It was a big weekend in Oxford for some. The Mississippi State baseball team spoiled some of the “Double Decker Arts Festival” by continuing their winning ways over their SEC rival. It was the Bulldogs’ sixth SEC season series win against the Rebels as MSU won two of the three games. MSU (24-17, 8-10) is now 18-4 over the Rebels in the last 22 games. Ole Miss (22-17, 6-12) will head to Western Division leader Arkansas this weekend while MSU will head to Missouri.
Southern Mississippi baseball tied the school record when the Golden Eagles won their 14th straight game as they swept Rice over the weekend. This week USM (32-8, 16-2) will begin a five-game road trip that will take them to SE Louisiana, UAB and South Alabama before returning home on May 6.
On Saturday, the Ole Miss Rebels played their Grove Bowl, and they showcased their recruits from the transfer portal, which brought smiles to the Rebel faithful. The Rebels lost quarterback Matt Corral, three running backs, their top pass rusher, a couple of wide receivers and three running backs from last year’s team. So Lane Kiffin hit the portal hard adding a couple of running backs and a gifted wide receiver and may have added five very talented defensive transfers. USC transfer Michael Trigg had a big game with three touchdown catches. The one big question is still who will quarterback all this new firepower. USC transfer Jaxson Dart and returning back up quarterback Luke Altmyer are both competing for Corral’s spot. Even though Altmyer had the better Saturday stats, the successor to Corral with not be announced until later. According to Kiffin, both Altmyer and Dart have looked great and not so great during the spring practices. The competition will continue through fall practices.
Jackson State held their spring game Sunday night on ESPNU in the nation’s first nationally televised HBCU spring game. The Tiger fans were able to see the nation’s No. 2 high school recruit in defensive back Travis Hunter. The Atlanta native intercepted a pass and scored twice in the first period as a wide receiver.
A couple of former Raleigh High School spring sports stars made headlines over the weekend. Jones College softball pitcher Holly Craft threw a six-inning perfect game over East Mississippi on Saturday. The freshmen hurler also fanned 10 in leading Jones (34-7, 22-2) to their 11th straight win. Another former Lion Shemar Page also pitched one of the rarest feats by tossing a perfect game in leading Grambling over Alcorn, 16-0, on Friday night. It was only the 34th in NCAA baseball history. The former Pearl River Community College star is ranked sixth in the NCAA with 98 strikeouts in 64 innings. The 6-2, 220-pound Page is a graduate student at Grambling after having played at Louisiana Tech.
Former Oak Grove and Southern Mississippi baseball star Kirk McCarty made his Major League debut on Sunday in Yankee Stadium. McCarty allowed four runs and four hits, walked two and fanned three in three innings of work.
Jackson State baseball coach Omar Johnson won his 500th game, 5-0, over Alabama State on Saturday. William Carey has won seven straight games entering the final weekend of the regular season. The Crusaders (30-15, 13-8) will play at Talladega on Friday and Saturday. Number 13 Delta State (26-13, 17-7), holding on to first place in the Gulf South Conference, will complete the regular season at Christian Brothers this weekend.
Former Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott and former Ole Miss linebacker Patrick Willis are two of the five new inductees into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame. Joining the former Magnolia stars will be Kevin Faulk, Von Miller, Philip Rivers and Creed Humphrey at the 2022 induction in Point Clear, Alabama, on June 26.
Dale has been writing sports in Mississippi since 1973. Listen to Dale’s Brouhaha Sports Show with Marshall Wood each Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area. Tupelo sportswriter Mike Katz will talk about Ole Miss sports with Dale and Marshall this week. 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.
