronger. I am working on a new changeup and also a cutter, hoping it help out my curve ball even more.” The Bulldogs will also have a couple of veterans in the mix with juniors Caleb Reed, Devin Jones and Routt. However, Routt recently underwent elbow surgery and the staff is hoping he returns healthy from last year’s injury-riddled season that saw Routt pitch in just six games. “Getting Nick back would be huge and a shot in the arm,” added Thompson. “We saw last year how we fell apart without him. But now we are in different shape with more
CHRIS STRATTON
depth. So we will have a plan either way and we hope he can help us.” A couple of rookies - Bradford and Routt could also figure into the mix. But unlike last year, depth should be a better subject in 2011 concerning the mound. “We do have some exciting new arms and I feel like every fall we’ve added depth to the staff,” noted Cohen. “Depth is good and all but you also want some veterans on the front end of that depth. And we do have some juniors in that category like Jones, Routt and Reed.” INFIELD MSU does face a major rebuilding job in
the field, and at the plate in 2011. Last year’s offense was largely led by the likes of Powers, Russ Sneed, Ryan Duffy, Jet Butler and Luke Atkins. All of those guys were seniors last spring and their bats will be sorely missed. But like the pitching staff, there are some veterans returning in the mix as well as some talented newcomers. Senior third baseman Nick Vickerson hit .328 last year with eight home runs and 27 RBIs. Also back is sophomore second baseman Sam Frost who will also be pushed by rookies Henderson and Adam Frazier. Senior Jonathan Ogden returns at shortstop after hitting six homers and driving in 28 runs in 2010. MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 37
However, replacing Powers’ pop at the plate and defense at first base could be by committee. Cody Freeman, also a catcher, Parks, Norris and JUCO transfer Brett Bozeman all took reps in the fall. “We have more athleticism this year and that is obvious,” said MSU hitting coach Lane Burroughs. “And we will have a different type of offense with less power but more guys that can run and create more things on the basepaths. “Maybe I am just getting older, but our guys this year seem to be playing faster. The guys we brought in and the ones returning are good athletes and it’s shown on the field.” Behind the plate, MSU returns a pair of starters in Freeman and senior Wes Thigpen. Bozeman also played catcher at the JUCO level and could get a serious look behind the plate. “We feel good about the experience at catcher,” added Burroughs. “We have two guys in Thigpen and Freeman who are SEC-experienced and a good left-handed bat in Bozeman. “Not only that, Hunter Renfroe also got time there in the fall and he is a freak of an athlete. We have to find a spot for his bat somewhere in the lineup.” OUTFIELD This spring, MSU will likely put its best defensive unit in the outfield since Cohen took his alma mater’s program. Centerfielder Jaron Shepherd started 34 games last year and the senior drove in 34 runs. Fellow classmate Ryan Collins started 36 games last year and hit .271 and ranked second on the team with nine stolen bases. And before being injured last year, junior Brent Brownlee was a starter in centerfield. Also expected to make a push for starting time is the left-handed hitting Bradford, who could also figure a closer’s role on the mound. “We look at the outfielders as guys that can play all of the positions,” said Burroughs. “Whether they are labeled centerfielder, right fielder or left fielder, we will put our best three out there. So far, C.T. Bradford and Jaron Shepherd have jumped out to the forefront by the way they attack the game. “Ryan Collins has shown for three years that he can do it and has swung a good bat. Then you have Brent Brownlee who people forget about. His arm strength and athleticism, when healthy, is as good as anyone in the league.” And overall, as good of speed as the Diamond Dogs have exhibited in quite some time. “We have a lot of speed on the team now and it will show this year,” said Shepherd. “I really like Bradford and he is a scrappy kid. I think a lot of those young guys on this team will be pretty good and help us this year.” MSM 38 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
CODY FREEMAN
ROSTER No. Name ................................... Pos. .........B/T ....... Ht.Wt. ............Yr............................................. Hometown (Prev School) 2 Demarcus Henderson............ INF......... R/R..... 5-9/168......... Fr. HS..................... Waynesboro, MS (Wayne County HS) 3 Jonathan Ogden................... INF......... R/R..... 5-9/ 168.......... Sr......................Cypress, TX (Blinn [TX] CC) (Cy-Fair HS) 4 Ben Bracewell........................ RHP......... R/R..... 6-0/194........... So.................... Chelsea, AL (Briarwood Christian School) 5 Daryl Norris....................... INF/RHP..... R/R..... 6-1/220........... Fr.......................................... Fairhope, AL (Fairhope HS) 6 C.C. Watson......................... LHP......... L/L.... 5-11/197.......... So............................................. Heflin, AL (Cleburne HS) 7 Taylor Stark....................... INF/RHP..... R/R.... 5-11/182........ Fr. HS...................... Flowood, MS (Northwest Rankin HS) 8 Sam Frost.............................. INF......... L/R..... 5-9/165 .......... So.............................................. Hoover, AL (Hoover HS) 9 Jarrod Parks.......................... INF......... R/R..... 6-2/ 192...........Sr... Madison, MS (Meridian [MS] CC) (Madison Central) 10 C.T. Bradford...................... OF/LHP...... L/L..... 5-8/159......... Fr. HS................................................... Pace, FL (Pace HS) 12 Adam Frazier......................... INF......... L/L.... 5-10/168........ Fr. HS............................. Bishop, GA (Oconee County HS) 13 Brayden Jones....................... INF......... R/R.... 5-11/186........ Fr. HS........................ Madison, MS (Madison Central HS) 14 Brett Bozeman..................... C/1B........ L/R..... 6-1/201......... Jr. JC............. Gainesville, FL (Sante Fe CC) (Buchholz HS) 15 Jaron Shepherd...................... OF.......... L/R..... 6-2/180........... Sr.................. Kilgore, TX (Navarro [TX] CC) (Kilgore HS) 17 Luis Pollorena..................... LHP/OF...... L/L..... 5-6/165........ So. JC........................................... Laredo, TX (United HS) 18 Chad Girodo......................... LHP......... L/L..... 6-1/188........... So.......................................... Hartselle, AL (Hartselle HS) 19 Cody Abraham................... OF/LHP...... L/L.... 5-11/161........ Fr. HS.................... Houston, TX (Lamar Consolidated HS) 21 Nick Vickerson................... INF/OF...... R/R.... 5-11/208.......... Sr..Tuscaloosa, AL (FSU/Shelton [AL] State CC) (Hillcrest) 22 Michael Dixon....................... RHP......... R/R..... 6-1/224.......... Jr.RS. Austin, TX (San Diego St./Blinn [TX] CC) (Westlake) 24 Trey Johnson...................... OF/LHP...... L/L.... 5-11/196.......... Sr................ Tyler, TX (Blinn [TX] CC) (Robert E. Lee HS) 25 David Bishop.......................... OF.......... R/R.... 5-11/190........ Jr. JC........ Mobile, AL (Alabama Southern CC) (Baker HS) 28 Chris Stratton........................ RHP......... R/R..... 6-2/194........... So............................................... Tupelo, MS (Tupelo HS) 29 Cody Freeman..................... C/1B........ R/R..... 6-0/192........... Sr......................... Collinsville, MS (West Lauderdale HS) 31 Wes Thigpen........................... C........... R/R.... 5-11/204.......... Sr............. Luling, LA (Meridian [MS] CC) (Hahnville HS) 32 Devin Jones........................... RHP......... L/R..... 6-3/180............ Jr. ............................................ Eupora, MS (Eupora HS) 33 Paxton Pace.......................... RHP......... R/L..... 5-9/188............ Jr......................... Collinsville, MS (West Lauderdale HS) 34 Hunter Renfroe............... C/OF/RHP... R/R..... 6-1/202......... Fr. HS.................... Crystal Springs, MS (Copiah Academy) 35 Wes Rea............................. 1B/RHP...... R/R..... 6-5/268......... Fr. HS......................... Gulfport, MS (Harrison Central HS) 36 Nick Routt............................. LHP......... L/L..... 6-4/ 194........... Jr..................... Silver Spring, MD (St. Johns College HS) 37 Caleb Reed........................... RHP......... R/R..... 5-9/190............ Jr................................. Cleveland, MS (Bayou Academy) 38 Ryan Collins........................... OF.......... L/L..... 6-1/195........... Sr................................. Panama City, FL (Rutherford HS) 39 Garrett Pitts........................ INF/C....... R/R.... 5-10/178........ Fr. HS...................................... Fairhope, AL (Fairhope HS) 42 Brent Brownlee....................... OF.......... R/R..... 6-1/ 187........... Jr............................................. Oxford, MS (Oxford HS) 44 Andrew Busby....................... RHP......... R/R..... 6-4/203........ So. JC............................. Gardendale, AL (Gardendale HS) 46 Tim Statz............................... LHP......... L/L.... 5-11/164........ Jr. JC....... St. Louis, MO (Hutchinson CC) (Marquette HS) 47 Victor Diaz............................ RHP......... R/R.... 5-11/210........ Fr.HS.............................. Perth Amboy, NJ (St. Joseph HS) 48 Ross Mitchell......................... LHP......... L/L..... 6-0/ 172........ Fr. HS..................................... Smyrna, GA (Blackman HS) 49 Kendall Graveman................. RHP......... R/R..... 6-1/ 189.......... So. .................. Alexander City, AL (Benjamin Russell HS) 51 Evan Mitchell........................ RHP......... R/R..... 6-2/174......... Fr. HS..................................... Marietta, GA (Wheeler HS) 55 Tanner Gaines....................... RHP......... R/R..... 6-1/179......... Fr. HS..................................... Baldwyn, MS (Baldwyn HS) 56 Jordan Faulkner..................... RHP......... R/R..... 6-3/191......... Jr. JC.... Canton, MS (Meridian CC) (Madison Central HS)
RIDGELAND/MADISON 398 HWY. 51 N
601-853-1951
FLOWOOD PLAZA In front of Wal-Mart
601-992-7272
BRANDON/PEARL 1490 W. GOVERNMENT ST.
601-824-0068
MAYWOOD MART 1220 E. NORTHSIDE DR.
601-982-2007
McDOWELL ROAD 717 W. McDowell Rd.
601-373-1112
MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 39
2 011 M S M C O L L E G E B A S E B A L L P R E V I E W
Jackson State
TIGERS
2011 SCHEDULE | 2010 RECORD: 36-17; 19-5 SWAC
Story and Photos By Jamea Adams-Ginyard Jackson State Sports Information
HEAD COACH: OMAR JOHNSON
FEBRUARY 18
ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF %
19
PRAIRIE VIEW %
20 PRAIRIE VIEW % 20 ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF % 22 SOUTH ALABAMA 26 @ Texas Southern # 27 @ Texas Southern MARCH 1
@ Louisiana-Monroe
5
@ Alabama State #
6
@ Alabama State
7
CONCORDIA-AL
12
@ Alcorn State #
13
@ Alcorn State
15
@ Ole Miss
18
@ Florida A&M #
19
@ Florida A&M
22 @ South Alabama 23 @ South Alabama 25 ALABAMA A&M 26 ALABAMA A&M # 29 LOUISIANA-MONROE APRIL 2
@ Miss. Valley State #
3
@ Miss. Valley State
5
TOUGALOO
8
ALABAMA STATE
9
ALABAMA STATE #
11
@ Concordia-AL
15
ALCORN STATE
16
ALCORN STATE #
19
@ Arkansas - Pine Bluff
22 SOUTHERN 23 @ Southern 27 @ Tulane 30 @ Alabama A&M MAY 1
@ Alabama A&M #
6
MISS. VALLEY STATE
7
MISS. VALLEY STATE #
12
@ Grambling
13
GRAMBLING
18-22 SWAC TOURNEY # - Double Header % - JSU Tournament
WILLIE WESLEY
Tigers look to build off last seasons success and make the NCAA Regionals
T
he 2010 version of the Jackson State Tigers’ baseball team seemingly did everything possible to position itself for a Southwestern Athletic Conference championship. The squad set several individual and program milestones, competed against some of the best teams in the country, and placed itself in
40 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
the best position it could to earn the SWAC crown and automatic bid into the NCAA playoffs. Last season, Jackson State finished with the best overall record in the SWAC (36-17). The Tigers went 19-5 in conference play to win the East Division title and earn a No. 1 seed in the SWAC Tournament. JSU also celebrated
a 17-game winning streak that lasted more than a month and defeated national power Mississippi State for the first time in program history. The Tigers also led the nation in stolen bases (216) and stolen bases per game (4.08) while leading the SWAC in batting average, earned run average, and fielding percentage.
Individually, Cortez Cole led the SWAC in batting average and triples, Willie Wesley had the most stolen bases and runs scored, and Quintavious Drains had the most victories and strikeouts. Unfortunately, the Tiger 9 did not complete its mission of winning a conference title. Still, JSU had many moments that personified the team’s will to win and serve as a springboard into what is expected to be a banner year at Jackson State. Last season, Jackson State had to lean heavily on its offensive nucleus to carry the team while the pitching staff developed into one of the best in the SWAC. This season, the tables have turned. JSU returns four pitchers who won 32 of its 36 games in 2010 but the inexperience from this team will show up in its everyday line up. The Tigers return just three of its everyday starters and five position players from last season, losing 76 percent of its home runs and 66 percent of its runs batted in. Head coach Omar Johnson, now entering his fifth season, had to do some heavy recruiting to replace the firepower that has helped JSU average 36 wins per season during his tenure. PITCHING Jackson State had the best pitching staff in the SWAC last season, leading the conference in wins and earned run average. With the Tigers’ top four pitchers returning from that group, JSU will look to remain on top of the league. Headlining the staff is the reigning SWAC Pitcher of the Year Quintavious Drains. The junior was the only returning starter last season and led by example, going 13-4 with a 4.35 ERA. He also led the team in complete games (eight) and strikeouts (93). Senior Courtney Nelson had a fantastic debut for JSU, leading the team in ERA (3.65) and innings pitched (118 1/3) while going 10-5 with 69 strikeouts. Sophomore Jeremy Gray (5-1, 5.54) had a solid freshman campaign and senior Terrance Washington (4-5, three saves) looks to better his marks from a season ago. The remainder of the staff will have to come from a group of promising newcomers. Marshun Hall, a junior transfer from East Mississippi CC, and Gabriel Babineaux, a sophomore transfer from Texarkana College, are among the many vying for prominent positions among the JSU hurlers. The Tigers’ pitchers will be throwing to an entirely new catching corps in 2011 as JSU looks to replace 2010 SWAC Hitter of the Year Cortez Cole and backup Michael Bravo. Junior Danny Betancourt, who transferred to JSU from Miami-Dade CC, is the only receiver on the roster with any game experience past the high school level. Four other freshman – Gary Mele, Jose Cruz, Wyatt Sutton and Andre Rodriguez – are set to battle for the starting job. Infield & Outfield Several of Jackson State’s top position players
from last season were lost to expiring eligibility, giving several new players an opportunity to earn starting positions and make an impact this season. But there are several returning players who the Tigers will lean on in 2011 to be leaders in the field and at the plate. Senior Willie Wesley (.345, 3 HR, 37 RBI) can play several different positions but has settled in at third base. He will set the table at the top of the JSU batting order as well. Last season, he was third in the country in stolen bases (51 steals in 56 attempts) and led the SWAC in runs scored (65). Junior Frank Solis moved to shortstop after spending his freshman campaign at third. Despite the position change, his stick remained solid (.309, 1, 32) and he was a demon on the basepaths (17-for-17 in stolen bases, 40 runs scored). While the left side of the infield is set, JSU will look to replace the right side. Last season’s SWAC Freshman of the Year Malcolm Tate (.292, 10 doubles, 1 HR, 32 RBI) served as the designated hitter most of last season but could also play first base. Also, look for junior Charles Mustafaa (.353 in 34 at-bats) to battle for the starting spot at first. Junior transfer Glenn Walker, who hit .432 last season at El Camino CC, will battle with freshmen Stephen Curtis and Jose Garcia for the job at second base. There will be some battles for playing time in the outfield. Sophomore Charles Epperson (.253, 10 RBI) started 20 games, mostly in right field, and is the only experienced outfielder returning from last season. Junior college transfer Kendall Logan, who was drafted by the Atlanta
Braves in 2010 after hitting .385 with 32 RBI and 26 stolen bases for Co-Lin CC, will compete for a spot along with a talented group of freshmen that include Phillip Harvey, John McNabb, Jon-Tyler Shaw, Desmond Russell and J.R. Richey. OVERVIEW The Jackson State schedule features 51 games, 22 at Robert “Bob” Braddy Field. Along with games against SWAC schools, the Tigers will enjoy contests against teams from the Southeastern Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Conference USA and the Sun Belt Conference. The season starts at home with the Second Annual JSU Tournament, where the Tigers will host Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Florida A&M University and Prairie View A&M, beginning Feb. 18, as part of a five-game homestand that includes a game against South Alabama. The Tigers have home-and-home series with the Jaguars, Louisiana-Monroe, and ConcordiaSelma while taking road trips to Tulane and Ole Miss, where Jackson State will look to beat the Rebels for the first time in five tries. JSU opens its conference slate on Mar. 5 with a three-game series at Alabama State. Including the Hornets, the Tigers will play 30 games, split evenly home and away, against Eastern Division foes Alcorn State, Mississippi Valley State and Alabama A&M. Jackson State will close out its regular season with a home-and-home series against defending SWAC champion Grambling May 12-13. - MSM
ROSTER No 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Name .................................. B/T ...... Ht./Wt. . .. Pos. ............ Cl. . ...................................Hometown JR Richey .............................R/R ...... 5-9/165 .....OF ............. FR ...........................Stockbridge, GA Stephen Curtis ....................R/R ...... 5-9/175 .... INF ............ FR ......................... Nassau, Bahamas Cortney Nelson .................. R/L ...... 5-7/160 .... LHP ..........RS SR ........................Montgomery, AL Desmond Russell ................R/R ....... -8/170 ...... UT ............. FR .......................Freeport, Bahamas Gabriel Babineaux ............. L/L ....... 6-1/175 .... LHP ............SO .................................. Missouri, TX Charles Epperson ...............R/R ...... 6-2/198 .....OF .......... RS SO .......................Minneapolis, MN Jeremy Gray ........................R/R ...... 5-9/180 ....RHP ............SO .......................... New Orleans, LA Frank Solis ...........................R/R ...... 6-0/170 ..... 3B ..............JR ............................Miami Lakes, FL Terrance Washington .........R/R ...... 6-1/200 ....RHP ............ SR .............................Hollandale, MS Brandon Vega .....................R/R ..... 5-10/170 ....OF.............. FR ...................................Jackson, NJ Glenn Walker ......................R/R ...... 6-0/160 .... INF .............JR ........................... Long Beach, CA Darius Thompson ...............R/R ...... 6-0/185 ....RHP ............ FR .............................Jacksonville, FL Jose Cruz ............................R/R ...... 6-0/225 ...... C .............. FR ...............................Kissimmee, FL Danny Betancourt ..............R/R ...... 5-9/190 ...... C ...............JR ...................................... Miami, FL Marshun Hall .......................R/R ...... 6-2/195 ....RHP .............JR .............................Moss Point, MS Jon-Tyler Shaw .................... L/L ....... 6-5/170 ..OF/1B .......... FR ................................. Conyers, GA Kendall Logan ....................R/R ...... 6-2/200 .....OF ..............JR ................................. Natchez, MS Jose Garcia .........................R/R ..... 5-10/175 ... INF ............ FR ................................... Deltona, FL Willie Wesley ......................R/R ..... 5-10/188 ..IF/OF ........... SR ....................................Pontiac, MI Wyatt Sutton .......................R/R ...... 5-9/175 ...... C .............. FR ..................................Jackson, MS Andre Rodriguez ................R/R ...... 6-2/215 ...... C .............. FR ..................................Jackson, MS Willie Bradford ...................R/R ...... 6-1/210 ... C/UT ........... FR .............................Charleston, MS Raymond Rodriguez ..........R/R ...... 6-0/185 ....RHP ............ FR ................................... Dorado, PR Malcolm Tate ......................R/R ...... 5-9/268 ..... 1B .............SO................................ Carthage, MS John McNabb .....................R/R ...... 6-2/215 .....OF ............. FR ........................... Hattiesburg, MS Gary Mele ...........................R/R ...... 6-0/200 ...... C .............. FR .....................................Liburn, GA Quintavious Drains .............R/R ...... 6-2/195 ....RHP .............JR................................... Atlanta, GA Charles Mustafaa ................R/R ...... 6-3/265 ..... 1B ..............JR ................................... Atlanta, GA Chris Wingard ..................... R/L ...... 6-1/173 .... LHP ............ FR ............................ San Ramon, CA Phillip Harvey ......................R/R ...... 6-2/175 .....OF ............. FR .......................................Pearl, MS MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 41
2 011 M S M C O L L E G E B A S E B A L L P R E V I E W
Alcorn State
Story and Photos By Augustus G. Howard Alcorn State Sports Information
BRAVES
2011 SCHEDULE | 2010 RECORD: 27-27; 15-8 SWAC
HEAD COACH: BARRET REY
FEBRUARY 18
ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF
19
PRAIRIE VIEW
20 PRAIRIE VIEW 20 ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 22 SOUTH ALABAMA 26 @ Texas Southern 27 @ Texas Southern MARCH 1
@ Louisiana-Monroe
5
@ Alabama State
6
@ Alabama State
7
CONCORDIA-AL
12
@ Alcorn State
13
@ Alcorn State
15
@ Ole Miss
18
@ Florida A&M
19
@ Florida A&M
rodney warren
22 @ South Alabama 23 @ South Alabama 25 ALABAMA A&M 26 ALABAMA A&M 29 LOUISIANA-MONROE APRIL 2
@ Miss. Valley State
3
@ Miss. Valley State
5
TOUGALOO
8
ALABAMA STATE
9
ALABAMA STATE
11
@ Concordia-AL
15
ALCORN STATE
16
ALCORN STATE
19
@ Arkansas - Pine Bluff
22 SOUTHERN 23 @ Southern 27 @ Tulane 30 @ Alabama A&M MAY 1
@ Alabama A&M
6
MISS. VALLEY STATE
7
MISS. VALLEY STATE
12
@ Grambling
13
GRAMBLING
18-22 SWAC TOURNEY
Braves use loss to Grambling in SWAC Championship Game as motivation in 2011
T
he Alcorn State Braves of coach Barret Rey, a Southern University grad, look to improve upon a season that saw them go 27-26 overall, losing in the SWAC championship game to Grambling State, but besting his alma mater Southern twice to reach that height! Errors hurt the Braves in that loss to Grambling, and all season long, but they focused on improving the infield play in their recruiting. Assistant coach David Gomez of Southern and LSU, explains: “Eight errors took us out of the
42 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
championship game, but hopefully the 22 new recruits will make us more efficient, a better fielding team to go along with our hitting.” Head coach Rey can’t wait for the season to start: “I am very excited about the 2011 season. We have high expectations with our team being loaded with experience. I am enthused to see how the veterans mesh with the new guys throughout the season.” OUTFIELD The Braves may have the most experienced and most talented
outfield in the nation with three senior starters. RF Kilby Perdomo of Santo Domingo was First Team All SWAC in 2010, the best SWAC New Comer and led the league in homers with 10. He batted .355 and drove in 54 fellow Braves. CF Brandon Hollins of Yazoo City is the leadoff hitter and is just as effective in the nine spot. He will catch anything coming his way. LF Kenny Rowan of Jackson is the team captain and led ASU in stolen bases in 2010 with 27. The coaches expect MORE in 2011.
Alvin Jackson, 23 ribbies, and John Butler round out the talented outfields supplying depth.
specialist, and expected impact performer Harrison Gary of Atlanta.
INFIELD Senior 3B Rodney Warren of Meridian is expected to produce as he did in 2010 When he made First Team All SWAC. He batted .393 with 47 RBI’s. Senior SS Cole Vickers of Terra Haute is being counted on to be an impact player, also doubling as a pitcher. He batted .321 last season. Junior Ryan Akins of Flower Mound, Texas and junior Antolin Morates of Hermosillo,
Eduardo Gonzalez Cedric Pomerlee of Indianola brings his change up back, along with a 5-7 Record, and junior Raymundo Sanchez has a 90 MPH pitch plus fools with his off speed stuff. Troy Williams of Chicago will be cool as will be Brent Blaum of Coral gables, the off Speed
OVERVIEW Along with already mentioned Raymundo Sanchez and Ryan Akins, Rey expects plenty of play from shortstop Angel Rosa of Puerto Rico and left handed DH Jann Butler of Moss Point. The Braves main goals are to win the Eastern Division of the SWAC, then the SWAC Tournament to get to the NCAA playoffs, win an NCAA Regional and make it to Omaha, Nebraska!! The schedule for 2011 is tough, only 14 of 50 scheduled games at home, but Rey sees it as a stepping stone to Omaha: “Our schedule is nationally competitive this season. We expect Our non-conference schedule to be the best in the nation. The teams we will be playing this season Are LSU, Alabama, Arizona, Southern Ms., Ms. State, Wichita State, Tulane, ULL, Memphis and Dallas Baptist. Eight of these teams have been to the College World Series. I believe that this will be a challenge, but preparation meets opportunity.” - MSM
ROSTER
Kilby Perdomo
Mexico will fight for the starting job while junior Eduardo Gonzalez will hold down first base. The free swinging Lutz, Florida native was second team All SWAC last campaign while batting .350 with 53 runs batted in! He slugged six homers too! CATCHING David Reed graduated, so this burden and honor of starting behind the plate falls on the huge shoulders of Jonathan Dorsey of the Windy City of Chicago, the only returnee at that position. Junior college transfer Gabriel LeBron, like LeBron James, of Caguas, Puerto Rico, a quality hitter, strengthens the position. PITCHING Brave pitching will be dominant despite the loss of Collin Arnold. First team All SWAC junior Steve Easter returns from Chicago with great ball movement and a 6-4 mark last season.
NAME..........................................POS.................. HT/WT......................... HOMETOWN (LAST SCHOOL) Akins, Ryan....................................2B.................... 6’0/175............................................Flowermound, TX Barney, Justin............................... OF....................5’8 /165............................................................Gulfport Blaum, Brent...................................P..................... 6’0/190..............................................Coral Gables, FL Boston, Jordan...........................1B-3B................. 6’0/195.........................................................Brampton Buthe, Jann.................................. OF.................... 6’0/215....................................................... Moss Point Camp, Joseph................................P..................... 6’2/167.....................................................Roswell, NM Cox, Breon.....................................P..................... 6’0/190........................................... Ft. Lauderdale, FL Dorsey, John..................................C..................... 5’7/180.......................................................Chicago, IL Easter, Steve............................... P-DH.................. 6’1/230...................................................... Chicago, IL Ferbos, Karlos.............................. OF.................... 6’0/183............................................. New Orleans, LA Ferguson, Hardy......................... C-IF................... 5’5/180........................................................ Vicksburg Franklin, Calvin...............................C ................... 5’11/190................................................. Detroit, MICH Fuentes, Ryan.................................P..................... 6’4/170.........................................................Euless, TX Gary, Harrison................................P..................... 6’3/165...................................................... Atlanta, GA Glover, Jordan.............................. OF.................... 5’8/170...................................................... Atlanta, GA Garza, Chris....................................P..................... 5’7/165.....................................................Houston, TX Gonzalez, Eduardo................... 1B-OF................. 6’3/210.............................................................Lutz, FL Grant, Lowell..................................P..................... 6’5/200...................................................... Atlanta, GA Hardaway, Darien..........................1B.................... 6’3/215...................................................... Atlanta, GA Hollins, Brandon.......................... CF.................... 6’0/185 ...................................................... Yazoo City Jackson, Alvin.............................. OF.................... 5’9/185........................................................Hollandale LeBron, Gabriel..............................C..................... 6’0/185.......................................................Caguas, PR Loupe, Stephen.............................C..................... 5’9/170 ........................................... Baton Rouge, LA Miller, Carey...................................P..................... 6’0/195...................................................Louisville, MS Morales, Antolin........................... IF.................... 5’10/180...............................................Hermosillo, MX Parks, Darryl................................. OF................... 5’11/192........................................................... Fairfield Perdomo, Kilby............................ OF.................... 6’2/215............................................... Santo Domingo Piper, Ryant................................... IF..................... 6’0/175..............................................Lake Charles, LA Pomerlee, Cedric...........................P..................... 6’3/215.......................................................... Indianola Powell, Joshua...........................IF-OF................ 5’11/180............................................................ Rowlett MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 43
2 011 M S M C O L L E G E B A S E B A L L P R E V I E W
Delta State
By Donell Maxey The Bolivar Commercial
STATESMEN 2011 SCHEDULE | 2010 RECORD: 34-16; 13-7 GSC FEBRUARY 8
@ Abilene Christian (DH)
9
@ Abilene Christian
12
LAMBUTH UNIV. (DH)
13
LAMBUTH UNIV.
16
BELHAVEN UNIV.
19
@ U. of West Florida (DH)
HEAD COACH: MIKE KINNISON
Photo courtesy The Bolivar Commercial
20 @ U. of West Florida 23 @ Alabama-Huntsville 26 @ Columbus State (GA.) (DH) 27 @ Columbus State (GA.) MARCH 1
NORTH ALABAMA (DH)
5
@ Stillman College (DH)
6
@ Stillman College
9
MISS. VALLEY STATE
12
@ Arkansas-Monticell0*
12
@ Southern Arkansas*
13
@ Ouichita State*
16
QUINCY INIV. (DH)
19
ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO (DH)
ZACHHEAD GRAHAM DSU COACH MIKE KINNISON
20 ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 23 @ William-Carey 26
@ Southern Arkansas (DH)
27 @ Southern Arkansas APRIL 2
CHRISTIAN BROS. (DH)
3
CHRISTIAN BROS.
5
WILLIAM CAREY
6
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
9
OUCHITA BAPTIST (DH)
10
OUCHITA BAPTIST
16
@ Arkansas Tech (DH)
17
@ Arkansas Tech
19
@ Belhaven
22 @ Harding Univ. (DH) 23 @ Harding Univ. 26 @ Miss. Valley State 30 @ Hendeson State (DH) MAY 1
@ Henderson State
7-11 GSC Tournament
Pitching and defense is the key for success in for Statesmen this season
B
aseball at Delta State is a big deal. That’s why the 2010 season was a big disappointment with the team missing the Regional for the second consecutive year (09-10).
44 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
The Statesmen ended the season with a 34-16-1 record which was good for a .676 winning percentage. Delta State finished 13-7 in the Gulf South Conference and was 17-11 at home and was 17-4-1 on the road.
Entering this season head coach Mike Kinnison has his baseball team poised to get back to playing what he calls, “Statesmen baseball.” “Last season we struggled pitching and playing good con-
sistent defense. I think pitching staff, quality and depth is always a big key to winning championships and I think we have some pieces to work with. I think there’s some physical qualities there to work with our pitching staff, but how well that solidifies is going to determine how far we go,” said Kinnison. “We feel like we can have a good offense, but they have new bat restrictions that have really toned the bats down so we are dealing with some unknowns offensively dealing with the bat restrictions, but we still feel like we have a chance to have a good hitting team,” Kinnison added. At the end of last season Kinnison said he felt the two things the Statesmen were going to have to improve in order to get to that playoff level where they was competing nationally included: Pitching staff depth and defense overall. “Coming out of the fall I think those two areas have a chance to be better. After missing the regional last season we are anxious to get back to that level. We had a good fall and made some progress in getting back to where we’re use to being,” Kinnison explained. Kinnison will be entering his 15th season as the Statesmen’s head man and in that time the Benton native and former standout shortstop for Coach Dave “Boo” Ferriss from 1977-1978 at Delta State has put together a 624-182-1 record. In honor of Kinnison’s accomplishments, he was named the Gulf South Conference Baseball Coach of the Decade in July of 2010. Kinnison has guided the Statesmen to four GSC Championships (2000, 03-04, 08), five Division II Championship appearances (2000-02, 04-05) and the 2004 National Championship. He was named the 2004 National Coach of the Year and has four GSC Coach of the Year awards due in large part to eight West Division titles in 10 seasons. PITCHING Kinnison will be assisted this season by Rodney Batts, Stephen Waggener and graduate assistants Chris Clark and Ricky Noland. One of the major test for Delta State in 2011 will be pitching. Although Kinnison is confident about his starting rotation and his bull pen; he will be using at least three new guys in the rotation as well as a couple of other young pitchers. Three of the Statesmen’s top pitchers from a year ago are no longer with the team. Cody Kelly, Jason Coats and Tray Griffin all graduated. The Statesmen have looked to rebuild the rotation and that has been mostly done with junior college transfers. Three notable transfers include Aaron Newcomb, Brandon Hardin and Andrew Lytle. Newcomb, (6-3/195), junior transfer from Olney Central College in Illinois is a right handed pitcher that Kinnison is excited about. He lettered two seasons for Dennis Conley at
Olney Central College in Olney, Ill. He posted a 9-3 overall record along with a 4.20 ERA in a single-season record 89.2 innings pitched for the Blue Knights. Newcomb allowed 51 runs on 79 hits with 34 walks and 58 strikeouts. His opponents batted .236 against him. Hardin (6-1’193), played two seasons for Mitch Koester at Kaskaskia College in Centralia, Ill. He was named First Team All-Conference after leading KCC to the GRAC Championship. He posted a 4-3 overall record with a 4.31 ERA in nine starts as a sophomore. Hardin pitched 62.1 innings with 61 strikeouts and a mere 24 walks. Lytle (6-4/200), played two seasons for Steve Bazarnic at Allegany College in Cumberland, Md. The right handed hurler amassed a cumulative record of 20-5 as a pitcher at AC, pitched 166.1 innings with 158 strikeouts and a 3.60 ERA. He was named First Team All-Region and helped guide Allegany to the Region 20 Championship in 2009. The Statesmen will return two pitchers from last season that Kinnison believes will fit nicely in the starting rotation and they are, Jordan Moore and Josh Branstetter. “Both of those guys pitched for us last season and so they bring some experience. We think those five guys have a chance and we will see what three emerge as our top three starters. We also have two bull pen guys in Brent Hallmark and Garrett Pickens,” Kinnison said. Moore appeared in eight games with six starts for the Statesmen pitching staff. After redshirting in 2009, began a regular mid-week starter. Posted a 3-0 record with a 2.35 ERA, lowest among DSU starting pitchers with at-least eight appearances. He pitched 30.2 innings, allowing 18 runs, just eight earned, on 32 hits with 15 walks and 23 strikeouts. Opponents batted .260 against him and he recorded his first career victory after pitching 4.0 innings of one run baseball at North Alabama. Branstetter (5-11/186) appeared in eight games with starts for the Statesmen pitching staff. He posted a 3-2 record as a starter with a 5.06 ERA and pitched 32 innings and allowed 29 runs, 18 earned, on 44 hits with 11 walks and 22 strikeouts. OUTFIELD Returning for his senior season in the center field is Statesmen standout Michael Niemann. Kinnison said that in 2010 Niemann may have had somewhat of a down year, but said, “he projects to be a huge part of our lineup on offense and defense.” Niemann was named to First Team AllGulf South Conference West Division in 2010. He played and started all 51 games for the Statesmen in centerfield and batted .310 with 14 doubles, two triples, one home run and 38 RBIs. The Yelm, Wash. native swiped 26-of-31 bases which helped rank him in the
top 10 in career stolen bases at DSU. Michael Vinson, a sophomore from Desoto Central High School will be looked to play in the outfield and some serve as a designated hitter. Vinson was one of the top freshman in the nation. He played in 48 games with 43 starts at 1B/DH and finished second on the team with a .363 average. Vinson had a teamhigh 16 doubles, two triples, three home runs and 48 RBI. He recorded 17 multiple hit and 15 multiple RBI games and held a seasonhigh 14 game hit streak. Another big boost for the Statesmen offense will be the return of Kellen who is coming off a medical redshirt year where he had surgery on his labrum. “He was an all region player two -years ago but missed the entire year. He returns as a fifth year senior and will play first base for us and certainly he will be a big part of our offense. He’s going to hit in the middle of our order and be a key player for us.” In 2009 Bozeman started all 54 games, primarily as a designated hitter. He batted .350 on the season with 73 hits in 273 at-bats with 60 runs scored. The Baton Rouge, La. native hit 18 doubles, one triple, 11 home runs and 57 RBIs while swiping 7-of-7 stolen base attempts. He finished tied for fifth in the GSC with 18 doubles, ended the season second on the team in both batting average and hits and his 11 home runs were good enough for third. INFIELD The infield will be a little different this season. Chris Escobar who was a short stop last season will be move to what Kinnison said is his more natural position at second base. “Truthfully that’s where we would have like to have played him last season,” said Kinnison. The left side of the infield for the Statesmen will have two new faces in Craig Hermann at short stop and Brent Kakwitch at third base. Hermann is a Junior College transfer from Marion Military College where he led the team in hits during the 2010 season. He had five home runs, 22 stolen bases and 35 RBI. Kakwitch played two seasons for at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisc. He played shortstop and third base and batted .384 with 12 doubles, one triple, 14 home runs and 59 RBI as a sophomore. Out of the entire lineup, Kinnison is really encouraged with his catcher Patrick Taylor who played in 47 games last season with 33 starts at catcher. “We return a goo catch and throw guy in Patrick. If he remains healthy he will be a great player for us this season,” said Kinnison. Taylor batted .305 with five doubles, one home run and 26 RBI. He scored 35 runs and was second on the team with three sac-bunts. He was clutch in GSC play as he batted .406. Taylor will be backed up by Jon Carnahan who is a junior college transfer from Marion Military College. - MSM MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 45
2 011 M S M C O L L E G E B A S E B A L L P R E V I E W
Miss. College
CHOCTAWS 2011 SCHEDULE
|
FEBRUARY 11
PIEDMONT
12
PIEDMONT
15
@ Millsaps
19
@ Rhodes
2010 RECORD: 31-19; 14-3 ASC
Story and Photos By David Nichols Mississippi College Sports Information
HEAD COACH: BRIAN OWENS
Photo courtesy Miss. College
20 @ Rhodes 25 MARY-HARDIN BAYLOR 26
MARY-HARDIN BAYLOR (DH)
MARCH 1
MILLSAPS
4
@ McMurry
5
@ McMurry (DH)
7
BLACKBURN
9
HUNTINGDON
11
@ Louisiana College
12
@ Louisiana College (DH)
14
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN
18
TEXAS-DALLAS
19
TEXAS-DALLAS (DH)
ANDY SMITH
24 RUST 29 MILLSAPS
APRIL 1
@ E. Texas Baptist
2
@ E. Texas Baptist (DH)
5
@ Belhaven
8
OZARKS
9
OZARKS (DH)
12
TOUGALOO
15
@ UT-Tyler
16
@ UT-Tyler (DH)
21
LeTOURNEAU
22 LeTOURNEAU (DH) 26 TOUGALOO
Choctaws reload in 2011 with sites set on another trip to the NCAA D3 tournament
T
he Mississippi College baseball team enjoyed unprecedented success in 2010 as they qualified for the NCAA Division III West Regional and advanced to the championship game. The Choctaws set a school record
46 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
with 39 wins and earned a seasonhigh national ranking of #8 by D3baseball.com. Head Coach Brian Owens recorded his 100th career win in only his fourth season as the skipper for the Choctaws. Owens and his coaching staff have
turned the program around after a 17-25 season in 2007, his first year on the job. Last season was a record-breaking campaign at MC with school records set in at-bats (1786), runs scored (456), hits (620), batting
average (.347), doubles (114), triples (22), total bases (910), and runs batted in (397). The Choctaws also set single-season pitching records for strikeouts (351), wins (39), losses (11), and innings pitched (423.0). INFIELD The Choctaws will have a lot to replace as only one position player returns to their original position from the 2010 squad. The coaching staff, however, is excited about the incoming recruiting class and the infusion of talent from last year’s squad. If the newcomers and the returners can mesh together, the 2011 season could see the Choctaw baseball program soar to
DANIEL COWART Photo courtesy Miss. College
new heights. The Choctaws’ biggest hole to fill in the infield will be at shortstop where they will have to replace three-year starter Dakota Bodree. The Robertsdale, AL native batted in the third spot most of last season and tallied a .325 batting average with 11 doubles and 38 RBI. MC will also have to fill the shoes of second baseman Chris Glaze, who started all 50 games for the Choctaws and only made six errors in 119 chances. The only returning starter in the infield from their original position is catcher Jacob Daniel. The Gulfport, MS native is starting for his third consecutive year behind the plate after hitting .267 with seven doubles, four home runs, and 13 RBI last season. The coaching staff is hoping for Daniel to return to his 2009 form when he hit .323 with 17 doubles and 40 runs batted in. The Choctaws will have a change at the position, but it will be a familiar face taking charge as Shane Bennett makes the move from third base to first base. Bennett was a First Team AllASC performer last season after hitting .342 with 13 doubles, six home runs, and 40 RBI. Bennett stepped in as a pitcher late in the sea-
son, sending the Choctaws to the championship game of the West Regional with a 9-8 victory over Texas-Tyler. Senior Clay Crosswhite and sophomore Kyle Ladner will battle for the starting spot at second base. Crosswhite has spent three seasons as a utility player for the Choctaws, hitting .352 with 19 hits and 15 runs scored in only 25 games played last season. Ladner has shown a lot of promise, especially defensively, and he looks to be the second baseman of the future in Clinton. The shortstop position looks to be a twohorse race with sophomore Kade Garlington and junior transfer Mike Kerdock fighting it out. Garlington has good hands and a strong arm that has him ready for college baseball. As his hitting comes along, he could become one of the better shortstops in the conference. Kerdock is a transfer from Northwest Shoals Community College and has the college experience necessary to fill the void in the middle infield. Practice as the top third baseman heading into the spring. Brunson spent one season at Mississippi Delta Community College where he hit .370 with 11 doubles, three triples, five home runs and 27 RBI. The Starkville native recorded an on-base percentage of .531 with a .614 slugging percentage as a sophomore. His efforts earned him First Team All-State and First Team All-District honors. OUTFIELD The Choctaws will have to replace all three outfielders from a season ago in Bo Bell, Chase Herrin, and Brannon Walls. Bell was a D3baseball.com Third Team All-American after hitting .418 with 19 doubles, 11 home runs, and 58 RBI and is the MC career leader with a .421 batting average. Herrin set a single-season record with 84 hits in 2010 and earned an ABCA/ Rawling’s NCAA Division III Gold Glove Award after making no errors in 189 chances over his two seasons. Walls was a four-year starter in the outfield and is second all-time in MC history with 187 career hits. Senior Brandon Benton is a transfer from Belhaven University who hit .286 with 12 doubles and three home runs last season. The Pearl native was a GCAC All-Conference selection and helped lead the Blazers to their first-ever appearance in the NAIA World Series. Junior Jeremy Simmons has impressed in pre-season workouts and will fit into the mix in any of the three outfield positions. Senior Andy Smith makes the move to center field after two seasons as the starting first baseman for the Choctaws. The Pascagoula native was a Second Team All-ASC selection at first base last season after hitting .350 and leading the team with 207 at-bats. The versatile Smith was a backup outfielder as a freshman and returns to his natural position as a senior. Junior J’Marcus Brooks will give the Choctaws a speedy option in the outfield and will be the team’s primary pinch-runner this season. Senior Stuart Magee takes over in right field after being the primary designated hitter for the
Choctaws a season ago. Magee hit .401 with 13 doubles, seven home runs, and 42 RBI. The Columbia native started 37 games at the designated hitter position in 2010 and also made eight starts in the outfield with seven of them coming in left field. Several newcomers will push for the backup spot behind Magee. PITCHING The Choctaws lost two of their three weekend starters from 2010 in Tyler Seaman and Chris Ferriss. Seaman was the American Southwest Conference East Division Pitcher of the Year last season after going 10-1 with a 3.19 ERA and 85 strikeouts. Ferriss made 12 starts last season, going 4-2 with a 4.40 ERA and 49 strikeouts. The Choctaws will return the services of seniors Terrell Prescott, Brandon Martin and Craig Mackay, as well as junior Ian Underwood, who all made weekend starts in 2010. Prescott went 5-0 with a 1.93 ERA in eight appearances and struck out 28 batters in only 32.2 innings pitched. The Wiggins, MS native missed the final five weeks of the season due to injury. Martin started the season strong with a 5-4 win over Birmingham-Southern, but also missed the remainder of the season due to injury. If Prescott and Martin can return to form, the 2011 season could be a special one. Mackay opened the season as the Saturday starter for the Choctaws, throwing a one-hit shutout in a 14-0 win over Concordia Texas. The Pass Christian native finished the year 5-2 with a 26 strikeouts in 35.0 innings. Underwood emerged as a weekend starter by the end of the season, going 4-1 in 11 appearances and four starts. The recruiting class boasts several newcomers that could step into a starting role as the season begins. The Choctaws return their top two relief pitchers from last season in Daniel Cowart and Brock Campbell. Cowart set an MC record with 26 appearances last season, going 3-1 with six saves. The Brandon native struck out 66 hitters in 68.2 innings pitched and tallied an ERA of 2.88. Campbell opened the season as the closer, recording four saves in 16 appearances and striking out 27 batters in 28.1 innings. Other returning relievers to look for are seniors Bubba Davis and Burnon Moman and junior Wesley Williams. The coaching staff is excited about their incoming pitchers that will provide depth in the bullpen. OVERVIEW The 2010 season was one for the record books at Frierson Field as the Choctaws advanced to the championship game of the NCAA Division III West Regional. While there will be a lot of holes to fill with only one starter returning at their original position, Coach Owens and his staff feel like they have the talent to pick up where they left off last season. The 2011 season will hinge on how well the pitching progresses in the early part of the season. If the Choctaws’ arms reach their potential, MC could be a force, not only in the ASC, but in the country. - MSM MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 47
2 011 M S M C O L L E G E B A S E B A L L P R E V I E W
Belhaven
Story and Photos by Kirk McDonnell Belhaven Sports Information
BLAZERS 2011 SCHEDULE
|
2010 RECORD: 44-17; 25-7 GCAC
HEAD COACH: HILL DENSON
FEBRUARY 4 BLUE MTN. COLLEGE 5 BLUE MTN. COLLEGE (DH) 8 FREED-HARDEMAN 11 @ LSU-Shreveport 12 @ LSU-Shreveport (DH) 16 @ Delta State 18 McKENDREE UNIV. 19 McKENDREE UNIV. 19 CUMBERLAND UNIV. 22 BETHEL UNIV. 23 BETHEL UNIV. 25 LSU-ALEXANDRIA 26 LSU-ALEXANDRIA (DH) MARCH 1 @ Freed-Hardeman Univ. 2 TOUGALOO COLLEGE 4 @ Loyola, New Orleans 5 @ Loyola, New Orleans (DH) 8 TREVECCA-NAZARENE UNIV. 9 TREVECCA-NAZARENE UNIV. 11 TRUETT-McCONNELL 12 TRUETT-McCONNELL (DH) 15 @ Bethel College 16 @ Union Univ. 18 UNIV. OF MOBILE 19 UNIV. OF MOBILE (DH) 22 @ Arkansas-Monticello 23 @ Miss. Valley State 25 @ Auburn-Montgomery 26 @ Auburn-Montgomery (DH) 29 UNION UNIV. 30 TOUGALOO COLLEGE APRIL 1 FAULKNER UNIV. 2 FAULKNER UNIV. (DH) 5 MISS. COLLEGE 6 ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 8 SPRING HILL 9 SPRING HILL (DH) 12 MILLSAPS COLLEGE 13 TOUGALOO COLLEGE 15 @ Emmanuel College (DH) 16 @ Emmanuel College 19 DELTA STATE 22 WILLIAM CAREY 23 WILLIAM CAREY (DH) 29 - May 5 SSAC Tourney
PAUL MORENO
Blazers look to repeat last seasons success with another trip to NAIA World Series
T
he Belhaven baseball team is making final preparations for another run at the NAIA World Series following an unprecedented 2010 campaign that produced the first
48 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
ever World Series appearance in program history. The Blazers also tied the school record for most wins in a season at 44-17, won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season championship,
and won all three of their games in the National Championship Opening Round posting wins over Brewton-Parker College, Missouri Baptist University, and edged Texas Wesleyan University
4-3 in the championship game to punch their ticket to Lewiston, ID. Belhaven on the strength of the team’s performance in 2010 is ranked 12th in the NAIA Preseason Top 25 Poll. The Blazers will compete in the Southern States Athletic Conference in 2011 and the league is regarded as one of the toughest conferences in the NAIA. Five SSAC teams including Belhaven are represented in the poll. Lee University is ranked second followed by Southern Polytechnic State at number nine, Faulkner is 20th and Brewton-Parker is 24th.
LAKE EILAND
Infield Belhaven will have some new faces around the infield this season. Third baseman Craig Dean, first baseman Timmy Foster, and shortstop Shawn Diehl all graduated following the end of the 2010 campaign. Second baseman Lake Eiland will anchor the infield after having an outstanding 2010 season. Eiland, a senior from Collins, MS, compiled a .355 batting average with 48 runs batted in. Eiland had eight home runs, 13 doubles, and three triples and collected 78 total hits. Eiland was solid with the glove as well boasting a .967 fielding percentage committing just nine errors all season. Catchers Derek Tortorich and Kyle Feazell are both returning for 2011 as each saw significant playing time in 201. Tortorich, a senior from Picayune, MS, hit .257 with 27 RBI. Tortorich also showed some power with nine doubles and five homeruns. Feazell, a junior from Elmer, LA, hit .258 while driving in 15 runs with five doubles, two triples, and two homeruns. At first base, John Michael Williamson could see time at that position replacing Foster. Williamson, a senior from Petal, MS, hit .246 with nine runs batted in last year. Transfer Tom Wertz from the University of
Houston is penciled in to take over at third base for the Blazers. Wertz, a junior from Sugar Land, TX, saw action in 17 games last season for the Cougars. At shortstop, freshman Dylan Berry could possibly start after having a good fall practice. Outfield Belhaven returns three of their key outfielders from a season ago. Jimmy Gilford, who was a GCAC All-Conference and Gold Glove winning center fielder in 2010 will once again patrol center at Smith-Wills Stadium. Gilford, a senior from Taneytown, MD, had seven home runs and 49 RBI’s with a batting average of .351 in 2010. Gilford had 10 doubles and six triples while recording a fielding percentage of 1.000 with 93 putouts and two assists in center field. Drew Dillard a senior from Sherman, MS, will be in one of the corner outfield spots in 2011. Dillard played in left and right field last year with the majority of his time spent in right. Dillard hit .321 with 49 RBI on 76 total hits. Dillard had eight triples, five doubles, and seven home runs while swiping 18 bases in 25 attempts. Paul Moreno, a senior from San Antonio, TX, is in the running for the other corner outfield position. Moreno also had a good fall and in 2010 hit .296 with 17 RBI. Moreno ripped 11 doubles and had three home runs with 40 total hits last year. One of the big outfield signings for this season is Anthony Doss who transferred in from the University of Southern Mississippi. Doss, a junior from Brandon, MS played high school baseball at Northwest Rankin High School, earned High School All-American, All State and All Region his senior season after hitting .382 with 13 HR and 42 RBI. In 2010 at Southern Miss, Doss hit .326 with three home runs and five doubles for the Golden Eagles. “Anthony will be a great addition to our team,” says Head Coach Hill Denson. “He is a very good hitter with a lot of power. We needed someone to step in to replace some of the homeruns we lost with Craig Dean and Timmy Foster graduating. Hopefully he will be one of those guys.” pitching The Belhaven pitching staff will have a new look in the 2011 season with a number of new faces on the mound. The Blazers hope that they can come in and replace key arms that included Brandt Hinton who went 12-1 with a 3.64 ERA. Chris Bennett, Riley Galloway, and closer Wade Broyles also had good years and will be big shoes to fill. One of Belhaven’s returning pitcher’s is Golden Grasse who pitched well in fall practice. In 2010, Grasse was 1-2 with a 6.10 ERA and will have a spot in the starting rotation based on his performance this fall. Grasse, a senior right hander from Baton Rouge, LA,
made 18 total appearances and struck out 28 in 31 innings of work last season. Alan McHenry, a junior from Ontario, Canada, is back and pitched well in the rotation before seeing his 2010 season cut short due to an injury. McHenry was 5-1 with a 4.67 ERA in 34.2 innings pitched last season with 13 total appearances including five starts. The Blazers are also hoping the Kyle Hunt can return and provide some solid innings in 2011. Hunt, a senior from Olive Branch, MS, did not pitch at all last year because of an injury. In 2009, Hunt was 7-2 with a 3.99 ERA and was third on the team in innings pitched that year with 70. He made 17 total appearances and had 10 starts. One of Belhaven’s key acquisitions in the offseason for the pitching staff is Alan Johnson. Johnson, a junior and native of Lena, MS, pitched two season at East Central Community College prior to arriving at Belhaven.“Johnson is a strong right handed pitcher that has some velocity and a good breaking ball,” says Belhaven Assistant Coach Clay Smith. “He is a big time competitor and will be a great addition to our 2011 staff.” Josh Clarke is another key signee who the Blazers hope can fill the closer’s role. Clarke, who hails from Clinton, MS, pitched at Hinds Community College the last two seasons. At Clinton High School, Clarke was a 2008 All Metro and All State Selection along with being the MVP of the Mississippi High School All-Star Game. “Josh is a huge sign for us and is a great guy who really knows that game,” says Coach Clay Smith. “He will be looked upon to be our closer this season. Belhaven also added Brett Blaise out of Pearl River Community College and Brandon McHenry a transfer from Mississippi State to help bolster the starting rotation and bullpen. overview Belhaven Head Coach Hill Denson and the Blazers are anxious to get the season under way and see the 2011 club in action and how they gel as a team.“One of the strengths of our club this year is team chemistry,” said Coach Denson. “We have quite a few new faces, but our team chemistry was outstanding through our fall practice. Our pitching staff is made up of a number of new players and we have more talent on our pitching staff this year, but not as much depth compared to the 2010 team. Offensively, the key for us will be to replace the production that Timmy Foster and Craig Dean supplied last season. We are hoping that guys like Anthony Doss, Lake Eiland and Paul Moreno can step up and put up some big offensive numbers for us this season.” Belhaven will open the regular season against Blue Mountain College on February 4th at Smith Wills Stadium. It will be game one of a three game weekend series which is slated for 3:00 PM. - MSM MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 49
2 011 M S M C O L L E G E B A S E B A L L P R E V I E W
Millsaps
Story and photos By Mike Nienaber Millsaps Sports Information
MAJORS 2011 SCHEDULE
|
2010 RECORD: 25-15; 12-5 SCAC
HEAD COACH: JIM PAGE
FEBRUARY 4
BERRY COLLEGE
5
UNIV. of the OZARKS
5
BERRY COLLEGE
6
UNIV. of the OZARKS
6
RHODES COLLEGE
12
HENDRIX COLLEGE
13
HENDRIX COLLEGE
15
MISS. COLLEGE
19
@ Southwestern Univ.
(DH)
20 @ Southwestern Univ. 25 @ Piedmont College 26 @ Piedmont College 26 @ Adrian College 27 @ Adrian College MARCH 1
@ Miss. College
5
AUSTIN COLLEGE (DH)
6
AUSTIN COLLEGE
8
HUNTINGDON COLLEGE
12
@ Trinity Univ.
13
@ Trinity Univ.
15
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN
16
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN
19
@ Hendrix College (DH)
WILL HAWKINS
20 @ Hendrix College 22 @ Huntingdon College 25 LaGRANGE 26 LaGRANGE 27 LaGRANGE 29 @ Miss. College APRIL 2
@ Austin College
3
@ Austin College
5
@ Rhodes College
9
TRINITY UNIV. (DH)
10
TRINITY UNIV.
12
BELHAVEN
16
SOUTHWESTERN UNIV.
17
SOUTHWESTERN UNIV.
20-24 SCAC TOURNEY
Upperclassmen lead the way toward SCAC Championship for Majors in 2011
T
he Millsaps Majors return 13 seniors and seven juniors from a 25-win team that is poised to once again challenge for a SCAC Championship in 2011. The Majors went 25-15 last season, falling in the quarter final round of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament. Five of the eight starting positions and two returning
50 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
hurlers were named to the AllSCAC team last season, including the entire outfield. The prospects look good for the Majors to return to the NCAA tournament if they can live up to expectations. INFIELD The Majors are deep at every position in the infield thanks to a core of returning starters at ev-
ery position. First and foremost among them is third baseman Will Hawkins. The senior out of Nettleton continued to rack up post-season honors after his 2010 campaign. The 2009 SCAC Offensive Player of the Year and three-time All-Conference selection was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team, proving his abilities both on
lead that category nationally. Anchoring the stellar trio will be centerfielder Jeremy Aliff. The senior out of Covington, La. Had just two errors and 99 put-outs for a .980 fielding percentage. He hit .283 and led the team in triples with four. He was also a prolific base stealer. He grabbed a league leading 22 stolen bases on 24 attempts helping the Majors lead that category in the SCAC last season (117 on 141 attempts). Adding to the outfield mix will be senior right hander Jason Riggins and junior lefty Ryan Zemke when they are not filling duties in the bullpen.
AARON WILLIAMS
and off the field with a 3.31 GPA in geology. Hawkins posted a .353 batting average and a .933 fielding percentage to anchor the left side all season after starting in all 40 games as a junior. Returning to first base will be senior Jake Mills. The Abbeville native led the team in batting average last season at .407, driving in 38 runs, coupled with a near-perfect fielding percentage of .980. Mills made his first appearance on the All-Conference Team last season with just three errors in 40 games. Mills will also spend some time in the bullpen as one of the Majors’ two main left-handed options. Junior Drew Leonard returns to short this season his 21 stolen bases ranked second on the team. Playing time at second will be up for grabs early as Redshirt Freshman Kevin Wall returns to the mix after a season-ending injury put him out last year. Junior Trey Roundtree stepped up in a big way with a .912 fielding percentage and a .315 batting average and will provide depth and a possible DH role. Finally, rounding out the infield will be Sophomore Will Elmore. The Houston, Texas native will compete for playing time with the returners at almost every spot around the infield. The only question mark in the infield will be that of catcher. The only player lost to graduation was the Majors’ starting catcher Tyler Berry. The All-SCAC
selection will be difficult to replace, but coach Jim Page has two promising sophomores ready to step up. Wes Perkins out of Geismar, La. and Tyler Collins from Marietta, Ga. will have to battle it out this winter to see which will step into Berry’s spot. Both are talented and show great potential for the future. The depth of experience at every position around the horn will help the Majors greatly as they progress this season. OUTFIELD Nowhere is Millsaps’ returning depth as greatly stocked as in the Major outfield. The 2011 team boasts three returning All-SCAC players with veteran backup at every spot. Returning to left will be senior Josh Ordeneaux. The Baton Rouge native posted a .377 batting average and a .924 fielding percentage with 57 put-outs. Right field will once again be manned by junior Jules Roussel from Destrehan, La. Roussel was third on the team in batting average last season with a .384 average in 40 starts. Paired with 74 put-outs and just six errors the All-Conference player posted a .929 fielding percentage on the year. He also finished second in the SCAC in on-base percentage at .533. Roussel finished the regular season ranked second in all of Division III being hit-by-pitch 21 times helping the Majors
PITCHING The Majors pitching staff reflects the depth of the roster as a whole, with nine guys looking to contribute significant innings to the cause this year. Leading the way will be senior Aaron Williams. The right hander out of Covington, La. finished the 2010 regular season a perfect 6-0 with a 3.29 ERA and collected his second consecutive All-SCAC honor. Williams collected the opening day win over the University of the Ozarks and conference wins over Hendrix, Southwestern, Rhodes, and Trinity. Williams also succeeded off the field last season, joining Will Hawkins on the CoSIDA Academic All-Region team with a 3.76 GPA in biology. Boomer Hudson returns after garnering his second All-SCAC nod in as many seasons as well after posting a 5-3 record in relief. The Majors returning strikeout leader, Hudson finished second in the SCAC last season in saves with four and first in appearances with 24. Right hander John Pemberton returns for his senior season after 15 appearances last season with a win over the then #10 ranked Mississippi College Choctaws. Blake Boleware from Ridgeland will return after a promising freshman season in which he posted a 6.23 ERA in three starts, but collected his first conference win over Austin College, finishing 1-1 on the season. Rounding out the stable for coach Page will be senior Andrew Pearce and sophomore Elliot Varney, both of whom will compete for innings right away. OVERVIEW With so much returning talent spread across the field the sky is the limit for this year’s Majors. Of course, living up to such high expectations can be difficult, if not impossible. The Majors will once again face some of the stiffest competition in Division III as they battle with the likes of Trinity and Southwestern for top seeding in the SCAC Tournament. This, on top of a non-conference schedule including the always strong Mississippi College Choctaws and Belhaven Blazers, among others. Success this season will hinge on the Majors ability to manage those expectations and meet them on the field. - MSM MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 51
>>> MSM | FEATURE STORY
The crowd goes oooh, ahhh, ohhh over Oswalt BY TONYA HUFFMAN Contributing Writer
M
ajor League pitcher Roy Oswalt is truly a lucky guy. He amazingly got drafted to the big leagues at age 19. And once after receiving a baseball related shoulder injury following a freak incident, his shoulder was miraculously healed. But before Roy’s talent and good luck stride allowed him to disappoint batters and amaze crowds with ooohs, ahhhs, and ohhhs, he was just another face in the crowd who came from humble beginnings.
Photo Courtesy Roy Oswalt
52 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
Roy Edward Oswalt was born on August 29, 1977 in Weir, Mississippi. It’s a mere coincidence that Roy’s hometown is pronounced “where,” but in its own captivating way, it’s entirely apropos because when referring to his native, it’s not unusual for someone to say to him, “Where?” Then once Roy gives more detail, people will usually respond with “Ohhh,” the same sound that begins his last name. Roy’s good luck stride shadowed him as he made it to the big leagues from such a small town. The youngest of three children born to logger and Vietnam veteran Billy and to school bus driver Jean, Roy grew up in Weir. Roy was encouraged to participate in sports at an early age, and he learned everything he could about baseball from his dad. Roy even competed against his friend Nicole playing t-ball, for they met at a choir convention during a field trip to Mississippi State, and although from neighboring high schools, they eventually became high school sweethearts. At Weir High School, home of the Lions, Roy played defensive back and wide receiver on the football team, eventually helping to win the school
a State title his senior year. But Roy’s heart was with baseball, and with an ectomorphic body frame and an average height, Roy had a knack for the sport early. After encouragement from the senior Oswalt, the school decided to start an organized baseball team. Billy cleared the land with a bulldozer, and this made way for the baseball field. Roy shined in baseball, developing his fastball and throwing pitches that yielded many strikes from batters. As Roy’s dream was to play baseball for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, his parents sent him to the Bulldogs’ baseball camp one summer to continuously perfect his skills. And as he perfected his skills but still having a slight body frame, many Division I college coaches and big league teams eschewed recruiting him. After graduating from Weir High School in 1995 in a class of 32 students, Roy soon married Nicole and they had two daughters. Besides his family making him happy, playing baseball also makes Roy happy. Upon graduating, Roy was finally offered a chance to play baseball as a freshman at Holmes Community College in Goodman, Mississippi, still developing his fastball pitch
Photo Courtesy the Philadelphia Phillies
MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 53
Photo Courtesy Roy Oswalt
SEASON TEAM W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR HB BB SO AVG WHIP GO/AO 2001 HOU 14 3 2.73 28 20 3 1 0 0 141.2 126 48 43 13 6 24 144 .235 1.06 1.31 2002 HOU 19 9 3.01 35 34 0 0 0 0 233.0 215 86 78 17 5 62 208 .247 1.19 1.31 2003 HOU 10 5 2.97 21 21 0 0 0 0 127.1 116 48 42 15 5 29 108 .246 1.14 1.26 2004 HOU 20 10 3.49 36 35 2 2 0 0 237.0 233 100 92 17 11 62 206 .260 1.24 1.19 2005 HOU 20 12 2.94 35 35 4 1 0 0 241.2 243 85 79 18 8 48 184 .262 1.20 1.42 2006 HOU 15 8 2.98 33 32 2 0 0 0 220.2 220 76 73 18 6 38 166 .263 1.17 1.48 2007 HOU 14 7 3.18 33 32 1 0 0 0 212.0 221 80 75 14 7 60 154 .265 1.33 1.68 2008 HOU 17 10 3.54 32 32 3 2 0 0 208.2 199 89 82 23 10 47 165 .253 1.18 1.54 2009 HOU 8 6 4.12 30 30 3 0 0 0 181.1 183 83 83 19 8 42 138 .265 1.24 1.19 2010 PHI 7 1 1.74 13 12 1 1 0 0 82.2 53 18 16 6 3 21 73 .186 0.90 1.39 2010 PHI 13 13 2.76 33 32 2 2 0 0 211.2 162 70 65 19 5 55 193 .213 1.03 1.17 CAREER 150 83 3.18 316 303 20 8 0 0 2015.0 1918 765 712 173 71 467 1666 .252 1.18 1.36 that he would later perfect. As his pitching skills turned from good to great, Roy turned heads as both the baseball coach at Mississippi State offered him a full ride and as the Houston Astros eventually drafted him in 1996 for $50,000, right after his freshman year. The lucky Roy was faced with the agonizing choice to either go pro, or to fulfill his dream of playing for the Bulldogs, choices he never dreamt possible. Roy decided to stay at Holmes Community College and play one more year of baseball as a sophomore, hoping to both grow 54 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
into an even better player all around and to receive an ultimate offer from the Astros. “I turned down the Houston Astros’ initial offer and stayed in college another year because I wanted to become an even better baseball player and get drafted at a higher ranking,” said Roy. His decision proved fruitful, for as a sophomore, Roy truly morphed as a baseball player, growing two inches taller and 15 pounds heavier, and adding 3 mph to his fastball. As Roy physically and mentally turned into the baseball player he envisioned,
he again turned heads and during the off season following his sophomore year, the Houston Astros drafted this lucky man in the 23rd round of the 1996 First-Year Player Draft, offering Roy ten times as much as their previous offer. Indeed what a difference a year made as Roy was now a true baseball player and received the opportunity and salary of a lifetime. On May 18, 1997, Roy was offered $500,000 by the Astros and was ecstatic to get drafted. “Considering really no one from where I come from ever got drafted, I was really happy for
Photo Courtesy Roy Oswalt
Photo Courtesy Roy Oswalt
“I turned down the Houston Astros’ initial offer and stayed in college another year because I wanted to become an even better baseball player and get drafted at a higher ranking,” this opportunity,” said Roy. Roy began his professional baseball career at age 19 in the minor leagues. In 1997, the rookie played in the Gulf Coast League with the Gulf Coast League Astros, and preformed well enough to be called up to the Auburn Doubledays of the New York Penn League. In 1998, Roy split his playing time between the
same two teams. In 16.0 innings pitched with the Gulf Coast Astros, he struck out 27 batters and walked just 1. Then again promoted to Auburn, he recorded the league’s lowest ERA of 2.18. On the up and up in 1999, Roy moved on to play with the Class A Michigan Battle Cats in the Midwest League. Having set himself up for greatness, he unfortunately en-
countered a setback, for it was during this season that he suffered a serious shoulder injury. Roy’s shoulder was in excruciating pain late in the season and into the off-season, and he was convinced that it was torn. One day when Roy went to work on his pickup truck, miraculously a freak incident healed his shoulder. “My truck had a miss in the motor and I was trying to find out why it was missing. I was checking sparkplug wires. I picked up one that had melted on one side of it. When I grabbed it, it started shooting bolts through me. I couldn’t open my hand. I’m thinking, ‘How am I going to get off of this thing?’ The only thing I decided was to just jump back,” said Roy. “That maneuver worked, and almost instantly, my shoulder just felt like 10 times better, like it had been welded back together or something. I was like, ‘There’s no way that fixed my shoulder.’ I’ve never had a problem since then.” Roy was shocked but thrilled that his shoulder was healed, for apparently the electric charge loosened accumulated scar tissue in his shoulder. Out of 22 games started and played, and out of 151.1 innings pitched, Roy finished the 1999 season with 151.1 innings pitched, 143 strikeouts, and a club high 13 wins. As the new millennium arrived, the year of Y2K in 2000, Roy began the season with the Class A Kissimmee Cobras of the Florida State League, going 4-3 with a 2.98 ERA before a player injury on Class AA Round Rock Express of the Texas League got him called up. He was only expected to pitch a few games, and had been given a round trip ticket. But after striking out 15 batters in his first start with the Round Rock Express, then-manager Jackie Moore tore up Roy’s ticket. Nolan Ryan, owner of the Round Rock Express and Roy’s idol, admired both Roy’s calm demeanor and on the flip side, his aggressiveness on the field so much that he successfully lobbied to keep him on the roster. While with the Round Rock Express, Roy met then-pitching coach Mike Maddux who gave him more baseball tips, counseling him to be economical in his pitch selection by throwing more breaking balls and inducing groundouts early in the count. Roy finished the 2000 baseball season with the Round Rock Express starting 18 out of 19 games played, with a 11-4 record, a 1.94 ERA, and recorded 141 strikeouts. As a result of Roy’s success at Round Rock, he was selected to play on the United States baseball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In the Olympics, Roy pitched in the semifinals against South Korea, a game that with a collective effort, the U.S. won with a gold medal finish. This was Roy’s best baseball moment. “My favorite baseball moment is winning a gold medal in the Olympics,” said Roy. In 2001, Roy began the season with the class AAA New Orleans Zephyrs of the Pacific Coast League where he went 2-3 before being MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 55
Photo Courtesy Roy Oswalt
called up to the majors for the Houston Astros. Roy was happy he got the call and knows that it takes performance to stay on top. “The minor leagues is the starting point to get to the major leagues. While it was a sigh of relief to make the majors, it is a challenge to stay at this level,� said Roy. Roy posted great numbers during his 2001 Houston Astros major league rookie campaign, and out of 28 games played, he started 20 and finished with 141.2 pitched innings, a 2.73 ERA, 144 strikeouts, and a 14-3 record. He finished second in voting for National League Rookie of the Year. Roy also placed fifth in Cy Young Award voting. The 2002 season was also good for Roy, and starting 34 out of 35 games played, Roy finished with a 19-9 record, a 3.01 ERA, and out of 233.0 innings pitched, he struck out a career high 208 batters. He tied for fourth place in the Cy Young Award voting. During the 2002 season, from July 27-September 8, Roy won 9 straight starts before getting a no-decision in an extra innings Astros loss to St. Louis. Although injuries plagued Roy during the 2003 season, he played and started 21 games and in 127.1 innings pitched, he notched 108 strikeouts, a 2.97 ERA, and recorded a 10-5 56 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
Photo Courtesy Roy Oswalt
record. Roy rebounded in 2004 with the first 20-win season of his career, the only National League pitcher to do so that year. Despite a career high 3.49 ERA, out of 36 games played with 35 starts, Roy went 20-10, pitched 237.0 innings, and struck out 206 batters. During the season, Roy threw two complete game shutouts, both versus the Milwaukee Brewers
and he led all National League starters with the fastest average fastball at 94.0 mph. That year he moved up the chart by finishing third in Cy Young Award voting. Roy also made his first postseason appearance, going 1-0 with a 4.19 ERA in three starts and one relief appearance. Roy not only proved that he was a quality
Photo Courtesy Roy Oswalt
Oswalt outside his restaurant.
pitcher on the field, but also that he is a quality person both on and off of the field and for this, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) awarded him the Darryl Kile Award, as Roy reflects the qualities of decency and character and exemplifies Kile’s traits of “a good teammate, a great friend, a fine father, and a humble man.” Roy was humbled to receive the award. “I thank God that I won the award. It was special to receive this award,” he said. When 2005 approached, Roy pitched a career high 241.2 innings, struck out 184 batters and walked only 48, and playing in 35 games with 35 starts, Roy finished with a 20-12 record, earning his second consecutive 20-win season, the first Astro to do so since Joe Niekro during the 1979-1980 baseball season. He notched a career best 10 game winning streak from April 10 to July 26, and earned a sparkling 2.94 ERA. Roy finished fourth in Cy Young Award balloting. It was during this season that Roy helped the Astros earn an 89-73 record, finish 2nd in the National League, and advance to playoffs. The team moved on to the post season National League Division Series (NLDS) versus the Atlanta Braves where they won 3-1. Then the Astros further advanced to the National League Championship Series (NLCS) versus the St. Louis Cardinals. Astros club owner Drayton McLane promised Roy that if he won game 6, he’d purchase him a Caterpillar D6 Bulldozer. Roy shook on the deal. And Roy delivered on his end as he dominated the Cardinals with a 4-2 series victory and as his two seven inning one-run performances including a three hit seven strikeout gem in game 6 netted him the NLCS MVP Award and ultimately his $230,000 shiny yellow toy that sealed the deal. This was as far as the Astros made it this
year, and after Roy was presented with the NLCS Award, he immediately gave the trophy to his hero, his father Billy. “He got up at 5:30 every morning and was home at five in the afternoon to get me to the game by seven, ” Roy said of his father while describing the happiness he felt seeing his dad’s face after giving him the trophy. “It’s a small token for the way he believed in me. I remember growing up and people coming by to ask why he spent so much time with me out in the yard throwing the ball. Now maybe they understand.” And as a lucky first for a major leaguer only in his fifth season, Roy was honored to be named to his first Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 2005 as the National League All-Star Final Vote winner. During the 2006 season, history repeated itself when Roy was named to his second consecutive All-Star team appearance, leading the National League with a 2.94 ERA. Again Roy finished the season in Cy Young Award voting placing fourth. Throughout the regular 2006 season, appearing in 33 games with 32 starts, Roy went 15-8, earned a 2.98 ERA, and out of 220.2 innings pitched, he walked 38 batters and struck out 166. On a September 18, 2006 game versus the Cincinnati Reds, Roy amazingly recorded his 1,000th strikeout, becoming the eighth player in Astros history to reach this milestone. Achievement yields accolades, and Roy definitely earned his share. Before the 2007 season, Roy received the second highest Pitcher Player Value Ranking from Sports Illustrated Baseball Preview Edition. He was also rated the best in the National League. And as 2007 approached, Roy’s name was once again on the All-Star roster, making it his 3rd consecutive appearance. On August 13, 2007, Sports Illustrated named Roy as one of the 5 pitch-
ers in the Current Dream Team. As others only dream to play in the major leagues and shine, in reality, this lucky man was living his dream playing pro, excelling, and grateful to earn so many honors. “It is special to receive any award, although they sit on your wall or shelf and collect dust,” Roy joked. “But what is ultimately special is to make it to and win the World Series, and this is what baseball players strive to achieve.” It was definitely great that Roy was on a roll with earning so many honors, and what was also great is that this propitious pitcher stayed relatively healthy for most of the 2007 baseball season. It wasn’t until September 2007, toward the end of the season, that Roy suffered from pain in his left side, and he took a hiatus for the remainder of the season as not to risk a more serious injury. Out of 33 games played with 32 starts, Roy finished the 2007 season throwing 212.0 innings, a 14-7 record, an ERA of 3.18, and 154 strikeouts. During the 2008 season, Roy landed on the disabled list on July 19, but a solid second half of the season helped Roy reach his highest win total since 2005. He also set an Astros team record with 32 1/3 scoreless innings. Roy finished the 2008 season playing and starting 32 games, throwing 208.2 innings, his fifth consecutive year of 200 or more innings pitched, an ERA of 3.54, 165 strikeouts, and a 17-10 record, a record that makes him one of only 10 major league pitchers who won at least 11 games in each year from 2004-2008. During the 2009 season, Roy played for the United States in the World Baseball Classic appearing in 2 games and was the winning pitcher in the contest versus the Netherlands. During this season, he strained his lower back in July, then sat out the last 2 weeks of the season with a bulging disk. In spite of his injuries, playing and starting 30 regular 2009 season games, in 181.1 innings pitched, Roy finished with an 8-6 record, an ERA of 4.12, and 138 strikeouts. Roy began the 2010 season with the Astros organization, but by late July, he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. In 20 games played and started with the Astros, Roy finished with a 6-12 record, a 3.42 ERA, and out of 129.0 innings pitched, he notched 120 strikeouts. With the Phillies, Roy became the first pitcher to play a position other than pitcher since Bill Wilson did 40 years ago in 1971. On August 24, teammate Ryan Howard was ejected in the bottom of the 14th which forced teammate Raul Ibanez to be moved to first base and Roy to the outfield. Roy recorded a punt out while catching a fly ball in left field. He came up to bat in a 4-2 game in the bottom of the 16th with two outs after a walk and an intentional walk and grounded out to third to end the game. Roy finished the latter part of the regular 2010 season with the Phillies playing and MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 57
Photo Courtesy Roy Oswalt
“As a child growing up, I enjoyed hunting and fishing with my dad and brother, and in doing so, we spent quality time together. The Double 4 Ranch offers a chance to enjoy wildlife and the opportunity to spend enriching time with friends and family.” starting 9 games, a 6-1 record, a 1.98 ERA, and out of 63.2 innings pitched, Roy netted 54 strikeouts and 17 walks. Roy’s first season with the Phillies was successful, for he helped the team earn a 97-65 record and finish first in the East National League. For this, the team moved on to the post season NLDS to play the Cincinnati Reds, sweeping the series 3-0. Then they moved to the NLCS versus the San Francisco Giants. The Phillies won 2 games out of 6, falling a few games short of making the World Series. But just to make it to post season was quite an accomplishment for the Phillies, and Roy was happy with the team’s success. “It is nice to get a fresh start with the Phillies and to be a part of a good team that is about winning. Although it would have been nice to win the World Series, just to get to postseason is great,” said Roy. As successful as Roy has been in baseball, just as every player does, there have times when he had some off pitching days, and when he didn’t have the best 58 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
bullpen and hence, opponents won. And although Roy is a good sport, he is also literally a good sport who knows that winning games is the objective of any match, so losing is not his forte. “I hate losing. I’ve never lost. Even coming through the minor leagues, we won at every level,” said Roy. “Losing is not an option. It’s something I’m not acquainted with.” However, Roy is acquainted with winning, for he leads the majors with 149 victories. Despite his success, Roy is amazingly smart, humble, and this fortunate man knows that there is always something to learn about the game. Roy knows how to utilize his resources well, for he’s even asked and taken advice from pitching coaches regarding pitching techniques or routines to even better his already superb game. “It doesn’t matter where you are in your career; you can always learn something,” said Roy. To music lovers, what normally follows af-
ter REO is “Speedwagon.” But baseball’s REO, Roy Edward Oswalt, does indeed make REO fans and people from everywhere sing and cheer when his elite pitching skills are witnessed. And although he has no direct connection with REO Speedwagon, Roy’s name has been associated with the first part of the group’s last name, speed, for Roy is known for 4 fast primary pitches that leave batters dazed, confused, and scoreless as they tally strikes. First of all, Roy throws two overhand curveballs: a hard snapping curve in the low 80s that is gripped with two forefingers over the seams, and a looping slow curve of about 70 mph that is thrown with three fingers over the seams. Secondly, Roy throws a straight changeup in the low 80s. Thirdly, Roy throws a slider in the mid 80s. And fourth, perhaps Roy’s most popular pitch is his fastball that is consistently between 92-94 mph, occasionally touching 95-97 mph. Roy throws a high percentage of fastballs and is known to be very aggressive, at
times throwing multiple fastballs in a row into the strike zone. His pitching style emphasizes changes of speed and elevation, and really challenges batters. “It’s fun to see the fear of the hitter especially if you’ve got a big-name hitter up there, and you throw inside; you can tell it gets under his skin,” said Roy. But Roy knows he has to stay on top of his game because batters could very well become familiar with his style. “When I first came up, I was a little more of a power pitcher, at 97 mph most of the game. Now, you’ve got to be a little bit smarter. Now I have a change-up. You learn as you go. It doesn’t really matter how hard you throw these guys are going to adjust to it before the game is over,” said Roy. And hence, on occasion, Roy will switch it up, mixing a cut fastball or a two-seam fastball. Whatever pitch Roy decides to throw, he keeps it unique and he keeps it moving. Roy’s 4 pitching styles are the tools that have given him much of his good luck, for it helped him excel in his career. And growing up, his 4 family members clearly knew they had a baseball star in the family when Roy pursued and excelled in the sport, staying up day and night practicing to perfect his craft. So it’s no wonder that #4 is significant to Roy and that a 4 leaf clover seems to follow him wherever he goes. We’ve all heard of the number and televi-
sippi. The establishment of Fund 44 means the world to Roy. “Growing up, my family didn’t have much, but we had everything we needed. I have been given an opportunity to assist others and it is good to give back because for those who are helped, it’s like they get a second chance at life,” said Roy. Roy knows that it is better to give than to receive, and in owning his Double 4 Ranch in neighboring Kosciusko, Mississippi, he gives people who enjoy the lure of hunting, fishing, and ranching the opportunity to book a hunting vacation. Double 4 Ranch offers the finest whitetail deer herd in the South, imports a large number of exotic game, and is more like a log mansion rather than a log cabin, measuring 3000 square feet and having five bedrooms. The area fosters plenty of Kodak moments, for the scenery is breathtaking, encompasses a clear lake and acres of land, presents sheer beauty and is simply exquisite, and promotes peacefulness that only country lifestyle can offer. It’s no wonder why Roy spends the majority of his time during the off-season at Double 4 Ranch. “As a child growing up, I enjoyed hunting and fishing with my dad and brother, and in doing so, we spent quality time together. The Double 4 Ranch offers a chance to enjoy wildlife and the opportunity to spend enriching time with friends and family,” said Roy. Also on knowing the importance of family
the frame of the building and his cousin, a trained carpenter, to design most of the inside. HomePlate Fish and Steakhouse is central to four towns in Mississippi - French Camp, Kosciusko, Ackerman, and Weir, and is not about fancy red carpet openings or expensive menu offerings: it’s about friends, family, and great food. “I’ll just say this - this is not going to make a lot of money,” said Roy of his restaurant. “I hope it’s going to be a plus, not a minus - as long as it makes a plus. We’ve had a few cafes around there, and people try to make a living doing just that. You’re not going to make enough money to live off a cafe around there. I’m just trying to make enough money to make the cafe run. If it creates some jobs along the way, that’s even better,” said Roy. He knows the restaurant is great for the community and a convenient weekend excursion. “I thought it would be good for the community more than anything. Where I live, people don’t really eat out during the week. So it’ll just be open Friday and Saturday nights,” said Roy. Usually when a famous sports figure gets into the restaurant business, his actual involvement includes a.) lending his name to the project and b.) cashing the check he gets for lending his name. But this is far from the case with Roy’s restaurant. When his restaurant opened, not only did Roy have a direct hand in building the establishment, he was front and center
“I hate losing. I’ve never lost. Even coming through the minor leagues, we won at every level,” said Roy. “Losing is not an option. It’s something I’m not acquainted with.” sion show Route 66, and the Catch 22 is that if this number is subtracted from 66, the result is 44, reminding Roy both of his pre-number 44 jersey days when he came from humble beginnings, and also how there are a vast fund of ubiquitous people who are less fortunate. On the flip side, this number also reminds Roy of the incredible route he was able to take to give back, and hence, in 2007, he and his wife founded Fund 44, a charitable fund to assist organizations both in their home state of Mississippi and across the country. On Roy’s official website at www.royoswalt44.net, visitors can do everything from donate to the foundation, to learn more about Roy as a baseball player and philanthropist. In addition to providing annual gifts to several children’s charities, the foundation has made contributions to the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund and Aid Judan. Fund 44 has also teamed up with the Ronald McDonald House to provide assistance with their local programs in Jackson, Missis-
and friends, Roy wanted to give back to Weir, a no-stoplight town of less than 600 by offering the ultimate dining experience. Being from Weir, Roy knows that the area doesn’t offer a lot of choices when it comes to eating out; in fact, those who want to dine with friends or take their family out for a celebration, holiday, or just to enjoy the evening would be on the road for a good hour, traveling a country mile to get from point A to point B. “You have to drive 30 miles to go to a restaurant,” said Roy. So Roy wanted his hometown to have a nice restaurant where locals could have a good steak or fish dinner in the area and hence, HomePlate Fish and Steakhouse was birthed in 2009. Astros club owner McLane inadvertently played a role with the creation of this project. Roy bought 76 acres of land on which to build the restaurant, and he cleared it with the very bulldozer that McLane gave him for winning Game 6 of the NLCS in 2005. Roy hired an outside company to build
during business hours, working the cash register, seating people, overseeing the kitchen operations, and socializing with the patrons. Opening night was a complete family affair as his wife ran non-stop for hours, cleaning tables, refilling iced tea and taking orders, as did her sister. So Roy has never adapted the big ego that most players acquire once they make it pro; in fact, Roy still makes his year round home in Weir, appreciates the people, and was happy to give back by having the restaurant built. So if you’re ever in central Mississippi, it’s encouraged that you dine at HomePlate Fish and Steakhouse. After indulging, you may even decide to take a plate home. And who knows? Roy’s good luck touch may be infectious, for one day you may look up and be lucky enough to see Roy, the man whom to baseball lovers provides so much joy, who’s at heart, just a small hometown country boy. MSM MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 59
>>> MSM | OUTDOORS
Life on the
LAKE
Pete Ponds of Madison is living his dream of fishing on the Bassmaster Tour, but he’ll tell you in a heartbeat that it takes a special person to be able to handle the rigors of the tour. BY KEVIN BROUGHTON Contributing Writer Photos Courtesy Pete Ponds
A
ll Pete Ponds has ever wanted to do is fish. Now, to all the anglers thinking, “Big deal, I’d fish every day if I could, too,” don’t speak out of turn. Likewise, for those guys who watch competitive bass fishing on the weekends and think, “How hard can it be?” Well, think again. Ponds has made a living catching fish for a decade, alongside the biggest names in the sport. It was anything but easy getting to the upper echelons. But he had a singular focus – an obsession, really – and a plan to get where he is today. It started when he was a teenager. “My daddy fished all the time,” says Ponds. “He’d take me with him some, but he didn’t take me nearly as much as I wanted to go.” So perhaps it was a forbidden-fruit thing that fed his desire. But the degree of his lust for angling became apparent to those closest to him when Ponds reached on of life’s early milestones. “When I graduated from Forrest Hill High School, Daddy gave me $1,000,” says Ponds, now 50. He bought a boat. “I didn’t even have a car. I had no way to pull the dang thing. I just knew I wanted to fish.” It’s probably no coincidence that about that time, his father told him it was time to move out. No matter. Ponds had a vision, and the seeds of a plan. The goal: To fish for a living. On an Indian summer day on Lake Caroline in early November, Ponds sums up what drives him, a theme he’ll return to several times during the day. It’s something he accepts, even if he doesn’t understand it completely; odd, considering he’s an established, touring professional on the Bassmasters circuit. “I have,” he says with a mystified shake of his head, “a socially acceptable addiction.” Staying with the junkie metaphor for only a moment, they say that admitting there’s an addiction is the first step to kicking it. In Pete Ponds’ case some sort of converse was true, maybe because his fishing jones was socially acceptable. In any case, he resolved that he would do whatever it took to fish, on tour with the big boys. It was a slow, methodical climb but he kept his head down and went hard at it. “I had been working at a trucking company,” he says. “I knew that wouldn’t get it, so I took a second job at UPS. I had to get to a certain level of financial stability if I was going to be able to make a run at it.” The ultimate catalyst came, oddly enough, over the radio. From the voice of Middle America. “In the early 1990s, I heard Paul Harvey talking about a company that sold franchises of a cleaning service,” says Ponds. “So I bought one.” At this point, he took his first leap of faith. “I quit the job with the trucking company to get
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the cleaning service up and running. I was a year and a half short of being vested in their retirement program.” As he continued to work – and fish in all the amateur tournaments he could to sharpen his game – he finally saw a jumping off point. “I decided when I got the business to the point where it was making ‘X’ dollars a year in net profits, I’d try to fish full time.” In 2001, Ponds made the Holy Grail of tournaments, the Bassmaster Classic, by finishing high enough in several “divisional” events put on by the Bassmaster Federation. Competing with the country’s best anglers in the tour’s premier event gave him a shot of confidence. In 2002, he fished on the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) tour for the first time. Two years later, Ponds notched his first and only win on the tournament trail, at the Alabama Citgo Bassmaster Open on Lake Eufaula. His 41.7-pound creel was good enough for first place in a field of 187, and $50,000. A man in Ponds’ position, having ground away at his dream for so long, might have said, “I’ve arrived.” Not so for the overachieving South Jackson native. “I still don’t feel like I’m there now,” Ponds says. A striking judgment, for a guy who hasn’t had to pay for fishing equipment for years and has never lost his tour card and has been a fixture on the Elite Series ever since. Just staying at that level is a daunting enough challenge that one would think those who can do it wouldn’t lack for confidence. Yet it’s Ponds’ biggest demon. “I struggle with confidence, all the time,” Ponds says. A case in point: the 2007 Pride of Georgia on Clarks Hill Lake. Ponds entered the final day in third place, in striking distance of winning for the second time. “That’s when you turn the gas on. I let off,” Ponds says. “That’s why I have to learn how to win.” It isn’t a matter of not fishing hard; it’s being able to abandon caution. On any day of a tournament, an angler can weigh in no more than five fish. And there’s a mindset common among many – if not most – fishermen: “Let me get five keepers in the boat, then I’ll focus on catching bigger ones and culling the small ones out.” It’s methodical and not necessarily unsound. But to borrow from another sport, think of it as settling for field goals early in the game. “Nobody wants to go to the scale with less than a limit of fish,” Ponds says. “But I’ve been stuck on small fish. You’ve got to go for the big fish. You’ve got to be willing to risk getting zeroed in order to win. I know it, and I still struggle with it. I still can’t always make myself do it.” The subject doesn’t come up, but one imagines sports psychologists could find a niche market on the Bassmaster Tour, the way they have with NFL kickers and PGA touring pros. “But the bottom line is, you can’t compete on the upper level in any sport 62 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
without the mental toughness inside of you. That’s what makes it happen.” It’s said that playing professional poker is “a hard way to make an easy living.” Elite Series touring pros would scoff. The one thing fans and aspiring anglers fail to grasp, Ponds says, is that it’s a business. “I’ll spend 70 grand just to go to work this year.” Fuel, entry fees, food, lodging…it adds up quickly. And to call it a grind doesn’t even approach understatement. There are eight Elite tournaments per year. Ponds will leave Madison at least two days before the contest starts. “You get there, you
buy your groceries, prep your tackle and make sure your rods and reels are in good shape,” he says. “Then you try to get the lay of the land. I drive my truck around the lake, just looking, trying to narrow it down to a few reasonable areas. They don’t let us on the water.” But that’s just tournament week. Ponds will have made at least one prior trip to “pre-fish” a given body of water where an Elite event will be held. Toledo Bend in Louisiana is an example. “I’ve fished there five days with two different (local) guys [in preparation for an event.] The water will probably be 6 feet higher in
the tournament, but I’ve loaded spots into my GPS, and I’ve made probably five pages of notes that I’ll go over every night when the tournament’s going on,” he says. “It’s not this ‘fun’ thing,” he continues. “It’s work. I fish daylight till dark, and then go straight to bed.” What’s the most important thing to him in the middle of a tournament? He doesn’t even pause. “Getting enough sleep.” Tournaments run Thursday-Sunday, with a couple of cuts, until 12 remain on Sunday. On Monday, regardless of the outcome, it’s back to Madison, so that Ponds has traveled a minimum of eight days per tournament. Double that if ESPN has scheduled back-toback tournaments, which might happen once
or twice a year. It’s a hard life on the road and on the water, and it doesn’t do wonders for the angler’s home life, either. Ponds is quick to credit his wife, Kim, for being so supportive (she handles the bulk of the family’s business affairs), which ultimately makes it possible for him to chase his dream. But he’s surprisingly candid about his biggest regret on the home front. “I don’t have the relationship with my son (now in law school) that I wish I did. That hurts.” The financial rewards haven’t been insignificant, largely because of his three biggest sponsors, Ardent reels, Duckett rods and Bandit baits. (Take it away, Pete: “Ardent is the only reel that’s made 100 percent in the U.S.A.”)
“I live in a house that’s paid for because of fishing, and I wouldn’t be able to say that without those sponsors,” he says. And sponsorships are the key; again, he points out, “This is a business. Yeah, you’ve got to be able to fish, obviously. But you’ve got to be able to market and promote yourself, too. That’s something I had to learn, but a lot of people don’t really understand that.” Having established himself on the tour, Ponds is often approached by folks who want to chase the same dream. “Everybody who comes to me with that idea, I try to talk ‘em out of it,” he says. “You might have saved a bankroll of a hundred grand. You’ll go broke in a year. Or you might get lucky and have a great first year, but you’ll be done after year two, unless you can really catch fish and get sponsors and market yourself.” He pauses a moment. “But if they decide they’re gonna really do it, I’ll do anything I can to help them.” He knows he’s not the only one with that burning, inescapable fixation on the largemouth bass. Ponds’ goal for the 2011 season is no different than any other. “I want to make the Classic. That’s everybody’s goal.” The aforementioned Holy Grail is limited to about the top 50 anglers. (“About the top 50,” because ESPN and BASS tweak the rules more often than the NASCAR brass and the formula is more confusing than that of the Bowl Championship Series.) It is a point of no small annoyance to him that he hasn’t made it back to the tour’s biggest event since 2001. And so, Pete Ponds continues to grind. As tough as that grind is, as hard as it is on his mind and body and confidence and home life, there’s no way he’d do anything else. He slides away the remains of a barbecue lunch and leans back in his chair. Without prompting, that slow, bewildered head-shake comes back. “It’s an obsession…I really can’t help it,” he says, genuinely perplexed. “Every hour of every day, if I’m awake, I’m thinking about fishing. It’s all I know. If I’m in a big group of guys and somebody starts talking college football, I shut up. I don’t know anything about it.” If a Southern man says that and it doesn’t evoke a double take, nothing will. “I may have fished in back-to-back tournaments and been on the road for the better part of three weeks. I’ll come home absolutely exhausted and take a nap,” Ponds says. “I’ll wake up and within a couple minutes I’m thinking, ‘I bet I can catch one off the sea wall right now,’ and I’ll go cast…even with the water this low.” He has to laugh at himself. “But I guess you’ve got to have that kind of dedication.” - MSM Kevin Broughton is a lawyer, writer and actor living in Madison. He stands ready to give Mr. Ponds a rematch at his convenience. MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE - 63
>>> MSM | KEVIN BROUGHTON
Finally, an objective look at the Cam Newton saga
By KEVIN BROUGHTON Guest Columnist
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n November 2009, I had no idea who Cam Newton was. Mississippi State’s season was winding down, and the platooning of Tyson Lee and Chris Relf had produced underwhelming results. I asked a State fan (one of the five percent who doesn’t sport a goatee) who the 2010 starter would be, expecting him to hold forth on the merits of Relf and Tyler Russell. “Cam Newton,” he said. “Who’s that?” I got the thumbnail bio: Freakish athlete; recruited to Florida by Dan Mullen; backed up Tim Tebow as a freshman. He was a good kid who had made one mistake, and was doing a year in a Texas junior college. And, since I’m not a recruiting dork, I didn’t give the matter another thought…until I woke up New Year’s Day and learned that he’d signed with Auburn the night before. Suddenly, this “good kid who’d made one mistake” was a garden-variety thug who would either be kicked out of school or incarcerated by Valentine’s Day. The same State fan told me so. Many others did, too. (An aside: I had experienced something akin to this when Tommy Tuberville departed Oxford, sans pine box, for the Plains of East Alabama. For three years, if I dared wear my alma mater’s colors, I was beset by angry Rebels as if I’d made the hire. I digress.) I didn’t know the half of it. Over the coming months, I would witness the biggest temper tantrum ever thrown by a fan base this side of Tuscaloosa. And while the Newton reportage has been sloppy and ethically challenged, there is a generally agreed-upon timeline: Sometime in November 2009, Cecil Newton and State booster Kenny Rogers let it be known that it would take $180,000 for Cam 64 - MISSISSIPPI SPORTS MAGAZINE
to sign with MSU. State booster Bill Bell was at least on the periphery of this scheme. And so was State booster John Bond. Or he wasn’t. His story changed a couple times before he went to ground and lawyered up. Mullen, being the paragon of virtue and integrity that he is, continued recruiting Newton until the latter signed with Auburn, then turned all the information over to the SEC office. Well, maybe not everything. When Commissioner Slive finally (after being M.I.A. on the issue for several weeks) spoke out, he expressed displeasure that certain national media types had gleaned information from Mississippi State “sources” that Slive was then hearing for the first time. The Commish was visibly steamed and pointed out that Mullen and State had not “followed procedure.” Is it unreasonable to assume that Dan Mullen – a New Hampshire native – was displeased by the pace of the investigation and began leaking additional allegations to the media? Only to the naïve. We would do well to remember here at whose feet Mullen learned his tradecraft: An arrogant, black-hearted Yankee cynic known for bullying reporters and invoking both God and daughter when he announced a “resignation” that lasted all of 36 hours. And not to be one-upped by a former protégé, Urban Meyer got in on the act, too. Just a day or two after the initial flurry of national reports chronicling the pay-for-play allegations, someone (no idea who this could be) in Gainesville violated federal law and engaged in an outright smear campaign. Newton, it was alleged by “sources,” was on the verge of being kicked out of Florida for cheating when he hightailed it for a Texas JUCO. That the allegations proved baseless was of no matter. Destroying Cam Newton – and by extension, Auburn’s season – was all that counted. But if Mullen’s and Meyer’s behavior was childish, it would pale in comparison to the reaction of the State fan base after the NCAA cleared Newton. State fans took to message boards and Twitter with venom. An outrage! The fix was in! Conspiracy! One former State quarterback – not named John Bond – was Ahab to Newton’s white whale on Twitter. Cameron Newton obviously took up rentfree residence in this guy’s brain, so angry and obsessive were his Tweets.
State fans quickly invoked the case of Renardo Sidney. But, logic never being their strong suit, they couldn’t see three huge differences: (1) Something of value changed hands in the Sidney case; not so with Newton. (2) Sidney lied to the NCAA; Newton, his parents and Auburn officials sat down with investigators and were cleared in a day’s time. This was after Cecil Newton had turned over personal and church financial records. (3) Sidney lawyered up and his counsel for months and months refused to turn over bank records requested by the NCAA. (This I happen to know, because I interviewed said attorney, Donald Jackson, at least a half-dozen times.) The irony in all this is Mississippi State’s newfound devotion to rules and ethics. State fans one and all see the 1990s as their football Golden Years, when they were led by the only man with the dubious distinction of putting three Division 1 football programs on probation (Pittsburg, Texas A&M and Mississippi State), Jackie Wayne Sherrill. State gleefully made a deal with the devil, hiring a serial felon to run their program, consequences be damned. I suppose they got religion after the 2003 season. But here’s the real irony. Besides the Cam Newton affair, the only issue that comes close to raising the ire of State fans is their beloved cow bells. (It’s always struck me as strange that a fan base – particularly in the SEC -- needs an inanimate object to make noise. But again, I digress.) SEC rules – the ones to which State fans are now so devoted – prohibit artificial noisemakers. After willingly breaking that rule for 30+ years, the “Ring Responsibly” campaign was born in 2010, after State was granted a conditional reprieve by the league. The modified rule was agreed upon by the athletic directors of the conference. And it wouldn’t have happened at all if it hadn’t been for Auburn AD Jay Jacobs, who helped Scott Stricklin lobby colleagues. That rule expires this spring. What are the chances Jacobs and Auburn stick their necks out for State again? About the same likelihood that State wins the SEC West in football again during my lifetime. - MSM Kevin Broughton is a lawyer, writer and aspiring actor in Madison, MS.
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