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Despite Hall’s heroics, Samford sends Southern Miss to the brink

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Southern Miss All American Tanner Hall (28) delivers a pitch during an NCAA game against Samford Friday at Auburn. (AP Photo/Stew Milne)

AUBURN, Ala. — Samford’s 4-2 10-inning victory over Southern Miss here Friday in the Auburn Regional leaves Golden Eagles coach Scott Berry’s last season on the brink of a sudden end.

The Eagles know it. What’s more, they know why that is the case.

They had their chances to win — indeed, so many chances. But they left a whopping 14 runners on base, most in scoring position. They were zero-for-four with the bases loaded.

Rick Cleveland

While gutsy Tanner Hall, the only two-time All American in Southern Miss history, pitched his usual gem, Southern Miss hitters didn’t get it done when they needed it most.

“Credit Samford,” Berry said. “They really pitched it well. We didn’t do enough at the plate to win the game. That’s really all there is to it.”

It was a grim reminder of some problems the Eagles had earlier in the season, not getting clutch hits when it mattered most. That was a prime reason why Southern Miss was a stagnant 22-15 at one point in April and it looked as if the Eagles were going nowhere in the postseason. They began to get the clutch hits in late April and had won 19 of 21 and the Sun Belt Tournament championship coming here.

Two Samford pitchers had much to do with it the Eagles’ hitting woes. Starter Jacob Cravey, the Bulldogs’ ace, pitched the first six innings, allowing only five hits and one run. Ben Petschke, the Samford closer, then came on and gave up only one run over four innings.

Southern Miss managed only the two runs despite nine walks. That’s right. Samford pitching walked nine batters and gave up only two runs. You won’t see that often. It happened because Cravey and Petschke made superb pitches when they needed them most. And it happened because Southern Miss hitters didn’t deliver when they needed it most.

They came close. With the winning run on second base and one out in the bottom of the ninth, USM leadoff hitter Matt Etzel smacked a hard line drive right into the mitt of Samford first baseman. In the sixth inning, Carson Paetow might have left a dent in the right field fence with a line drive shot. Had Paetow lifted it just a tad more it would have been far out of the park. As it was, it went for an easy double, but Paetow ended up just another runner left in scoring position, much to the chagrin of the largely Southern Miss crowd of 3,578.

The offensive inefficiency ruined a sterling performance by Hall, who earlier in the week was named first-team All American for the second consecutive season. In what might have been his final appearance as a Golden Eagle, Hall struck out nine, walked two and scattered eight hits over nine innings. And he would be the first to tell you he was aided by some sensational fielding plays, especially from third baseman Danny Lynch, who made several stops and throws that would have made Brooks Robinson proud. (Younger readers, look him up.)

Early on, Hall did not have his best stuff and and often pitched behind in the count. He gave up a third inning run when Garrett Staton, the Bulldogs’ leadoff hitter, doubled home a run for a 1-0 Samford lead. But Hall kept battling and seemed to get into a rhythm in the middle innings. Here’s grit: Hall’s 120th pitch of the game induced a double play ball, the third the Eagles had turned.

The following will tell you how much respect Hall earned from Samford. Coach Tony David described the thought process in the Bulldogs dugout entering the 10th inning. “Everybody was looking to see who they would send out to the mound. When we saw it wasn’t Hall, someone shouted, ‘Who is it?’”

David said he shouted back, “Does it matter? It’s not Hall.”

It was Justin Storm, USM’s closer who has been so effective down the stretch this season, a critical part of the Eagles’ late season success. First up for the Bulldogs was catcher Josh Rodriguez, a big, strong guy who had put on a long-ball show during Samford’s batting practice. With the count one-one, Storm threw a 92 mile per hour fastball, belt high and over the middle of the plate. Rodriguez launched it high and far, well beyond the tall, green batter’s background in centerfield, at least 50 feet beyond the 392-foot sign.

“Majestic,” David, the Samford coach, called it.

The Bulldogs, who have won 14 of their last 17, didn’t stop there. They added two more runs, one charged to Storm and the other to Niko Mazza, the third Golden Eagle pitcher.

It was the same old, same old for the Eagles in the bottom half of the 10th. With the mostly gold-clad throng cheering desperately, the Eagles loaded the bases with nobody out. Then Paetow grounded to first, scoring a run to cut the margin to 4-2 with runners on second and third and just one out. But Blake Johnson struck out and Etzel’s lazy fly ball to left field ended it.

“We gotta flush it,” Berry said. “We gotta have a sense of urgency … There’s no sense of urgency greater than knowing if you don’t win, you go home.”

The 41-18 Eagles planned to watch host Auburn play 4-seed Penn later Friday night. USM will play the loser of that one in the losers’ bracket game at 2 p.m. Saturday. Samford will play the winner at 8 p.m.

Bottom line: Southern Miss will have win four straight games over the next three days to advance to a Super Regional and keep alive hopes for an Omaha ending to Berry’s career.

That’s all.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-26 07:00:00

April 26, 1964

Aaron Henry testifies before the Credentials Committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Civil rights activists started the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the state’s all-white regular delegation to the Democratic National Convention. 

The regulars had already adopted this resolution: “We oppose, condemn and deplore the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … We believe in separation of the races in all phases of our society. It is our belief that the separation of the races is necessary for the peace and tranquility of all the people of Mississippi, and the continuing good relationship which has existed over the years.” 

In reality, Black Mississippians had been victims of intimidation, harassment and violence for daring to try and vote as well as laws passed to disenfranchise them. As a result, by 1964, only 6% of Black Mississippians were permitted to vote. A year earlier, activists had run a mock election in which thousands of Black Mississippians showed they would vote if given an opportunity. 

In August 1964, the Freedom Party decided to challenge the all-white delegation, saying they had been illegally elected in a segregated process and had no intention of supporting President Lyndon B. Johnson in the November election. 

The prediction proved true, with white Mississippi Democrats overwhelmingly supporting Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, who opposed the Civil Rights Act. While the activists fell short of replacing the regulars, their courageous stand led to changes in both parties.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday

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mississippitoday.org – @alxrzr – 2025-04-25 16:04:00

Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.

A truck sits in high water after the owner parked, then boated to his residence on Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg as a rising Mississippi River causes backwater flooding, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”

The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.

A rising Mississippi River causing backwater flooding near Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.
Old tires aligned a backyard as a deterrent to rising water north of Vicksburg along U.S. 61, Friday, April 25, 2025.
As the Mississippi River rises, backwater flooding creeps towards a home located on Falk Steel Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”

The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Flood waters along Kings Point Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.

“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”

NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.

The boat launch area is closed and shored up on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The boat launch area (right) is closed and under water on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
City of Vicksburg workers shore up the bank along Levee Street as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The old pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 15:07:00

Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed. 

They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them. 

Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother. 

“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.” 

Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023. 

Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board. 

The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition. 

A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities. 

Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board. 

In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties. 

The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more. 

From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths. 

“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said. 

Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.

A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents. 

Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed. 

In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.

Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records. 

Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson. 

Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.  

He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media. 

Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary. 

Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents. 

At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.

“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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