Jackson Free Press

The day after the regular season ended, Monday, May 22, turned out to be a great day for Mississippi State University first baseman Brent Rooker. He is in the midst of one of the greatest offensive seasons in the history of college baseball in our state.

Rooker became the first MSU player to be named SEC Player of the Year. He is leading the conference in batting average at .415, total bases with 179, hits with 85, RBI with 73, doubles with 28 and home runs with 20.

The Germantown, Tenn., native is second in the conference in stolen bases with 18 steals out of 23 attempts.

But it isn’t just the SEC that Rooker is leading or near the top with his statistics.

He is first in the nation in slugging percentage at .873, total bases and doubles, second in batting average, third in RBI, fourth in home runs and on-base percentage, and seventh in the nation in hits.

Rooker was named First Team All-SEC and is the second MSU first baseman to be named All-SEC in the last two seasons. Last season, Nathaniel Lowe earned First Team All-SEC at first base.

Short stop Ryan Gridley joins Rooker on the First Team All-SEC, and outfielder Jake Mangum landed on the Second Team All-SEC. Mangum landed on the All-Defensive team as well.

Rooker beat out a trio of players from the University of Southern Mississippi and one from Delta State University for the 2017 C Spire Ferriss Trophy. He is the sixth MSU player to win the award in the 14 years it has been handed out.

Every winner for the Bulldogs has come in back-to-back years. Thomas Berkery was the first MSU player to win the award in 2006, and Ed Easley won in 2007. Chris Stratton took home the trophy in 2012, and Hunter Renfroe won in 2013.

Rooker’s current teammate, Mangum, took home the award last season. The University of Mississippi has produced five winners, Southern Miss has two past winners, and Belhaven University has one winner.

Taylor Braley, Matt Wallner and Dylan Burdeaux of USM, and Zack Shannon of DSU of were the other 2017 Ferriss Trophy finalists. Rooker led the fan-voting with 1,728 votes, Burdeaux ended up second with 987 votes, Braley ended up third with 548, Shannon landed in fourth with 197 votes, and Wallner came in fifth with 57 votes.

Texas Southern University outlasted eight other teams, including Jackson State University and Alcorn State University, and won the 2017 SWAC Baseball Tournament. TSU is one of a handful of teams that have already earned a spot into the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Baseball Tournament.

Two other tournaments that feature teams from our state with spot in the NCAA tournament on the line begin this week. Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi will both try to win the 2017 SEC Tournament, and the University of Southern Mississippi will try to take the tournament title in the 2017 Conference USA Tournament.

Both the Bulldogs and Rebels will play on day one of the SEC tournament. The opening day is single elimination, with the teams that advance moving to a double-elimination format.

MSU enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed against No. 12 seed, the University of Georgia, at 8 p.m., Tuesday, May 23, on the SEC Network. Georgia shocked MSU when it won the three-game series between the two teams during the regular season.

If Mississippi State advances, No. 4 seed the University of Arkansas is awaiting the next day. The Razorbacks swept the Bulldogs in the regular-season series.

MSU comes stumbling into the tournament after losing five of their last seven games. This stumble cost the Bulldogs a chance at the SEC and West Division titles.

The Rebels open the tournament on day one at 4:30 p.m. against Auburn University. UM is the No. 9 seed, and the Tigers are the No. 8 seed.

These teams met in the final SEC series of the regular season. Auburn took two out of three games, but the Rebels won the final one of the series.

If UM advances, top seed University of Florida is up next for the team. The Gators swept the Rebels in the regular-season series the teams played earlier this month.

Southern Miss enters the top seed in the C-USA tournament and is on a 14-game winning streak. It is the longest winning streak in program history and the longest winning streak in the nation.

The C-USA Tournament, which is in Biloxi, Miss., at MGM Park, is a double-elimination tournament until the championship game. The top eight teams in the conference earned a spot.

The teams are split into two brackets with the winners of both brackets playing in title game.

USM opened the tournament at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 24, against No. 8 seed University of Texas, San Antonio. The Golden Eagles swept UTSA in the final conference series of the regular season.

In the next round Southern Miss will face either the No. 4 seed, University of North Carolina, Charlotte or the No. 5 seed, Louisiana Tech University. USM didn’t face Charlotte in the regular season.

The Golden Eagles swept Louisiana Tech in …

A field of 10 horses will try to win the second leg of the Triple Crown, the 142nd Preakness Stakes, on Saturday, May 20. Five horses, including winner Always Dreaming, are in the field after running in the Kentucky Derby.

Always Dreaming is the morning-line favorite and will break from the No. 4 post with 4-5 odds. There is some good luck breaking from the No. 4 post, as well. Thirteen winners have come from that spot, with 2007 winner Curlin being the most recent.

Second choice Classic Empire, who is at 3-1 odds, will break in the No. 5 post. Classic Empire finished fourth in the derby two weeks ago after he got caught up in the traffic of the 20-horse race.

Lookin At Lee, who finished second two weeks ago, will be in the No. 9 post and is the third choice at 10-1 odds. In the derby, Lookin At Lee was at 33-1 odds but ran through the field at the end of the race.

Cloud Computing didn’t race in the derby and will break from the No. 2 post at 12-1 odds. Horses that didn’t run the Kentucky Derby are known as “new shooters” in the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes.

Gunnevera in the No. 6 post and Conquest Mo Money in the No. 10 post are both at 15-1 odds. Gunnevera finished seventh in the derby, but Conquest Mo Money is a new shooter whose owners paid $150,000 supplemental to be in the Preakness and Belmont.

Hence finished in 11th place at the derby and will break from the No. 3 post at 20-1 odds. It was a poor showing overall for Hence two weeks ago, as he never really got going in the race.

A trio of new shooters round out the field at 30-1 shots to win at the Preakness. Multiplier will break from the No. 1 post, Term of the Art will be in the No. 7 post, and Senior Investment will be in the No. 8 post.

The Preakness Stakes at one and three-16ths miles is the shortest of the three Triple Crown races. The Kentucky Derby is one and a quarter miles, and the Belmont Stakes is the longest at a mile and half.

Rain caused the derby to have a sloppy track, but it did little to slow down Always Dreaming. Weather isn’t expected to be a problem at the Preakness on Saturday, which forecasts say will be cloudy and 70 degrees.

NBC Sports Network begins coverage at 1:30 p.m., and NBC picks up the coverage at 4 p.m. The Preakness Stakes itself is scheduled to run at 5:45 p.m., but expect it to take longer with the pre-race festivities.