The Oxford Eagle » Ole Miss Sports

Offense fails Rebels in SEC opener

Patrick Ochs — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:01:49 +0000

HOOVER, Ala. — A.J. Reed didn’t just do a little of everything for Kentucky on Tuesday.
The southpaw shut out Ole Miss for 5.1 innings in the opening game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Regions Park.
And then, as if that wasn’t enough, the freshman also went 4-for-4 at the plate with three singles and a solo home run in the fourth inning that proved to be the difference in the 2-0 Kentucky victory. (May 23, 2012, Page 5A)

Loss leaves Rebels still searching for offense

Patrick Ochs — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:59:26 +0000

HOOVER, Ala. — The Rebels are hurting, and in a big way.
A week ago Ole Miss was coming off of a three-game sweep of Tennessee and even felt like there was an outside shot of a host spot in the upcoming NCAA Tournament if they didn’t sputter down the stretch. (May 23, 2012, Page 6A)

Mayers, Rebels stay alive by shutting out Razorbacks

Patrick Ochs — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:29:07 +0000

BLOG: It’s win or go home for the Ole Miss Rebels today.

Unfortunately for the ninth-seeded Rebels, to will have to rough up D.J. Baxendale if they’re to remain alive in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

Today’s 9:30 a.m. game is televised on SportSouth/ESPN3.com.

The winner of today’s game will face the loser of top-seeded LSU and seventh-seeded Mississippi State on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. The loser goes home to await their fate with the NCAA Tournament selections Monday.

Earlier this year Ole Miss took two of three from the Razorbacks in Oxford, claiming the first two games 1-0 and 8-2 before losing the third 11-3.

Although Baxendale earned a no decision after allowing one run in 3.2 innings of work in the Hog win in Oxford, he has been a reliable right-hander for Arkansas throughout the season posting 7-3 record and a 3.14 ERA. In 80.1 innings, Baxendale has collected 74 strikeouts against 17 walks. Opponents are also hitting .240 off of the 6-foot-2 junior.

In four career games against Ole Miss, Baxendale is 0-2 with one save and a 3.68 ERA. Baxendale has also racked up 12 strikeouts against six walks in 14.2 innings.

Ole Miss will turn to sophomore right-hander Mike Mayers to keep their postseason hopes alive.

The Ohioan has had success against Arkansas this season. On April 21, Mayers earned a win in Ole Miss’ 1-0 victory by pitching 6.1 scoreless frames against the Razorbacks. It was one of two scoreless performances for Mayers this year.

On the season, Mayers is 4-3 with a 3.84 ERA. In 77.1 innings, Mayers has struck out 52 and walked 225 with opponents hitting .228 off of him.

SHUFFLING THE LINEUP: Ole Miss has a brand new lineup today with plenty of changes. Senior Zach Kirksey has been used almost exclusively as a designated hitter against right-handed pitchers but was inserted into left field today and is batting fourth in the order.

Against Arkansas this season, Kirksey was 1-for-7 with one RBI and three strikeouts.

With Kirksey in left, junior Tanner Mathis has been shifted to right field and freshman Sikes Orvis has been inserted into the DH spot.

Orvis is hitting .286 on the year in spot duty and has been mostly used as a pinch hitter.

It’s probably worth noting that against Arkansas, Orvis was 1-for-2 with an RBI on April 22.

The other move of note is catcher Will Allen was dropped from the middle of the order to seventh.

After being one of the Rebels’ most reliable bats against conference foes, Allen has fallen on hard times and is hitless in his last four games and six of the last seven.

During that seven-game stretch, he is 2-for-26.

HOW’D WE GET HERE: Ole Miss earned a second straight 9:30 a.m. game by losing to Kentucky 2-0 on Tuesday to open the tournament. The Rebels tried a number of things against the Wildcats to push a runner across home plate but were unable to ditch the goose egg. Arkansas, meanwhile, was hit around by Mississippi State in the tournament’s second game Tuesday and eventually lost 9-1 after surrendering six runs in the ninth.

———STARTING LINEUPS———

No. 9 OLE MISS REBELS (34-23 overall)
RF Tanner Mathis (.348 BA/.447 OBP/ .397 SLG)
2B Alex Yarbrough (.381/.436/.513)
1B Matt Snyder (.340/.406/.581)
LF Zach Kirksey (.288/.383/.648)
CF Auston Bousfield (.281/.357/.362)
DH Sikes Orvis (.286/.405/.429)
C Will Allen (.306/.337/.399)
3B Andrew Mistone (.233/.299/.290)
SS Blake Newalu (.351/.386/.455)
RHP Mike Mayers (4-3, 3.84 ERA)

No. 6 ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS (39-18)
SS Tim Carver (.314/.353/.404)
1B Dominic Ficociello (.313/.406/.463)
3B Matt Reynolds (.347/.459/.546)
LF Brian Anderson (.298/.417/.417)
DH Jacob Mahan (.272/.333/.288)
2B Bo Bigham (.282/.333/.350)
RF Sam Bates (.250/.342/.444)
C Jake Wise (.243/.337/.314)
CF Matt Vinson (.222/.381/.293)
RHP D.J. Baxendale (7-3, 3.14)

———SCORING SUMMARY———

OLE MISS 1, Arkansas 0 (Botton 4): Zach Kirksey led off the third with a triple that banked off of the wall in right-center and after Auston Bousfield was rung up on a strikeout, Sikes Orvis scored the left fielder on a groundout to second base. The run, which was Ole Miss’ first of the tournament, drew almost comical applause from those in attendance at Regions Park.

OLE MISS 2, Arkansas 0 (Bottom 7): After chasing Arkansas starter D.J. Baxendale, the Rebels jumped on Razorback right-hander Colby Suggs with three straight singles to lead off the bottom of the seventh. Kirksey then muscled a fly ball to center field to score Tanner Mathis from third. Bousfield hit into a double play in the next at-bat to end the inning.

———LOOKING BACK———

After Rebel starter Mike Mayers (5-3) left the game having limited Arkansas to five hits and one walk over four scoreless innings, Ole Miss turned to junior closer Brett Huber.

The sometimes-closer allowed one hit but struck out three over the final two innings to earn his 10th save of the season and 26th of his career. His career mark ties him with former Rebel All-American and current assistant Stephen Head for first all-time in Ole Miss’ record books.

Rebel head coach Mike Bianco went as far as to say Huber has pitched as well over the last three weeks as he has at any other point in his collegiate career.

Baxendale fell to 7-4 on the year after allowing one run on four hits and three walks in six innings.

Having struggled at the plate recently, Rebel second baseman Alex Yarbrough had a big day offensively with three hits to bump his batting average back up to .393.

Ole Miss will return to the diamond tomorrow to face the loser of LSU-Mississippi State at 9:30 a.m.

During his post-game press conference, Bianco said senior R.J. Hively was not available to pitch today due to tenderness in his throwing arm and would be a game time decision.

———QUOTABLES———

Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn:

*”I thought D.J. threw really well and Mayers was outstanding. We didn’t score on him during the regular season, either.”

*”Mayers came out and just got after us and Huber came in and finished it off in the eighth and ninth.”

*”Yesterday’s game, I don’t know. It just wasn’t a good game for us. We didn’t swing the bat well and today we kind of picked up right where we left off. There’s some older guys that have to get it going. You can’t just depend on these younger guys in the lineup.”

*”We were going to swing. He’s a strike thrower. He throws everything for a strike. He came out and threw that breaking ball for a strike and spotted the fastball pretty good. We didn’t want to get behind in the count and some guys it took them a time or two to figure it out but that was the game plan going in, to go up there and hit. If it’s a four-pitch inning it’s a four-pitch inning but lets get a swing. We just didn’t get it done. He just whooped us.”

Arkansas 2B Bo Bigham:

*”He just really mixes his pitches well. You can’t sit on anything. He throws all his pitches for strikes and just keeps the hitters guessing. That’s been tough on us.”

*”We just weren’t putting very good swings on balls this weekend. They just kept us off balance and we just had a bad weekend.”

Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco:

“It’s been a rough 10 days for us. I thought the guys today played really outstanding in one of those grind-it-out games.”

“I’m proud of the way the guys hung in there because it’s been a tough 10 days.”

“He has been terrific and pitching mostly in the two spot and sometimes on Sunday earlier in the year. It’s hard for me to think of games where he’s had a bad day. Usually when you think of aces, guys like Bobby Wahl and down the line, with guys we’ve had here like (Lance) Lynn and (Drew) Pomeranz, there aren’t many guys that every time they go out there they get deep into the game and the score is intact to give you a shot to win and that’s what Mike has done. Even beyond that he has had games like this, games where he absolutely shut them down. He pitched terrific last weekend (at Vanderbilt). I look down his record and it’s shocking he only has five wins when you look at his numbers. It’s amazing. He deserves a lot more credit than he’s probably gotten to this point.”

On lineup shuffle:
“Just looking for something to happen. Obviously with the right-hander you knew Kirksey would play, but was there a way to get Orvis into the lineup? So we moved Kirksey to left field and it was just a chance to get another guy that I think is swinging well (into the lineup)… Orvis has had a couple good pinch hits at Vanderbilt. Baxendale is good. He’s so good and pitches in so many big games for them. Last year, I considered him maybe the best in the SEC when we faced him at the end. This year, I know his numbers are great but maybe not as great as they were last year but he pitches big games for them and you could see the emotion out there. We knew we needed a lift and fortunately both those guys swung it great today.”

On walking Ficociello to get to Reynolds:
“I don’t know if Reynolds is really 100 percent. We respect both of them and both of them are terrific. It had more to do with Mike and how he pitched to Reynolds in the first at-bat. Reynolds came out of the game last night and we weren’t sure if he was going to start today. I’m sure he’s not 100 percent, still good, but if you had your choice rather than mess around with Ficociello we thought we would just go after Reynolds and hope for the best and he made some good pitches.”

On Huber:
“Today somebody mentioned when we were walking off the field that he hit 94, 95 with his fastball. He had good command with a great fastball and great slider. He’s been as good the last few weeks as anytime in his three-year career. Obviously with tying the record he’s been very special the last couple of weeks.”

On Orvis:
“In the first with the bases loaded, Ficociello is a shortstop playing first. He’s terrific and makes a great play where I’m not sure if every first baseman makes that play. That’s a tough play he makes. Another foot either way and that’s a double down the line.”

“…That’s a lot of pressure. I think he’s only had three or four starts the entire season, to be inserted into the lineup and then compounded by our issues with scoring runs and he’s been in a couple of those tough situations and had great at-bats.”

Was it a relief to get the win?
“I’d like to say no, but I think the truth is yes, it’s been tough. When you lose five in a row, it’s amazing you walk off the field Sunday against Tennessee and feel good about yourself looking to the future and then all of a sudden a tough game against Arkansas State and you don’t play terrible at Vanderbilt but you don’t play great and they play terrific. The first two games were pretty close games and even the third game was only 6-3. Just not playing well and have to beat a team that is playing really well. And then a tough game for us yesterday. It hasn’t been where we’ve been terrible, I don’t know if that’s better or worse. We’ve been in them. When you’re in the SEC, we’ve always said it’s a very unforgiving league and you have to play well to win or you lose in this league unlike any other league. Every weekend. I think it was a relief to play well again and have some success. It was one of those grind-it-out games. We told them the baseball gods aren’t going to let it be easy, you’re going to have to work every at-bat on both sides of the ball. I think that’s why I was proud of them. It wasn’t just that we went out and had 15 hits and scored 10 runs, it was one of those where Baxendale was terrific and Suggs did a great job and gets out of (the jam) with only one run. We just hung in there and I thought in all three phases of the game we played well.”

Set up with pitching?
“R.J. has some tenderness and wasn’t available to pitch today. He has been getting better each day but we’ve leaned on him a lot the last couple weeks of the season. We’ll see. If he doesn’t throw there’s several options, as many as we could sit here and mention. We’ll go back to the hotel and see. It may be something where we won’t know until tomorrow. I think that’s likely. It has nothing to do with gamesmanship, it has more to do with seeing how he feels in the morning.”

Important to win today to get into NCAA Tournament?
“I think every time you win it’s important and you get closer. Only those 10 guys know. I’ll say this, if you look at our resume it’s pretty darn good. Probably the most unfavorable thing would be the last five games. If you look at the RPI and big wins, I think it’s pretty good but anytime you can win is another notch on the resume.”

Ole Miss closer Brett Huber:

“I haven’t talked to Stephen but it’s obviously an honor. He’s a three-time All-American. We give him some grief for that, but it’s exciting to have my name up there with someone like that and at a school like this. It’s really exciting.”

Ole Miss right-hander Mike Mayers:

“They have a great lineup, it’s just one of those things that I felt great both times I’ve gone out there. I filled up the zone and just attacked their hitters”

Ole Miss second baseman Alex Yarbrough:

On offensive struggles & finally scoring:
“It felt really good, especially since we were able to put pressure on them in the first inning.”

“It was a good start. We’ve been struggling to get chances at all really and then when we do get chances we haven’t been able to cash them in.” (May 23, 2012)

Kentucky blanks Ole Miss to open SEC Tournament

Patrick Ochs — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:38:40 +0000

BLOG: Ole Miss’ “second season” gets an early-morning jump-start today with a 9:30 a.m. game against fourth-seeded Kentucky today.

The first game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., will be televised on SportSouth.

Checkout today’s print edition of the Oxford EAGLE for Bobby Wahl‘s take on starting for ninth-seeded Ole Miss against the Wildcats. Both Wahl and Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco agree it’s not that big of a deal.

“I feel great. I’m sure there will be plenty of adrenaline going — even at 9:30 in the morning,” Wahl said prior to Monday’s practice at Oxford-University Stadium. “I’m excited for it. I really am. I’m not much of a morning person, but I don’t think that’ll matter, especially when you’re playing baseball.”

Bianco said the bigger issue is having a long gap before the ace’s next start.

“Everybody talks about short rest, but one of the things that concerns me and always has with the SEC Tournament is the earlier you throw your number one the longer he has to wait to pitch again in the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “Sometimes that’s a tough thing and we’ve had some issues with that before where guys have had 10 days off and so sometimes that might be a bigger concern. But right now I think it’s more important for us to have success in the tournament and to win some baseball games after we finished last weekend.”

LET’S GO STREAKING: In order to have a successful postseason, the Rebels are going to have to do something they haven’t done all season: Go streaking.

During the season, Ole Miss had two six-game winning streaks during the non-conference portion of the season. One the Rebels hit their SEC schedule, their longest streak was a four-game stretch that consisted of single games against Georgia and Mississippi State in Pearl, and two games against Arkansas.

“This team has struggled to be consistent,” Bianco said. “We’ve been good on certain days and on certain weekends, but it’s been hard for us to put a big run together. I think it’s not one particular thing. There’s been days or a span where we haven’t scored. There’s been a span where we have a bad pitching performance mixed in there and it has been difficult through 56 games for us to go on a long run. The thing that keeps us optimistic is we’ve had some really good weekends.”

Wahl, like the rest of his teammates, is hoping today provides the jolt the team is in need of.

“It’s baseball. Baseball is a funny game and I think we’re just waiting it out,” he said. “Going into this tournament I think we’re feeling good. Obviously we didn’t have a great weekend this weekend, but I think the team feels like we’re due. They really think and believe that we’re going to win.”

Wahl later added: “I think we’re really excited for it to get hot in Hoover… I think it’s going to be good for us. I think there’s a good chance we’re going to get hot and go into the postseason with a good winning streak.”

INJURY UPDATE: Ole Miss will be without the services of sophomore Austin Anderson for the week. The shortstop fractured a finger on his throwing hand against Arkansas State on May 15 and did not travel to Nashville, Tenn., with the team.

Senior Blake Newalu is coming off of a serious case of shinsplints that held him out of the Tennessee series, but he started all three games at Vanderbilt and is expected to retain his starting role as long as the Rebels are in the SEC Tournament.

Used primarily against right-handers during the regular season, Newalu is hitting .360 (27-for-75) with a .395 on-base percentage and a .467 slugging percentage.

———AROUND THE LEAGUE———

Who has the toughest jobs in the Southeastern Conference? Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News says it’s the league’s baseball coaches.

———TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE———

Game 1: No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 9 Ole Miss, 9:30 a.m. (SportSouth)
Game 2: No. 6 Arkansas vs. No. 7 Mississippi State, TBD (SportSouth)
Game 3: No. 3 Florida vs. No. 10 Auburn, 4:30 p.m. (CSS)
Game 4: No. 5 Vanderbilt vs. No. 8 Georgia, TBD (CSS)

**If Ole Miss wins Game 1, it will play No. 1 LSU on Wednesday following Game 5. If Ole Miss loses, it will case the loser of Arkansas-Mississippi State at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Both games will be televised on SportSouth.

———STARTING LINEUPS——

No. 9 OLE MISS REBELS (34-22 overall)
LF Tanner Mathis (.350 BA/.450 OBP/.400 SLG)
2B Alex Yarbrough (.386/.439/.520)
1B Matt Snyder (.327/.396/.573)
C Will Allen (.311/.339/.406)
CF Auston Bousfield (.282/.359/.364)
DH John Gatlin (.282/.440/.385)
RF Preston Overbey (.268/.327/.362)
3B Andrew Mistone (.233/.300/.291)
SS Blake Newalu (.360/.395/.467)
RHP Bobby Wahl (6-2, 2.20 ERA)

No. 4 KENTUCKY WILDCATS (41-15)
CF Austin Cousino (.330/.415/.542)
3B Thomas McCarthy (.300/.390/.448)
1B Luke Maile (.319/.426/.556)
LHP A.J. Reed (.295/.383/.399) + (4-2, 3.00 ERA)
C Michael Williams (.297/.373/.390)
RF Cameron Flynn (.284/.345/.497)
2B J.T. Riddle (.286/.364/.413)
LF Zac Zellers (.287/.440/.460)
SS Matt Reida (.245/.305/.328)

———SCORING UPDATE———

KENTUCKY 1, Ole Miss 0 (Bottom 4): Fresh off of throwing just five pitches in the top of the inning, Kentucky southpaw A.J. Reed swatted a 2-0 offering from Rebel ace Bobby Wahl over the right field wall to put the Wildcats ahead 1-0.

KENTUCKY 2, Ole Miss 0 (Bottom 6): Right fielder Cameron Flynn singled past Rebel first baseman Matt Snyder with one out to score first baseman Luke Maile.

———THE NUMBERS GAME———

Wahl pitched well for the Rebels, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks while also striking out six in the losing effort. Reed did it all for Kentucky, allowing just five hits and one walk in 5.2 innings to improve to 5-2. Reed was also 4-for-4 at the plate with what ended up being the game-winning solo homer in the fourth. Taylor Rogers closed out the game by allowing two hits in the next 3.1 innings to earn his first save on the season.

Snyder led the Rebels with a 4-for-4 day (all singles). Tanner Mathis, Auston Bousfield and Andrew Mistone each had one hit apiece.

With the loss, Ole Miss will have to turn around and play the loser of Arkansas and Mississippi State on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.

Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said the Rebels will start right-hander Mike Mayers.

(May 22, 2012)

Brassell leaving Ole Miss

Oxford EAGLE — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:01:00 +0000

Sophomore Nickolas Brassell has elected to transfer from Ole Miss after losing his academic eligibility, as announced today by Rebel head coach Hugh Freeze.

“We did all we could do to help Nick, and we wish him the very best,” said Freeze.

Brassell saw action in all 12 games as a freshman, starting six times at wide receiver and once at cornerback. He totaled 24 receptions for 336 yards and two touchdown catches on offense and 14 tackles and five pass breakups on defense. (May 18, 2012, Page 8A)

Walker ready to cross finish line

John Davis — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:50:44 +0000

For a man that loves history and majored in the subject in college, Ole Miss head track coach Joe Walker said he doesn’t like to look back to the past. He is an in-the-now type person, somebody who is more focused on getting an athlete better for the future rather than what they may or may not have accomplished weeks prior. (May 18, 2012, Page 6A)

Commodores come out on top in pitcher’s duel

Oxford EAGLE — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:46:38 +0000

NASHVILLE, Tenn.–Bobby Wahl turned in his eighth quality start of the season, allowing only two earned runs on three hits in more than seven innings of work, but No. 25 Ole Miss (34-20, 14-14 SEC) couldn’t get the offense going in a 3-0 loss at Vanderbilt (27-25, 14-14 SEC) on Thursday night.

Wahl (6-2) took the loss despite a solid outing, allowing three runs – only two of them earned – on the three hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 7.1 innings of work.

T.J. Pecoraro (1-4) picked up the win as he tossed a complete-game for Vanderbilt, allowing five hits with three strikeouts in his time on the mound. (May 18, 2012, Page 6A)

Bousfield could be answer atop Rebs’ lineup

Patrick Ochs — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:58:09 +0000

All season the Diamond Rebels have had a revolving door in the second spot in the batting order.

Left fielder Tanner Mathis has been a mainstay in the leadoff spot.

Second baseman Alex Yarbrough, first baseman Matt Snyder and catcher Will Allen have all been cemented as the three-four-five hitters for much of the season.

The one spot atop the lineup that has been fluid all season has been the second spot.

Recently, third baseman Andrew Mistone had started the last eight Southeastern Conference games batting ahead of Yarbrough.

Overall, the Rebels (34-19 overall, 14-13 Southeastern Conference) have shuffled five players — Yarbrough, Mistone, shortstops Austin Anderson and Blake Newalu, and center fielder Auston Bousfield — through the second spot looking for the right fit. (May 17, 2012, Page 6A)

Moore breaking new ground in track

John Davis — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:37:49 +0000

Anyone who follows college football recruiting knows that West Bolivar’s Kailo Moore is a highly-recruited running back prospect that led the Eagles to a Class 2A state title last year.
They know he’s got a ton of offers, from Ole Miss to Mississippi State to Alabama and so forth. Those same recruitniks also know that Moore is fast — very fast.
What some may not realize is just how fast Moore (5-foot-10, 185-pounds) really is, or better put, how fast he can be on the track and on the football field. The rising senior standout was an eyelash away from placing his name in the state meet record book Monday when he completed the 100 meter dash in 10.41 seconds to win an individual state title. His race not only got the crowd at Pearl High School buzzing, it did the same thing to the media contingent covering the meet. Moore’s time was just 0.2 seconds off the state record currently held by former Oxford High standout Horatio Williams, who signed to play wide receiver for Ole Miss before matriculating to Hinds CC, LSU and now Florida State to run track exclusively.
The biggest difference between Moore and Williams, outside of the finish, is that Moore can still come back and break the record where Williams accomplished it his senior year.
“I came in running pretty good. I had my mind focused on breaking the record. I fell a little short but I got another year to come back and break it again. I’m still pretty satisfied with my overall performance,” Moore said following the 100.
Moore entered Monday’s competition seeded fourth after running the 100 at 2A North Half in 10.8 seconds. He said he hadn’t given his full in previous competitions.
“I have different types of strategies in the way I run. I run the 200 meter and when I come out of the curl, I try to make my stride longer. When I come out of my drive, I open up my stride and that was taking longer so I said (Monday) I was going to run my regular race,” Moore said. “I wanted to start faster and real hard out of the blocks and drive around 30 meters and then come out and run a real fast time. My strength is closing in. I’ve been working on my start because that’s real important in a 100 meter race. I’m satisfied with my time today.”
West Bolivar’s track coach, Willie Thomas, realizes just how good Moore’s time was Monday and said that he has the potential to be a track-only star, if he decided to concentrate on the sport full-time.
“One thing people don’t understand is that we don’t have track facilities and how good he could be if we were able to do it all the time,” said Thomas about Moore, who ran a 10.84 in the 100 when he was in seventh grade. “The track season is so short. We really need to finish in June. He was able to do that as a junior and also in just six weeks of training.”
As good as Moore is in the 100, he is even better in the 200 because of his long stride. Moore didn’t compete in the 200 at the state meet because he was disqualified at North Half because officials said he started too early.
“The 200 is probably my best race but the 100 is my favorite,” Moore said. “I was just so anxious (before the 200 at North Half). I was feeling real good, very loose. The boy from (Shelby) Broad Street had snuck up on me the week before and got me by a tenth of a second because I wasn’t focused. I went into the 200 real comfortable, relaxed and I was anxious to run a 20.6. They said I got out too fast and ended up getting DQ’d.”
Moore’s personal-best time in the 100 is a 10.3 he ran at Ted Gormley Stadium in New Orleans last summer and his goal is to come back and put up the same time to break the state record next year.
This summer, he will a member of a select running team — the Mississippi Heat — that will he compete with when he’s not going to football camps.
“Track helps me a whole lot with football. Just the way I come out at track practice and train when I go to football practice and they give me the ball 25 times in practice and in games, it helps me a whole lot because I won’t be tired because of running track,” said Moore, who plans to play defensive back as well as running back in 2012. “Track has helped me a whole lot because at the beginning of the season, I was up to 193 pounds and I had a lot of fat on my body. (Dropping weight) helped me a whole lot. This summer I’m going to be going back and forth with football. Track is not going to be done until the first week in August.”
Thomas added that Moore wants to run track and play football in college and because he is such a highly recruited running back — Rivals.com has him rated as the seventh-best at his position in the nation — that some college track coaches have backed off from signing him just as a track athlete.
“If he decided to just run track, he would need to get down to 170, 175 to be a sprinter so he could be in the low 20s in the 200 and even lower 10s in the 100,” Thomas said. “He definitely has a future in track if he wants to just do that. I’ve told him to do both and when he gets older, he’ll figure it out on which one he wants to do.” (May 16, 2012, Page 6)

Red Wolves jump all over No. 25 Rebels

Oxford EAGLE — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:26:50 +0000

JONESBORO, Ark. — Zach Kirksey hit his 13th home run of the season, a two-run shot to give the No. 25 Ole Miss Rebels the early lead, but a big fifth inning from the Red Wolves proved to be too much to overcome as the Rebels lost 10-5 to Arkansas State. Ole Miss fell to 34-19 with the loss, while ASU improved to 29-21. (May 16, 2012, Page 6)