College baseball came to and end for the state of Mississippi this past week.
Locally, the East Central Community College baseball team saw its season end in the semifinals of the NJCAA Division II College World Series, where they finished third for the second straight season. Both of East Central’s losses in the tournament were to Mississippi rival Pearl River, who eventually lost in the finals.
While coach Neal Holliman and the Warriors ultimately fell short of their ultimate goal, there is much to applaud for their effort this season. The Warriors finished with 46 wins this season the recently graduated sophomores compiled 100 wins over the last two years. That’s a lot of wins for those young men.
This year’s squad wasn’t quite as talented as last year’s squad but did stay ranked in the top 10 the entire season. But they didn’t have the pitching depth that they had from the season before. Starters Chris Billingsley and Bryson Goff were front-line starters and capable of getting wins against anybody. And while the Warriors had some guys behind those two that could give them some solid innings and execute, they didn’t have that third starter who could shut people down. And in a tournament formate like the World Series, you need all the pitching you can get. I do expect sophomore Marbin Lezcano, a 6-5 right-hander from Panama to get drafted. He throws in the mid 90s with a nasty slider.
The day after the Warriors were eliminated, I told Holliman that I thought he had done one of his best coaching jobs with this year’s squad. It’s not easy getting back to Enid three straight years and certainly not easy going as deep as they did in consecutive years. The Warriors have nothing to hang their heads about. Great job guys.
The Big 3 fall short
The baseball seasons for the state’s big 3 schools also came to an end this past week.
In Oxford and Hattiesburg, Ole Miss and Southern Miss both fell short of winning their regional, but not without some exciting baseball. In Oxford, the Rebels couldn’t quite overcome an opening-round loss to Murray State. After battling back and getting wins of Georgia Tech and forcing a do-or-die game against Murray State, the Rebels fell short 13-12 on Monday night. They had their chances and rallied from a large deficit in the last innings but just fell short as the No. 4 seed Racers came away with the regional win. I hate it for coach Mike Bianco because his squad battled hard this season and finished strong. They showed a lot of fight in Oxford this season but that opening-round loss was too much to overcome.
In Hattiesburg, the Golden Eagles also had an opening-round loss, falling to Columbia of the Ivy League. The Eagles then got a big win over Alabama, much to the delight of Souther Miss fans. They eventually eliminated Columbia and forced a do-or-die game on Monday night against Miami. After battering the Hurricanes on Sunday night, the Eagles fell short 5-4 on Monday night, despite a late-inning rally. Much like the Rebels in Oxford, the Eagles showed a lot of fight this past weekend. But that opening-round loss stretched their pitching and was just too much to overcome. Both of these teams showed a lot of resilience. While they should probably both be hosting super regionals this week, they have fans a lot to cheer about this past week.
Meanwhile, Mississippi State had an interesting weekend in Tallahassee, where they eventually fell to host Florida State. The Seminoles starting pitching was really good this past week and finished off the Bulldogs on Saturday night.
And less than an hour after that game ended, the Bulldogs announced the hire of their next head baseball coach. Virginia coach Brian O’Connor was hired to replace Chris Lemonis as the Bulldogs skipper. O’Connor brings a championship resume to Starkville and will need all of his skills and abilities to bring the Bulldogs back to national prominence. He has a tall task in front of him in Starkville. After winning the 2021 national championship, Bulldog fans expect trips to Omaha every year. Since winning that title, it’s been quite the roller coaster. Lemonis leaned heavily on the transfer portal to try and rebuild the Bulldogs. While the portal can’t be ignored, I would like to see the Bulldogs get back to recruiting the top-level Mississippi kids again. I’ll be anxious to see how O’Connor does in Starkville. Most people on the outside consider it a home-run hire for Mississippi State. But only time will tell about that.
So as baseball comes to an end, we turn our attention to college football, which you can talk about 365 days a year in Mississippi. Southern Miss and Mississippi State will kick off the season in Hattiesburg this year and that should be an interesting one to gauge where both teams are at. And coach Lane Kiffin in Oxford will have to find a quarterback to replace first-round pick Jackson Dart and lead his offense.
Now, we are all off to summer vacations in Mississippi. The 100-degree days are right around the corner.
Robbie Robertson is sports editor for The Newton County Appeal. You can reach him at sports@newtoncountyappeal.com
