| Thursday, June 20, 2019 |
| Mississippi State University to Host Supercomputer to Power NOAA Research | |
 | In mid-July, Mississippi State University will begin operating a NOAA-funded, newly installed high-performance computer called Orion to support NOAA research and development in environmental, weather and climate modeling, and autonomous vehicle design and operation. The new computer will also be used by research scientists and students working with NOAA, MSU and the Northern Gulf Institute, NOAA's cooperative institute based at MSU that includes five other academic partners in Mississippi, Florida and Alabama. Earlier this week, Orion was ranked the fourth fastest HPC system at a U.S. academic institution by the Top500 Supercomputer Site list. "Orion helps strengthen our historic ties to NOAA as host of a cooperative institute and builds upon the university's pioneering work in high performance computing technologies used to solve real- world problems," said Trey Breckenridge, director of high performance computing at Mississippi State's High Performance Computing Collaboratory. |
| New eatery coming to Cotton District | |
 | Pies and Pints will come to Starkville in time for football season. Tyler Klaas, owner of The Klaasroom, announced the opening of Boardtown Pies and Pints on his Facebook page earlier this month. The Cotton District location will be in business in September below The Vista Apartments at 705 University Dr. The restaurant will serve Mediterranean-style brick oven pizzas and slow-roasted gyros with beers on-tap. Jackson Wallace, the developer for Vista Apartments, told The Dispatch he is excited about adding a commercial tenant to the student housing development. "We have our leasing office in that area, too, so we only have one additional (commercial) space," Wallace said. "There are four commercial slots on the front of that building. One of them is ours and then there were three additional spaces, but Tyler chose to take two of them. We've got one additional space that's under negotiation right now that's a good bit smaller." |
| Starkville's Thomas Gregory named state coordinator for Mississippi Main Street | |
 | Thomas Gregory of Starkville has been named as the new state coordinator for the Mississippi Main Street Association. Gregory is a certified planner and has served the past two years with the Carl Small Town Center at Mississippi State University as a community planner. For eight years, Gregory served as the Chief Administrative Officer for the city of Greenwood, writing grants, administering projects, and implementing the comprehensive plan for the city. Gregory graduated with a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with specializations in land use planning, real estate development and historic preservation. Gregory also received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Mississippi State University. "I am thrilled to be part of a great team at what I believe to be the most effective community and economic development organization in the state of Mississippi," Gregory said. |
| Starkville residents push back on annexation | |
| Residents who live in areas the city of Starkville is considering annexing flocked to City Hall Tuesday to rail against the annexation at the city's first public hearing on the matter. Starkville is considering annexing land east of the city, along the Highway 82 and Highway 182 corridors out to Clayton Village and in the University Hills area on the east side of Mississippi State University. Mayor Lynn Spruill, who has advocated for the annexation, said the city is looking east to bring in areas of growth and to bring the commercial area along Highway 182, where several businesses have sprung up just beyond Starkville's city limits, into the city. Spruill said she was particularly interested in bringing in areas that benefit from being near Starkville but do not currently pay city taxes. But Chuck Schimpf, a University Hills resident, said he doesn't see any benefit in being annexed into Starkville. |
| Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District plans for grant-funded literacy program | |
| Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District has solidified its plans for a nearly $148,000 Mississippi Department of Education Literacy Support Grant it was awarded earlier this month that was designed to help school districts with a large number of students with low literacy test scores. Grants and Innovative Strategies Specialist Brandi Burton told The Dispatch the grant -- which is disbursed over three years -- will fund summer reading programs in 2020 and 2021 that will focus on 100 rising second and third graders who have been identified as struggling with literacy, and rising fourth graders who did not pass the third grade reading exam the state requires to advance to fourth grade. This is the first year MDE has made this specific kind of grant funding available, Burton said. |
| After disasters, beware of frauds, scammers | |
| Flood and storm victims must brace themselves for the next threat approaching their neighborhoods: scammers looking for fast, easy money at the expense of others. Susan Cosgrove of the Mississippi State University Extension Service said some of the most common cons include imposter scams, debris removal and clean-up, and shoddy repairs and construction. "Be skeptical of anyone who promises to clean up immediately," she said. "Always ask to see identification of anyone who wants to enter your home or business. Check signage on vehicles for local addresses and phone numbers. Warning signs would be if the contractor has no physical address or refuses to show identification." Cosgrove encouraged flood or storm victims to check contractors for any complaints filed against them with the Mississippi Better Business Bureau or the Mississippi Attorney General's Office Division of Consumer Protection. |
| Governor, guests celebrate Mississippi's Country Music Trail | |
 | Nearly 10 years have passed since Gov. Phil Bryant said he first heard Philadelphia native Marty Stuart's idea for a Mississippi Country Music Trail. A decade later, the trail is only growing. "It gives Mississippi an opportunity to stop and say I did not know that country music star was either from here or had such a history in Mississippi. People come from all over the world to see them. There are photographs of people from Switzerland, Japan, and Germany that come to Mississippi just to stand near and view these country music markers," said Bryant. Bryant, Marty Stuart and other special guests came to Philadelphia to celebrate the trail's five new markers honoring Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Steve Azar, Marty Gamblin and a second one remembering Jimmie Rodgers. The five new trail markers are coming to Nesbit, Greenville, Starkville, Philadelphia and Bristol, Tenn. |
| Cattle rustling in Mississippi: Crime of the old West and the new South | |
 | Cattle rustling is a crime associated with outlaws of the Old West, but it's also part of the new South. "The reason people steal cows is to sell them and make money," said Andy Gipson, Mississippi commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce. "It's hard to recover them. They're sold and then they go to somebody else's farm." Gipson said cattle rustling is a fact of life in Mississippi. "We work a number of cattle theft cases every year," he said. "We have a considerable number of people reporting cattle stolen off their farms. In those cases, we don't have a lot of evidence to go on." But in a case this week, the presence of surveillance footage, and the willingness of law enforcement officials to work day and night, resulted in the return of 29 calves to Tadlock Stockyard in Forest. The Mississippi Agricultural and Livestock Theft Bureau announced the arrest this week of one person in connection with the theft. |
| Transportation Commissioner candidate pledges to increase revenue, expand infrastructure | |
| Jeremy Martin, a Republican candidate seeking to be the next Northern District Transportation Commissioner, pledged to supporters at a campaign event on Wednesday that he would revitalize and expand the state's infrastructure by increasing revenue for the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Martin, a native of Lee County, defended a desire to increase revenue as a conservative principle. "I'm conservative enough to say when your roof is leaking on your house, you need to replace the roof," Martin said. "Don't let your whole house fall down. I'm conservative enough to say that when we have billions of dollars of transportation infrastructure and it's crumbling, we need to invest in tangible infrastructure that takes our people to the next level." After his speech, Martin told the Daily Journal he didn't have a concrete plan to increase revenue for infrastructure spending but said there are multiple options he could explore. |
| Gerrymandering lawsuit: A federal appeals court declined to rule before ballots were printed. Plaintiffs see that as a hopeful sign | |
| Plaintiffs who filed a federal lawsuit claiming the 102-mile long state Senate District 22 dilutes the strength of African American voters are hoping no news is good news. A three judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments in the case on June 11, has not yet ruled on whether to reverse a lower court order that the districts be redrawn in a manner to give black voters a better chance to elect the candidate of their choice. Rob McDuff, one of the attorneys representing a group of Mississippi voters, said the fact that the sample ballot already has been printed by the Secretary of State's office as mandated by state law, gives him reason to believe the court will not reverse the decision of U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves. Gov. Phil Bryant and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann had appealed Reeves' decision and, through attorneys, argued before the three judge panel that the ruling be reversed. |
| Rep. Trent Kelly Introduces Paperwork Reduction for Farmers and H-2A Modernization Act | |
 | U.S. Representative Trent Kelly (R-MS), in coordination with U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), has introduced the Paperwork Reduction for Farmers and H-2A Modernization Act. Under current law, the H-2B (non-agricultural) temporary work program is capped at a maximum of 66,000 visas, while the H-2A (agricultural) program does not have a restriction on the number of visas granted. This legislation works to meet the critical workforce needs for both agricultural and non-agricultural businesses by allowing certain categories of temporary workers under the capped H-2B program to apply through the uncapped H-2A program. The outdated policies of temporary visa programs currently do not allow for certain agriculture-in-nature jobs to apply for an H-2A visa such as the temporary, seasonal workers in the poultry, dairy, livestock, and landscaping industries. |
| Tempers flare as leaders, White House fall short on spending deal | |
 | A meeting of top White House officials and congressional leaders broke up Wednesday without agreement on topline funding allocations for appropriators, raising fresh doubts over their ability to avert another fiscal crisis later this year. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy accused Democrats of upping the ante on nondefense spending from what they'd put on the table previously. "The problem is the Democrats keep raising their number higher," the California Republican said. "There's no negotiation." It wasn't immediately clear whether there was movement on raising the statutory debt ceiling, which needs to be lifted by late September or the government's borrowing authority will grind to a halt. Trump administration officials said Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed the debt limit should be dealt with irrespective of the budget caps negotiations. |
| Joe Biden's Words on Segregationist Senators Draw Rivals' Fire | |
 | Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is dismissing calls to apologize for saying that the Senate "got things done" with "civility" even when the body included segregationists with whom he disagreed. His rivals for the 2020 nomination, including the two major black candidates in the race, roundly criticized Biden's comments. But Biden didn't back down Wednesday and was particularly defiant in the face of criticism from New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who said the former vice president should apologize. Biden said Booker should apologize because the senator "should know better" than to question Biden's commitment to civil rights. "There's not a racist bone in my body," Biden said. "I've been involved in civil rights my whole career." |
| Trump faces skepticism about Iran war authority from both parties | |
 | Growing tensions between the United States and Iran are raising new questions about what legal authority the Trump administration could use for a military strike. Tensions between lawmakers and the Trump administration spilled over publicly on Wednesday when Brian Hook, the State Department's special envoy for Iran, would not directly answer multiple questions on whether the administration believes the 2001 authorization for the use of military force applies to Iran. "If the use of military force is necessary to defend U.S. national security interest, we will do everything that we are required to do with respect to congressional war powers and we will comply with the law," Hook told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Pressed on the issue, Hook referred lawmakers to the State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser. The grilling from members came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Iran's connections to al Qaeda are "very real." |
| Iran Shoots Down U.S. Spy Drone; CENTCOM Says It Was In International Airspace | |
 | Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced Thursday that it had shot down a U.S. drone over its territory to send "a clear message" to America, but a U.S. official tells NPR that the targeted unmanned aircraft was operating in international airspace. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Thursday that it downed an RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone that had entered Iranian airspace around Kouhmobarak district in country's south, near the Gulf of Oman. "Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false," U.S. Central Command spokesman Navy Capt. Bill Urban said Thursday. "This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace." U.S. Central Command says Iran used a surface-to-air missile system to shoot down the U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance ISR (for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) aircraft. It says the drone was operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz when it came under fire at approximately 11:35 p.m. GMT late Wednesday. |
| Supreme Court rules that Maryland 'Peace Cross' honoring military dead may remain on public land | |
 | The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a large cross erected as a tribute to war dead may continue to stand on public land outside Washington in the Maryland suburbs. The justices reversed a lower court that said the cross was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. "The cross is undoubtedly a Christian symbol, but that fact should not blind us to everything else that the Bladensburg Cross has come to represent," Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote. "For some, that monument is a symbolic resting place for ancestors who never returned home. For others, it is a place for the community to gather and honor all veterans and their sacrifices for our Nation. For others still, it is a historical landmark. For many of these people, destroying or defacing the Cross that has stood undisturbed for nearly a century would not be neutral and would not further the ideals of respect and tolerance embodied in the First Amendment." The vote was 7 to 2, with several justices writing separate opinions. |
| Bologna Performing Arts Center camp at Delta State grows, learns from past attendees | |
| The Janice Wyatt Mississippi Summer Arts Institute is currently hosting several children of all ages for a camp that immerses them in various aspects of the arts and humanities. The program is named for Janice Wyatt, the wife of former Delta State University president Kent Wyatt, who founded the program in the 1990s. Cade Holder, the arts education coordinator at the Bologna Performing Arts Center, has directed MSAI for three years. "It is a summer-camp intensive for all ages where children can come on campus here to Delta State and the Bologna Performing Arts Center and take multiple classes: performing arts, visual arts, digital arts," said Holder. The CORE Arts program is the first of two camps organized and continues through Saturday. "This is a two-week residential program for children 12 to 18 so we have some younger kids who this might be their first year and we have some graduating seniors who will be coming to Delta State in the fall participating in this program," Holder said. |
| Toyota Mississippi donates 10 cars to ICC's automotive tech program | |
| Brad Crowder, who heads the automotive technology program at Itawamba Community College, was all smiles Wednesday. Toyota Mississippi donated 10 Corollas to ICC, which will use the vehicles for hands-on training. ICC also received seven cars in 2013. "The last cars we got were 2011 models, and we used them for various training purposes, as far as diagnostics of various systems on the automobile," he said. "We'd pull the engines and transmissions out of the cars and put them back in. Basically just taking parts out of the cars and putting them back in." Toyota donated 2020 model-year Corollas which were originally used to provide onsite training for team members at Toyota's Blue Springs facility. They aren't road-worthy, but are drivable enough for students to dissect the vehicles and put them back together. Jay Allen, president of ICC, said he deeply appreciated the school's partnership with the automaker. ICC has played a significant role in helping with workforce with Toyota. "We're so proud to serve them and we appreciate the partnership with our community and our community college," Allen said. |
| LSU, others should limit acceptance of less qualified students, according to regents study | |
 | In a slap at LSU, a report presented Wednesday to the Louisiana Board of Regents spells out why LSU and other schools are supposed to limit the number of students admitted even though they failed to meet academic standards. "For the past two decades the Board of Regents has conducted studies on performance with similar findings: there is a direct relationship between student preparation and student performance," the review says. The report is the latest volley in a months-long dispute between the board and others and LSU President F. King Alexander over how many students should be allowed to enter LSU if they failed to meet grade point, ACT or other standards. Last fall LSU admitted nearly double the number of allowed students who failed to meet the benchmarks under what it calls a holistic admissions policy. |
| Coal executive's donation helps U. of Kentucky plug hole left after it cut ties with pizza magnate | |
 | The University of Kentucky will receive a $3 million donation from a politically connected coal executive that will help plug a hole that opened when it returned a multimillion-dollar donation from a polarizing pizza magnate. The donation will help support a controversial free-enterprise institute supported by a foundation funded by the Koch family, known for its libertarian political stances. The new donation from coal executive Joseph Craft will be reviewed at the next UK board of trustees meeting this week. Craft is a long-time financial supporter of the University's athletics department. On Friday, the UK board of trustees will vote to accept a $3 million donation from the Joseph W. Craft III Foundation "to support the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise in the Gatton College of Business and Economics," according to the board's agenda documents. |
| UGA study: Vacationing can lead to 'creeping obesity' | |
 | A week's vacation may leave many adults with a heavier midsection -- extra weight that can hang around even six weeks post-vacation. A faculty member in UGA's College of Family and Consumer Sciences found that adults going on a one- to three-week vacation gained an average of nearly 1 pound during their trips. With the average American reportedly gaining 1-2 pounds a year, the study's findings suggest an alarming trend. "If you're only gaining a pound or two a year and you gained three-quarters of that on a one- to three-week vacation, that's a pretty substantial weight gain during a short period of time," said Jamie Cooper, an associate professor in the college's foods and nutrition department. The study supports the notion of "creeping obesity," the common pattern of adults gaining small amounts of weight over long periods of time, leading to increased health problems later in life. |
| Texas A&M students, charity help University Police Department add third K-9 officer | |
 | The Texas A&M University Police Department has welcomed its newest officer. His speciality is detecting bombs, and all he requires in return is a rubber chew toy. K-9 officer Mays joins the UPD force thanks to a $12,500 donation from students and the efforts of the nonprofit K9s4COPs. In fall 2017, students in lecturer Kyle Gammenthaler's strategic philanthropy class in Texas A&M's Mays Business School were selecting charitable organizations to receive donations. K9s4COPs applied to receive a grant from the students, which was awarded in December 2017. The funds would allow the organization to acquire a police dog for a local agency. K9s4COPs managing director Kristin Brown said the charity foundation was aware that UPD officers wanted to add another explosives-detecting dog to their arsenal, which already included Jackie and Tyson, two K9s4COPs-gifted animals. "Especially with the campus being so big, you want to have as much police K-9 presence available as possible," Brown said. |
| Donations to colleges are up, but number of donors is down | |
 | Higher education institutions are pulling in record dollars in charitable donations even though the number of individual donations are on the decline, indicating large donations are coming in from high-income individuals. According to this year's Giving USA report, which studied institutions for the 2018 calendar year, overall giving to educational institutions, including K-12 and higher education, declined for the first time after four years of growth by 1.3 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively, adjusted for inflation. However, the report also indicates good news for higher education. Multiyear fund-raising campaigns, focused on large goals, appear to be part of a rising trend within higher education. A survey cited in the report said of 600 fund-raising professionals in higher education surveyed, 81 percent were involved in or about to start a capital campaign. Forty-nine institutions are engaged in billion-dollar fund-raising campaigns. |
| Kamala Harris to organize on South Carolina's historically black campuses as inroad for 2020 | |
 | South Carolina's historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, have thus far been a prime destination for 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. Since October, more 2020 Democrats have visited Allen University, a Columbia-based HBCU with an enrollment of roughly 700, than both of the state's biggest schools, Clemson and the University of South Carolina, combined, according to a rolling count kept by The State. But one candidate is taking that a step further. Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., announced Wednesday her campaign will be helping to organize student groups, particularly fraternities and sororities, on campuses of historically black colleges and campuses to grow support for Harris, an alumna of Howard University in Washington, D.C. Harris, who announced her candidacy at Howard University, has visited more HBCUs nationwide than any other presidential candidate, according to an April article from the Associated Press. However, in South Carolina -- where the presidential primaries are the first in the South -- she is behind several other candidates. |
| Academic ties grow between Russia and China | |
| Growing scholarly collaboration between China and Russia could signal a shift in the balance of power in global higher education, according to researchers who suggest that it could have significant implications for academic freedom in the region. China's president, Xi Jinping, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, were present as a cooperation agreement was signed between Beijing's Tsinghua University and Saint Petersburg State University this month in the Kremlin. Some academics have suggested that China may be keen to build closer ties with Russian institutions because of U.S. universities' increasing reluctance to collaborate with Chinese academics amid anxiety about intellectual property theft. |
SPORTS
| Coaches put friendship aside as Louisville meets Mississippi State in CWS elimination game | |
| It's no longer an option for the two coaches to have their teams avoid playing each other. Chris Lemonis and Dan McDonnell have managed to not schedule games between their schools -- Mississippi State and Louisville -- because of their decades-long friendship that dates to their days as teammates at The Citadel. But one friend will end the other's season Thursday when the teams meet in the 7 p.m. elimination game at TD Ameritrade Park. After Wednesday's loss, Lemonis said he and McDonnell were hopeful they would end up in opposite brackets. That way they'd have a chance to meet in the best-of-three final that begins Monday. "We're not scheduling each other, I can tell you that," Lemonis said. "We always say if we're going to play each other, we'd want it to be in Omaha. We were just hoping we were in different brackets and in the last games. One of us will go home, but one of us will get to keep playing." |
| 'Let's meet in Omaha': Lemonis faces college roommate, former coaching colleague in elimination game tonight | |
| Chris Lemonis can still remember the humid South Carolina air. It was 1989. Air conditioning units still hadn't made their way to The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. Walking into his barracks that day, it was this suffocating heat that made a strong first impression on Lemonis. "It was hot and old and a little intimidating I guess would be the word," Lemonis recalled. Soon after, a freshman baseball player meeting followed. It was there Lemonis met Dan McDonnell -- an upbeat infielder from New York. For nearly 30 years, that moment sparked a bond that still persists today, when McDonnell's No. 7 Louisville team faces Lemonis' No. 6 Mississippi State squad in a College World Series elimination game. "We're best friends ... college roommates," said Lemonis, MSU's first-year head baseball coach. "We've always said if we're going to meet, let's meet in Omaha." |
| College World Series: Mississippi State feels good about pitching against Louisville | |
 | One of the most unlikeliest of candidates has Mississippi State feeling good about its pitching prospects in its next College World Series game against Louisville on Thursday night. Junior Keegan James entered Wednesday's game in a tough spot. There were two Vanderbilt players on base with two outs in an inning in which the Commodores had already scored five runs. James hurled a wild pitch, which meant a base hit would likely score two more. James struck the batter out to get the Bulldogs out of the inning that ultimately decided their fate. Mississippi State lost, 6-3. That inning had much to do with the defeat. James, however, did not. He had everything to do with Mississippi State attempting to come back and win the game. James hadn't pitched since a May 22 loss to LSU in the SEC Tournament. He threw 3.2 scoreless innings against Vandy. He only allowed one hit and two walks while striking out three batters. "It was huge," MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said. "It was huge for our bullpen, and it was huge just to keep us in the game. That hold is huge." |
| Mississippi State remains confident heading into elimination game | |
| There was a somber tone to the Mississippi State locker room Wednesday afternoon. Just minutes after falling 6-3 to second-seeded Vanderbilt in the College World Series, there was a visible irritation in the eyes of players around the space -- a staunch contrast from the jubilation and joy following Sunday's walk-off win over Auburn. While the mood among the Bulldogs baseball players looked downtrodden and miffed, sophomore shortstop Jordan Westburg tried to stay positive. "I feel like there's not a lot of pressure on us," Westburg said. "I feel like it's what we've done all year and what we did last year. I think this group of returners and this group of new guys sets the tone really well. (We're) just going to go out and play hard." The Bulldogs enter Thursday's elimination game against No. 7 Louisville as the owners of 28 come-from-behind victories this season -- the most in Division I. And though Wednesday's rally fell short, MSU played inspired baseball over the final four innings -- cutting Vanderbilt's once 6-0 lead in half. |
| 'Bigger than baseball': How Mississippi State's Tanner Allen is helping a grieving family | |
| Brandy Stokes' phone rang twice on the morning of July 27, 2016. It was around 3:30 a.m. Stokes, who was sound asleep at a cabin on the grounds of the Neshoba County Fair, didn't hear the ringing. She woke up a little later and saw an empty bed where her son, Jeb Stuart, was supposed to be sleeping. Stokes picked up her phone and saw the missed calls. One was from the mother of one of Stuart's best friends. The other was from Stokes' ex-mother-in-law. That's who she called back immediately. What Stokes heard in the first few seconds of the conversation made her drop to her knees in sorrow. Her husband, Mike, was there to pick her up, but only physically. Emotionally, Stokes would be down for quite some time. Her son died in a one-car accident in the early morning hours. Stuart, who was sitting in the passenger's seat, and three of his friends were on their way to a convenience store a few miles away from the fair grounds. None of them were wearing seat belts. Stuart was the only one who died. The driver was charged with DUI manslaughter. |
| Vandy's prized freshman sizzles, now State needs something similar from JT Ginn | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Vanderbilt got the performance it needed from Kumar Rocker, the Commodores' other-worldly freshman pitcher, in a 6-3 victory over Mississippi State Wednesday afternoon. Now then, State needs a similar performance Thursday night from its prized freshman, JT Ginn, in an elimination game against Louisville Thursday night at 7 p.m. "We need JT to step up tomorrow night and give us a few zeroes," Jake Mangum, the Bulldogs center fielder. "I've got all the confidence in the world in him. He'll step up. He has all year. We need him to because we all want another shot at Vanderbilt." Both Rocker, the 6-foot, 5-inch, 245-pound son of former football star Tracy Rocker, and Ginn, a first round draft choice of the Los Angeles Dodgers out of Brandon, would appear to have bright, lucrative futures in Major League Baseball. Both make throwing 95 mph fast balls look exceedingly easy. Both have breaking pitches that often make batters look silly. But their circumstances are entirely different in this College World Series. |
| Louisville baseball extends season with win over Auburn, keeps focus on task at hand | |
| More than 24 hours after their College World Series game against Auburn began, the Louisville Cardinals finally felt victory in Omaha. Despite a rain delay that postponed Tuesday's game into Wednesday, the Cardinals defeated Auburn 5-3, earning their first win in the 2019 College World Series. The win also keeps Louisville's season alive, as it will advance to Thursday's game and play Mississippi State at 8 p.m. EDT. But the celebration didn't equal what many would imagine from a program that is now 3-9 in Omaha. After closer Michael Kirian struck out Rankin Woley to earn the save, there were some celebrations. There were no arms thrown into the air and no over-the-top hugs shared by teammates. Instead, they greeted each other and jumped into the line to shake Auburn's hands. Even in the tunnel on the way to the clubhouse, there was no screaming or any chants. "We're looking at the next game," Drew Campbell said. "Like, we're not done yet." |
| Auburn loses to Louisville 5-3 in elimination game at the College World Series | |
 | Auburn swung to the end. The Tigers battled to get the tying run to the plate, fighting back against shock, heartbreak and even the sky above in Omaha, down to their final out in the summer sun Wednesday at the College World Series. With a runner on second in the bottom of the ninth, Auburn made its final stand, before a Louisville strikeout ended Auburn's season in a 5-3 elimination loss. Louisville's Michael Kirian struck out Auburn's Rankin Woley to finish it, and the Tigers stepped off the field with their history written. Auburn's first trip to the College World Series since 1997 ended there. New banners will hang in Plainsman Park the next time the Tigers take to the diamond. "That's been the story of us all year," Conor Davis said, under Omaha's famous TD Ameritrade Park, just outside Auburn's dejected locker room and just after Auburn's comeback bid came up short. Auburn returned to the field after a gut-wrenching loss to Mississippi State in its opener on Sunday to battle against Louisville in the face of elimination. |
| Meet Louisville baseball's starter for its elimination game vs. Mississippi State | |
| There's one word that comes to mind when people describe Nick Bennett: competitive. The last time Bennett took the mound, in the Cardinals' winner-take-all NCAA regional game against Illinois State, he begged to get there. The junior Cincinnati native refused to take no for an answer. After Luke Smith threw a gem to send the team to the Monday finale, Bennett went to talk to U of L coach Dan McDonnell to vouch for the start. He didn't stop there. Bennett texted McDonnell Sunday night and went back to his office on Monday morning. "He was adamant. 'Coach, give me the ball today,'" McDonnell recalled. McDonnell and pitching coach Roger Williams decided to give Bennett the start. He pitched two scoreless innings and set the game up for the bullpen. Louisville kept its season alive with a 5-3 win against Auburn in Wednesday's College World Series game. Because of that, on Thursday against Mississippi State, Bennett will get his first start since Illinois State. |
| Vanderbilt beats Mississippi State, sits in driver's seat in winner's bracket | |
 | Vanderbilt baseball rode Stephen Scott's home runs and Kumar Rocker's no-hitter encore straight into the College World Series bracket final. The Commodores beat Mississippi State 6-3 Wednesday to improve to 2-0 in the double-elimination portion of the tournament. They are one win away from the national championship series. Scott, a senior, cranked two home runs, just as teammate Austin Martin did in Vanderbilt's opening win on Sunday. Vanderbilt (56-11) advanced to the bracket final for the fourth time in four trips to the College World Series. It will play the Louisville-Mississippi State winner at 6 p.m. Friday on ESPN. "I think by winning this game, we just don't have to play Thursday," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. "You look at day by day by day (and) move the tournament to Friday. That's all that matters. We're not thinking ahead." |
| Have the Vandy whistler and College World Series called a truce? | |
| The TD Ameritrade Park employee that previously threatened to toss the Vandy whistler from the stadium instead shook his hand during Vanderbilt's College World Series game Wednesday. Did the Vandy whistler and the College World Series call a truce? "I don't want to get in trouble. I don't want to be a butt," said Preacher Franklin, one of two Vanderbilt fans dubbed the Vandy whistler. "I don't think they should shut down my whistling. But they didn't totally shut me down, and they worked with me." The Vandy whistler's notoriety came to a tipping point this week in Omaha. During Vanderbilt's game Sunday, Franklin was warned at least twice by a stadium employee to reduce his whistling, which had drawn complaints from fans at the ballpark and ESPN viewers. If Franklin did not quiet down, he risked being ejected for violating a ballpark policy that prohibits "disruptive noise." TD Ameritrade Park spokesperson Kristyna Engdahl said that could be defined "at the discretion of crowd management and ushering staff." Engdahl said there had been "a slew of negative comments and complaints" from fans at the ballpark and ESPN viewers about the whistling. |
| Seven Mississippi State track athletes earn All-American honors | |
 | Seven Mississippi State track and field student-athletes earned All-America honors with their performances at the NCAA Outdoor Championships earlier this month. NCAA Champion Anderson Peters, Curtis Thompson, Tyriq Horsford and Tiffany Flynn earned first-team honors while Dejon Devroe, Logan Boss and Sarah Blake were second-team selections. Peters, who is a semifinalist for The Bowerman, won his second consecutive national title in the javelin while breaking his own NCAA Championships meet record. He led a trio of Bulldogs that swept the men's javelin podium for just the second time in NCAA history. The MSU sophomore recorded six of the top-10 throws in collegiate history on his way to All-American honors for the second time. |
| Former Meridian, Mississippi State quarterback now casting in big-time bass arena | |
 | Tyler Russell scanned the vegetation and quickly sailed a Snagproof Phat Frog to a small opening in the pads and a lunker bass exploded on it. The talented angler snapped the rod back and drove the steel home and quickly jerked the bass from the thick cover. Russell, a former Meridian High and Mississippi State Quarterback, knows a few things about passing footballs and casting lures and he's better than average at both. Though it may surprise many to learn that he's an avid angler, Russell's been fishing since he could walk. These days Russell is a tournament angler who has set his sights on competing against the best anglers in the world. "I've been fortunate to live in Brandon the last year and a half and have really enjoyed catching bass on Ross Barnett Reservoir," Russell said. |
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