Mystik Dan won the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby in a rare photo finish at Churchill Downs on Saturday in Louisville. The longshot winner, ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., won by inches over Sierra Leone and Forever Young in the closest running of the roses race since 1947.
The USM Golden Eagles have the longest streak in Division 1 baseball, as they have for 22 consecutive years won at least 30 games. USM (32-17, 15-9) swept Coastal Carolina and travel to Arkansas State this Friday. Ole Miss (25-21, 9-15) won two from Auburn and will host Texas A&M this weekend before visiting USM on May 14. Mississippi State won two of three from Alabama over the weekend. The Bulldogs (32-16, 14-10) won the Governor's Cup contest from Ole Miss, 5-1, last Wednesday.
William Carey baseball won their third SSAC Tournament title with a 15-4 win over Blue Mountain. Next up is the NAIA postseason tournament for both teams. Carey (34-14) will host an opening round four-team NAIA tournament on May 13-16. The Toppers of Blue Mountain, will be making their first-ever trip to the NAIA National Championship opening round. The Toppers (31-21) will find out their destination site this Thursday. Pontotoc’s Anderrius Townsend of the Toppers was named SSAC Player of the Year. Delta State is taking part in the Gulf South Tournament in Oxford, Alabama, this week.
Mississippi College for Women's baseball team (21-14) will head to O’Fallen, Missouri, this week as the number three seed in the SLIAC tournament. Belhaven (23-15) will travel on Wednesday to the CCS tournament in Maryville, Ky. Third seeded Southeastern Baptist Chargers of Laurel (17-15) will head to Columbia, South Carolina, for region play this week.
JUCO
Hinds and Meridian won playoff series this past weekend and now will join LSU-Eunice at Pearl River for the Region 23 tournament, May 13-17. The East Central/Northeast and Jones/East Mississippi playoff series winners will also join the field.
Co-Lin softball (42-4) will host Jones College (39-13) on Saturday for the Region 23 championships. Both teams will advance to the World Series in Spartanburg, S.C. on May 20.
Softball
Ole Miss and Mississippi State head to the SEC Conference Tournament that is Tuesday-Saturday this week in Auburn. Ole Miss (30-24) plays this Tuesday night while MSU (33-17) plays on Wednesday. Southern Miss (22-28) heads to Texas State for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Wednesday.
William Carey (38-12) downed Middle Georgia last Saturday to win their fourth SSAC Tournament title. Next up for the Lady Crusaders is hosting the NAIA opening round on May 13-16.
Regular season Gulf South Conference champion Mississippi College (45-7) won three of four games in finishing runner-up in the league tournament to Auburn-Montgomery. The Lady Chocs will find out their NCAA Tournament fate this week.
Belhaven (39-6) finished second in their CCS conference tournament. The Lady Blazers will find out their destination next Monday on the NCAA selection show. Lady Blazers pitcher Kennedy Carruth was named Pitcher of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Short Notes
Former MSU All-American and SEC Triple Crown winner Brent Rooker had an historic moment last week. The Oakland Athletics All-Star smashed two home runs in the third inning in leading the A’s over Miami.
The Mississippi Braves will host the Biloxi Shuckers beginning next Tuesday in Pearl.
Southern Mississippi athletics announced a two-year $35 million renovation of Reed Green Coliseum that will begin this fall.
Jackson State named Margaret Williams, a 19-year coaching veteran, to replace Tomekia Reed as the Lady Tigers' new basketball coach. Williams is a former head coach of Alabama A&M. Reed was named the head coach of Charlotte University.
The WNBA number one draft choice Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever scored 21 points as the Fever fell to the homestanding Dallas Wings, 79-76, before a sellout preseason crowd.
Dale has been writing sports in Mississippi since 1973. Listen to Dale and Marshall Wood on the Brouhaha Sports Show Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area. This week’s guest is former MLB player Barry Lyons. To listen to the broadcast on your computer or smart phone anywhere in the world, go to Google Chrome, go to wabo105.com and click listen live. You may also go to The Brouhaha on YouTube and listen to archived shows.
