Mississippi Scoreboard

06/05/2026

OLE MISS WINS NINTH REGIONAL UNDER COACH MIKE BIANCO, TRIES TO GET BACK TO THE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES IN BEST OF THREE SUPER REGIONAL SERIES AT NO. 4 NATIONAL SEED AUBURN

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Story by Parrish Alford
Success in the college baseball spotlight depends on your stars, Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco says.
Timely contributions from surprise players across the roster help too.
The Rebels had both over the weekend, winning a second NCAA road regional in five years and returning to a familiar postseason spot under Bianco – a super regional.
Rested after a 3-0 run through the Lincoln Regional, Ole Miss is two wins away from a College World Series berth.
The Rebels play at No. 4 national seed Auburn Friday night at 7 Central on ESPN2 and Saturday at 4 Central on ESPN. They’ll play a third game on Sunday if necessary.
Regional No. 2 seed Ole Miss advanced late Sunday night when Dom Decker, who starred for Murray State in the Ole Miss heartbreak of the Oxford Regional in 2025, drove home freshman Cannon Goldin with a sacrifice fly – the second of the game for Decker – with one out in the 10th inning to defeat the 3 seed, Arizona State 5-4.
The Rebels defeated the Sun Devils 7-6 in 14 innings on the first day of regional play, beat host Nebraska 6-3 in a game that was delayed overnight Saturday and finished late Sunday morning.
Arizona State had been called the most dangerous No. 3 seed among the regionals by Baseball America because of a Sun Devils’ offense led by player of the year finalist Landon Hairston.
Arizona State scored 17 runs against South Dakota State and 11 against Nebraska in its regional wins, but Ole Miss starters and relievers kept the Sun Devils from disastrous innings. Against the Rebels, the Sun Devils were 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position over the two meetings.
“In a regional you need your stars to be stars and show up, but the team as a whole, you also need some other guys, who were maybe a different role, to have that star-like weekend,” said Bianco, who won his 1,000th career game in 2024.
Ole Miss got gutsy pitching from starters Hunter Elliott, of Tupelo, Taylor Rabe and Cade Townsend, but some down-the-line bullpen pieces carried the day in Game 3 as Will Libbert threw three hitless, scoreless innings, and J.P. Robertson, the former Germantown standout, threw two scoreless frames to set up Decker’s winning sacrifice fly.
“We could have gone 15 of 16 innings, and we were going to win that game just because they’d been so good. They’d been able to hold the guys for so many innings in a row. It doesn’t make us put pressure on ourselves as an offense to feel like we have to score right away,” Decker said.
If the performance from Libbert, the Missouri transfer who had fallen from the weekend rotation early in the year, and Robertson, who had given up two hits and two earned runs in two innings against Nebraska, were a bit of a surprise, the Friday night work of Walker Hooks was not.
The former Brandon star arrived in Lincoln with a 2.09 ERA and seven saves in 47 1/3 innings. He was stretched by the demands of extra innings on Friday but was up to the task going 5 1/3 innings with three hits and two earned runs.
Hudson Calhoun, a Tupelo native who played at McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn., came behind him to throw 3 2/3 scoreless frames to set the Rebels on the winning path.
“You never know who’s going to pitch or how long they’re going to go. You throw people out there and see if it sticks. We just did a really good job of planning who was going to throw and finishing the weekend out with a good bullpen,” said Hooks, who has been invited to attend USA Baseball’s 2026 Collegiate National Team Training Camp this summer with a chance to make the Collegiate National Team in July.
Once the college baseball season ends, he will join USA Baseball for exhibition games in Burlington, North Carolina and Danville, Virginia at the end of June and the annual Stars vs. Stripes series in Cary, North Carolina from June 30-July 4.
The Collegiate National Team will be announced on July 5 before they go compete in the inaugural World Collegiate Baseball Championship at Taichung City Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung City, Taiwan, from July 11-15.
Regardless of what players were defined by certain roles, Bianco believed in his bullpen’s depth.
“They obviously were terrific, like they’ve been most of the year,” Bianco said. “Sometimes when you just look at a snapshot, you see some of the warts. We say that a lot about our team. We’re looking at them every single day, but everybody loses, everybody has issues, everybody has some negative things, but our guys have been really good.”
Now the Rebels are in a super regional for the ninth time in Bianco’s 26 years as coach.
Ole Miss advanced to Omaha in 2014 then again with its championship team in 2022. Both times the Rebels won on the road, coming back from a first-game loss to win at Louisiana-Lafayette then sweeping Southern Mississippi.
Ole Miss and Auburn, led by coach Butch Thompson, an Amory native, and former Mississippi State assistant under legendary Ron Polk, did not play in this regular season but did play in Game 1 at the CWS in the Rebels’ championship run.
The Rebels won 5-1 with a dominating performance from right-hander Dylan Delucia, who went 7 2/3 innings with one earned run, 10 strikeouts and no walks.
Kevin Graham doubled and homered for Ole Miss.
This Auburn team lost the opener in its home regional then battled back through the loser’s bracket to defeat Milwaukee twice and take advantage of its national seed with a home super regional.
The Tigers are tied for second in the SEC with a .304 batting average and are second with 132 doubles.
Auburn has a 4.70 team ERA to Ole Miss’ 4.65.
“We have the same process for every game, no matter if it’s Auburn, no matter if it had been Milwaukee,” Bianco said. “We go out and try to win every pitch no matter who we’re playing. If we just stick to our process and what we do, we’ll be alright.”
And Bianco announced Thursday that he will go with Elliott - the only player left from the 2022 national championship roster - in Game 1, pointing that Elliott has the most rest and has been his Friday starter most of the season.
Elliott has a 5-3 record and a 5.21 earned run average, and has struggled over his last five starts, but he is the leader of the pitching staff and has been in these pressure situations before.
Ole Miss fans remember Elliott, as a true freshman, struck out 10 without a walk and didn’t allow a run and only three hits in 7 1/3 innings to clinch the super regional series over Southern Miss and send the Rebels to Omaha.
And he was the starting pitcher in Game 2 of the CWS championship series against Oklahoma and allowed only six hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings to keep Ole Miss close before it pulled out a 4-2 victory for its first national championship in school history

06/05/2026

This week’s Scoreboard Toon by Ricky Nobile! ✍️

Wildcats dominate the NJCAA by winning national titles in baseball and softball! 🏆Pearl River Wildcat Softball PRCC Athletics

06/04/2026

We are excited to announce the 26 players who made The Box Sports Academy Metro Jackson Baseball teams this season. Nine teams are represented on the team - Jackson Academy, Brandon, Northwest Rankin, Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Madison Central, Hartfield Academy, Germantown, Clinton and Tri-County Academy. Congrats to all these players for their hard work this season.
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Robert Wilson spent 23 years at The Clarion-Ledger/Jackson Daily News as a sportswriter with more than half of those years covering high school sports, mostly in the Metro Jackson area. He helped choose the All-Metro teams in various sports for more than a decade. Wilson rebirthed this team with the...

06/04/2026

We are excited to announce the Box Sports Academy Metro Jackson Baseball Coach and Player of the Year. Congrats to Jackson Academy's Justin Reed and Deuce Jenkins on being this year's winners. The All Metro Jackson team will be published later today. Below is the Coach and Player of the Year story.

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Robert Wilson spent 23 years at The Clarion-Ledger/Jackson Daily News as a sportswriter with more than half of those years covering high school sports, mostly in the Metro Jackson area. He helped choose the All-Metro teams in various sports for more than a decade. Wilson rebirthed this team with the...

06/04/2026

Two wins from Omaha, Mississippi State coach Brian O’Connor is grateful for the moment as State faces No. 3 national seed Georgia

By Parrish Alford, Photo by Mississippi State Athletics
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A Mississippi State-Georgia super regional gives the Bulldog faithful a chance to validate the pursuit of their new head coach.

State’s welcoming of long-time Virginia coach Brian O’Connor and the talented roster he built had the Bulldogs thinking national seed in the regular season’s early weeks.

But Georgia, the No. 3 national seed in its third season under former renowned pitching coach Wes Johnson, has shown this season the national profile State craves.

Johnson built his reputation at Dallas Baptist, then at State in 2016 and at Arkansas and with the Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins before helping LSU to the national championship in 2023.

Days later he was named the head coach in Athens and has responded with an 86-34 overall record, 35-25 in the SEC. Georgia just hosted its third-straight regional, now its second super in three seasons. The Athens Bulldogs are hopeful their coach will outsell O’Connor and earn his first Omaha bid.

Both teams had relatively easy times in their home regionals.

Georgia’s field included Long Island, Boston College and Liberty, and the Bulldogs swept through defeating Long Island 18-2 and Liberty 6-2 then 6-1 in Sunday’s finale.

State also won in three games, defeating Lipscomb 10-1, Cincinnati 10-5 and Louisiana-Lafayette 19-5.

The Bulldogs placed seven on Starkville’s all-regional team with freshman outfielder Jacob Parker, named the regional’s most outstanding player.

“This rookie here, obviously the job he’s done all year, but being the MVP of the regional is pretty special,” O’Connor said as he clapped Parker’s back during the postgame presser late Sunday.

Parker doubled and homered twice against the Ragin’ Cajuns.

“I’m sure glad he decided to go to college and wear this uniform.”

O’Connor’s praise was not limited to Parker.

Shortstop Ryder Woodson also homered twice and drove in four runs. State had single home runs from Gehrig Frei, Vytas Valincius and Ace Reese. Valincius added a double and five RBIs.

Sophomore right-hander Ryan McPherson, his innings limited to roughly half of what he might have thrown had he not dealt with a forearm strain much of the season, was solid for five innings, limiting the Cajuns to single runs in the first and fifth innings while his offense took control.

By the time McPherson left the game, the Bulldogs were ahead 8-2.

Game 1 of the Athens Super Regional is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. Central on ESPN. Game 2 is scheduled Sunday for 11 a.m. Central. Game 3, if necessary, is scheduled for Monday at a time to be determined.

State will have to have a healthy McPherson to knock off Georgia and make the program’s first trip to Omaha since the 2021 national championship.

It’s a fact not lost on O’Connor who has cautiously guided his ace’s return to health.

“McPherson was outstanding,” O’Connor said. “It worked. Our plan that was laid out about 10 weeks ago was for tonight, for him to go out there and maybe give us four to six innings, give us a quality start in a regional.”

O’Connor credited the work of McPherson, pitching coach Justin Parker and the medical staff for having McPherson postseason ready.

This week McPherson will face a Georgia offense statistically more explosive than his own.

The Athens Bulldogs lead the SEC in hitting at .326 to State’s .317. Georgia also leads with 165 home runs (third most in Division I history), 545 RBIs, 1,301 total bases, a .624 slugging percentage and a .439 on-base percentage.

McPherson could be a wild card in State’s favor due to his own ability but also because the Georgia Dogs haven’t seen him this year.

State is 0-4 against Georgia, the most recent loss 5-3 in the SEC Tournament two weeks ago.

The Athens Bulldogs swept State at Dudy Noble Field April 2-4 winning 10-9, 3-1 and 8-5 in 10 innings in the third game.

Sophomore left-hander Charlie Foster took McPherson’s Game 1 start and lasted just two innings.

McPherson on the year has a 2.81 earned run average with 50 strikeouts, 10 walks and a .218 opponent batting average in 41 2/3 innings.

Georgia will be getting its first look at McPherson, but State won’t be seeing one of Georgia’s key players, infielder Tre Phelps, who is suspended after his ejection in Sunday’s decisive game in the Athens Regional.

Umpires didn’t take kindly to Phelps’ lengthy stare in the director of the Liberty dugout and a demonstrative rounding of the bases after his go-ahead two-run home run in the sixth.

Johnson protested, arguing that Phelps’ family was sitting behind the Liberty dugout and was also ejected.

The coach is not suspended for Game 1 of the super. The player is, and Phelps’ absence subtracts a .370 hitter with 19 home runs and 57 RBIs.

Phelps was 5-for-15 with four RBIs against State in Starkville, 1-for-4 against State in the SEC Tournament.

State will have to figure out Georgia right-hander Joey Volchko has held it to four earned runs in 10 innings in his starts in Starkville and in Hoover this season.

A hot bat from Parker would be a big help.

He enters the super regional hitting .340 with 10 doubles and is second on the team with 58 RBIs.

Parker is tied with Hunter Hines for second place among State’s freshman home run hitters with 16 on the season. They’re two behind Raphael Palmeiro, leaving Parker in place to catch one of State’s greatest with a good weekend in Athens.

“I’ll just try and hit a couple of singles. If I can drive one out it will be nice. We’ll see,” Parker said.

The sweat barely dry from the Starkville Regional-clinching win, O’Connor resisted the temptation to talk about the future, the immediate future of a possible Omaha trip or the plan for roster building to strengthen what he calls a solid foundation put in place by this year’s team.

Instead, he stayed in the moment and expressed gratitude.

O’Connor in the moment felt “proud, thankful, incredibly grateful that President (Mark) Keenum and Zac Selmon thought enough of me that they felt I was the right leader for this program. I never will ever take that for granted because I know how much (the program) means to the fans, what it means to the people that support Mississippi State, and I know how much it means to the players that where this uniform.”

Another trip to Omaha would be mean the world to the fans, players, and coaches. This would be trip No. 13, the first one in 1971 and the last one, the team’s only national title in 2021. MSU is tied with Arkansas, Clemson and North Carolina with the 10th most CWS appearances.

Hail State Nation can taste it. Two more wins to go at possibly the most difficult place out of the eight Super Regionals, at Georgia, the highest seed left in the tournament.

Parrish Alford, a two-time Mississippi sports writer of the year, was raised in Denham Springs, Louisiana and graduated from Northeast Louisiana University before the school changed its name to Louisiana-Monroe.

He’s covered college sports in Mississippi since 1989, spending time as a beat writer for multiple seasons at each of the state’s Division I schools.

He’s most known for his work as a beat writer and columnist for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo, where he spent 30 years.

He is the author of “Habitual Deadline – sports stories of three-plus decades from the guy who came and stayed.”

A Christian, husband, father and grandfather, he is currently the editor of American Family News (AFN.net), a division of American Family Association.

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06/03/2026

Congratulations to Holder McAlpin for being the final MSB Statewide Player of the Week presented by Community Bank of the 2026 school year! 🏆

The Mize Attendance Center junior pitched a complete game no hitter in game one of the MHSAA 2A State championship series, striking out 9. The Bulldogs went on to win the series, making them the 2026 2A State Champions.

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05/31/2026

Belhaven’s postseason run comes to an end, but still has much to celebrate

By Billy Watkins, Photo by Hays Collins
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Another stellar season came to an end Sunday for Belhaven softball.

The Blazers managed just five hits against defending national champion Trine in a semifinal game at the NCAA Division III championship finals in Salem, Va.

Trine also defeated Belhaven in the opening round.

Belhaven finished 44-12.

Trine took the lead on a two-run homer by Karley Trine in the first inning. (Trine is not related to the school’s namesakes.)

Belhaven, the No. 7 seed, sliced the lead in half with a no-doubt homer by Maryanna Guy in the third.

Trine, the No. 2 seed, scored two more in the bottom of the third, then one more in the fifth.

Melissa Lopera, who homered the past two days, doubled to draw Belhaven within 5-2. But the Blazers could come no closer.

In addition to Guy and Lopera, Grace Langston and Maddie Bruner contributed hits.

AR Sharp started in the circle and pitched three innings, allowing four runs and six hits. Macy Funderburk, who won 22 games this season, pitched the final three and allowed one run and one hit.

Belhaven still has much to celebrate. It won the Collegiate Conference of the South championship. It also hosted a regional and super regional for the first time, winning both.

Head coach Kevin Griffin surpassed the 500 career-win mark.

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Belhaven Blazers Belhaven University NCAA Softball

05/31/2026

NO. 9 NATIONAL SEED AND NO. 1 REGIONAL SEED SOUTHERN MISS LOSES TWO STRAIGHT IN REGIONAL FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2011, LOOKS FOR POSITIVES AS SEASON COMES TO AN END

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Story by Robert Wilson
Southern Miss came within three outs against Arkansas Little Rock and possibly a few feet against Virginia of being in the driver’s seat to win the Hattiesburg Regional this weekend.
But instead, the No. 9 national seeded and No. 1 regional seeded Golden Eagles were the first regional favorite to be eliminated Saturday, going 0-2 in front of their hometown fans.
It was a tough pill to swallow for Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander, his assistant coaches, his players, especially his eight seniors, and the faithful Black and Gold dressed fans who packed out Pete Taylor/Hill Denson Field this season and this weekend hoping to win a regional and have a shot at making the College World Series for the second time in school history.
After No. 4 regional seed Arkansas Little Rock scored four runs in the ninth inning to upset Southern Miss 7-4 in Friday’s first round, Virginia outlasted Southern Miss 15-11 in 10 innings Saturday afternoon to end the Golden Eagles season. Southern Miss rallied to score three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the go ahead run was called out on a close call at the plate. Neither team scored in the ninth, then Virginia scored four runs in the 10th inning to win it.
Southern Miss has had quite a run over the past three seasons in regionals despite losing the first round game.
In 2023, Southern Miss lost Samford 4-2 in 1-0 innings in the first round, but bounced back with four straight wins (Auburn 7-2, Samford 9-4, Penn 11-2 and Penn 11-7) to win the Auburn regional.
In 2024, Southern Miss lost to Indiana 10-4 in the first round, but bounced back with two straight wins (Northern Kentucky 6-0 and Indiana 15-3 before losing to Tennessee 12-3 in the Knoxville Regional.
And then last year, Southern Miss lost to Columbia 11-7 in the first round, but bounced back to win three straight games (Alabama 6-5, Columbia 8-1 and Miami 17-6) before losing to Miami in the championship game 5-4.
But not this season. The Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament champions finished 44-16, the 10th straight season with at least 40 wins, the longest consecutive streak in the country.
Baseball America had this regional as one of the toughest in the country and had Southern Miss, Virginia and Jacksonville State ranked Nos. 21, 22 and 23 among the 64 teams in the tournament. And No. 4 seed Arkansas Little Rock went undefeated and won the regional.
“It was heavyweight fight (with Virginia) and we came up short,” Ostrander said. “It was frustrating. It is frustrating to lose your first two in this regional. I will take ownership of that. But these guys fought. They gave everything they had. It just didn’t go our way. That’s baseball and that’s life. You learn lessons and you move on. It was a tough day, tough moment for us. But we will move on and draw positives from it and get ready for the next.”
“We have a lot to be proud of,” Southern Miss senior first baseman Matthew Russo (photo below) said. “It was a special group. We won big games and we lost some tough games. We got better as we went. Unfortunately, it didn’t show today and yesterday, but I’m proud of everyone. This group grew a lot. It was cool to see. What Coach Oz means to me. He challenges your mind so much. He not only made me a better baseball player, but I know I’m going to a lot better of a human being because of him. Guys like (assistant) Coach (Ladd) Rhodes and (assistant) Coach (Travis) Creel. It's really special. I’m going to be a better father one day, better husband. All the external factors are really hitting me, I know baseball will eventually also. It’s a blessing to put on whatever jersey we are wearing that day and go out. I’m glad I got to cherish it all.”
Southern Miss had won at least one game in nine straight regionals and hadn’t lost its first two games since the 2011 Regional in Atlanta.
“It’s emotional. It’s hard,” said Ostrander at the postgame news conference, sitting with three seniors, pitchers Cross Sivley and Colby Allen and Russo. “What this guys mean to this program and what the program means to them. Cross (Sivley) and Bull (Russo’s nickname) has been here five years and Colby four. They poured their heart and soul into this program. We will reflect when it is time to reflect, right now it stings. Like I told the guys afterwards, embrace the relationships, the love for each other, and what this whole experience meant to them. Losing stinks. It’s a part of it and you deal with adversity, just like life, you’ve got to respond. I want to thank the fans for the support they give this program. Because of that support, they have a right to be frustrated. They are yearning to get back to Omaha, they are yearning to win that regional, win that super, we are to. My message to the fans is keep supporting, keep encouraging, keep believing in these guys and this program. We aren’t going to do anywhere. We are going to think about what we need to do to be better for next year. We couldn’t get off the field to keep them from getting key hits.”
The Virginia game was back and forth.
Virginia led 1-0 after one inning, then Southern Miss scored three runs in the second inning to take a 3-1 lead. Virginia scored three runs in the top of the third, but Southern Miss answered with three runs in the bottom of the third inning to retake the lead. Virginia scored five runs in the fourth to take a 9-6 lead. Southern Miss closed to the gap to 9-8 with two runs in the sixth then Virginia scored two runs in the seventh to go ahead 11-8. Southern Miss rallied again with three runs in the eighth to tie the game at 11-11. Catcher Tucker Stockman hit a two-out double to score left fielder Davis Gillespie and Russo, but third baseman Drey Barrett was called out at home trying to score from first on a close play to end the inning.
Southern Miss senior shortstop and leadoff hitter Seth Smith suffered a leg injury running to third base in the fourth inning and did not return. Ty Long took his place as a pinch runner then shortstop. Smith was fourth in the team with a .316 batting average.
Urban had three hits and Barrett, Russo and Gillespie had two hits but it wasn’t enough.
In Friday’s loss to Little Rock, Gillespie hit a solo home run to give Southern Miss a 4-3 lead after eight innings, and with Allen, the Golden Eagles’ ace closer, on the mound, they appeared to be in great season to win and advance to the winner’s bracket Saturday. But Little Rock scored four runs in the ninth to win.
“We came close, real close,” Ostrander said. “It was a hard fought two games and we came up on the short end but that does not define these young men. It does not define this year, it does not define what they have achieved. We are frustrated with it and it hurts. But at the end of the day, these guys have nothing to be ashamed about or hold their heads down.”

05/31/2026

Lopera homers again as Belhaven advances to play Trine on Sunday

By Billy Watkins, Photo by Hays Collins
Sponsored by:
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Belhaven shortstop Melissa Lopera has found her home run stroke.

Her three-run blast in the first inning set Belhaven on its way Saturday afternoon to a 4-2 win over Rowan in the NCAA Division III championship finals in Salem, Va.

Lopera also homered Friday in Belhaven’s win over Mount Union.

Coach Kevin Griffin’s Belhaven team (44-11) now faces defending national champion Trine at 12:30 p.m. (central time) Sunday. If Belhaven wins, it must beat Trine again to reach the best-of-three championship round. Trine defeated Belhaven in the first round, 7-5.

Lopera’s power has come at a good time for the Blazers. Her homer Saturday was her sixth of the season.

Kaleigh Steverson singled home a run just before Lopera’s homer. Those four runs would prove to be enough.

Karley Rouse and Macy Funderburk combined for seven innings pitched. Rouse started and gave up two runs, seven hits and two walks over three innings. Funderburk tossed four scoreless innings. She allowed five hits and struck out five.

Maryanna Guy doubled and scored during the Blazers’ first-inning rally. Grace Langston and Lauren Dunbar each had a hit.

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05/30/2026

Belhaven beats Mount Union, advances in DIII NCAA championship finals

By Billy Watkins, Photo by Hays Collins
Sponsored by:
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Belhaven’s Melissa Lopera and Liberty Gillihan homered and ace Macy Funderburk pitched a complete game in a 3-2 victory over Mount Union in an elimination matchup Friday evening at the Division III championship finals in Salem, Va.

It will be a quick turnaround for the Blazers, now 43-11. They play Rowan at 12:30 p.m. (central time) Saturday.

Lopera, who has been one of the best shortstops in Division III this season, smashed a two-run homer in the fourth inning.

In the top of the seventh, Gillihan broke a 2-2 tie with a solo homer to right field.

Funderburk rebounded from a tough start Thursday to grab her 21st win of the season while throwing 87 pitches. She allowed six hits and no walks. She struck out four.

Belhaven Blazers Belhaven University NCAA Softball