We had good news and then we had some not so good baseball news this past week. The good news was that Mississippi State and Ole Miss both claimed their first conference wins of the season. Mississippi State outslugged South Carolina (8-1, 26-3) last Friday in halting their 18-game SEC losing streak. MSU (1-8, 16-13) will travel to Alabama in a series that begins on Thursday. Ole Miss came through in game two of their series against Texas A&M with some clutch two-out hits to claim their first SEC win of the year. The Rebels (1-8, 16-11) will host Arkansas beginning on Thursday. The Ole Miss and USM contest was cancelled last week in the fourth inning because the recently installed infield sod was not holding up at Trustmark Park.
Southern Mississippi won two of three games against Sun Belt rival Troy over the weekend. The Golden Eagles (5-4, 16-10) travel to Old Dominion beginning on Thursday this week.
William Carey baseball is streaking with their 11 straight wins as they head to Faulkner State on Friday. The Crusaders (27-6) are ranked in the Top 20 of the recent NAIA poll. Belhaven (17-9) is another hot team, having won 14 straight games. The Blazers also downed Millsaps to retain the Maloney Trophy.
The Mississippi Braves cancelled their contest with Jackson State this week because of the field conditions at Trustmark Park. The Braves entering their 19th season in Pearl will host the Biloxi Shuckers beginning on Friday in a three games series. The Shuckers are scheduled to host defending national junior college champion Pearl River on Wednesday.
The best junior college baseball is played in Mississippi, and Jones College is leading the MACCC. Pearl River, Meridian and East Central are all hot on the heels of the Bobcats. Pearl River, Meridian and Jones are all ranked in the Top 10 in the recent NJCAA baseball poll.
The JUCO softball ladies are also shining on the national stage. Northwest, Co-Lin and Jones are ranked in the Top 10 while Pearl River, Northeast and Itawamba are all ranked in the second 10.
Spring Football
The defense dominated the USM Golden Eagles spring game. The full speed reps pitted the first teams against the second teams. The quarterback room has Hernando, Mississippi native Zach Wilcke, Clemson transfer Billy Wiles and French Camp native and Houston transfer Holman Edwards competing. Gone from the quarterback room are Ty Keyes, who signed with East Mississippi CC, and Trey Lowe, who signed with Liberty University.
Mississippi State held the first of three spring scrimmages last Saturday. Will Rogers, who has been the starting quarterback for the previous seasons and is the school’s all-time passing leader with 82 touchdowns, is adapting to a new offense this spring. Vanderbilt transfer quarterback Mike Wright is battling Rogers for this year’s starting job. This Saturday, the Bulldogs will have their second scrimmage as they prepare for their spring game on Saturday, April 15.
Last year’s Ole Miss starting quarterback Jaxson Dart is competing with Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders and former LSU quarterback Walker Howard. Dart is the most improved player this spring, according to Rebel coach Lane Kiffin. Sanders is not 100 percent at this stage of the spring while Howard is definitely the future signal caller. The Rebels, who will enter week three of the spring practice, have scheduled the Grove Bowl for April 15.
Jones College lost one of the nation’s best basketball coaches to Louisiana-Monroe this week. Missy Bilderback in her eight seasons at Jones compiled a record of 198-33, including six state titles and seven Region 23 titles. She made three trips to the Sweet 16, two to the Elite Eight and one in the Final 4. Bilderback, daughter of Mississippi high school football coach Perry Wheat, won eight high school state championships at Presbyterian Christian before coming to Jones.
Listen to Dale and Marshall Wood on the Brouhaha Sports Show that will be aired this Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area. This week’s guest will be 7 Days in Utopia film director Matt Russell.
