Rory McIIroy became just the fourth golfer in history to win back-to-back Masters, finishing 12-under par at the historic Augusta National Golf Club. McIIroy edged Scottie Scheffler by one stroke to take the green jacket. He joins Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as back-to-back Masters winners. Mcllroy became only the sixth person to win all four modern major championships when he downed Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff victory at the 2025 Masters. He has also won the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, British Open and finally the Masters to win the Grand Slam of golf.
Funny how the baseball bounces sometimes. On April 5 Mississippi State had just completed a three-game sweep of Ole Miss in Oxford. Everyone was talking up the Bulldogs, and rightly so. MSU was playing at another level, and the Rebels were as lost as goose eyes on the scoreboard. When the sun set on that first Sunday in April, State was 7-2 in the SEC standings while the Rebels were 3-6. Since then, State has not won another SEC game while Ole Miss is 5-1. So, if you peeked at the SEC standings Monday morning, you might have thought this was a misprint: Ole Miss ahead of Mississippi State in the SEC standings.
What happened?
Well, this is what happened. Ole Miss won two of three at Florida and then this past weekend swept LSU. MSU, on the other hand, lost three at home to Georgia and this past weekend lost to Tennessee three times.
Ole Miss (26-11, 8-7) travels to Tennessee (24-12, 7-8) while State (26-10, 7-8) travels to South Carolina (18-19, 5-10) beginning Friday.
LSU (22-15, 6-9) has dominated the Rebels on the diamond in recent years as they swept Ole Miss in both 2023 and 2024. The Rebels' last sweep over LSU was in 2022. The Rebels hitters knocked 32 hits over the weekend, its most against an SEC opponent this season.
Southern Miss (25-11, 8-7) lost consecutive games for the first time this season as they fell to Louisiana-Lafayette. It was their second Sun Belt series loss of the year. The Golden Eagles are third in Sun Belt play as they are tied with South Alabama, Louisiana-Monroe and Troy. The Golden Eagles take on Ole Miss this Tuesday in Pearl before hosting second place Texas State (24-12, 9-6) beginning Friday. Coastal Carolina is leading the conference standings by four games over Texas State.
Softball Records
In softball, William Carey is 30-9; USM, 29-17; Belhaven, 27-7; Millsaps, 19-9; Jackson State, 20-18; Mississippi State, 34-11; Ole Miss, 26-18; and Mississippi College, 25-16.
McCray to replace Knight
William Carey University announced this past week that McComb native Phillip ‘PJ’ McCray will replace longtime basketball coach Steve Knight as the Crusaders men’s head coach. McCray has been Knight's right hand man for the past dozen seasons. McCray played for Knight after transferring from Southwest Community College.
Knight won 819 games in his 44-year tenure at Carey. The Hattiesburg native leaves as the winningest college basketball coach in Mississippi history and 8th overall in the NAIA.
Short Notes
The Pittsburgh Pirates lead the National League Central with a 9-6 record. Contributing to the Pirates' early success are two former Mississippi high school stars in Jake Mangum and Konnor Griffin.
Griffin, the 19-year-old rookie, is the first teenage Pirate since Bill Mazeroski in 1956. To show how rare a teenager in the majors is, Mickey Mantle was the last teenage player for the New York Yankees in 1950.
The L.A. Dodgers were the first MLB team to win 10 games this season. They also have the most wins in the MLB with 11 entering the week, while Atlanta and San Diego have 10 wins.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a dozen choices in the NFL draft. Las Vegas, who picks first overall, has ten choices in the draft. The Saints, Texans and Cowboys have eight each.
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 Hattiesburg sportswriter Stan Caldwell. To listen to the broadcast on your computer or smart phone anywhere in the world, go to Google Chrome. You may also go to The Brouhaha on YouTube and listen to all the archived shows.
