Here is some non-Commercial Appeal info. John was offered partial scholarships by Nebraska and Missouri as well as a few other colleges. The word is MSU got a real steal in this guy because he is a late bloomer that very few colleges knew about.

6/27/00 - Ty Martin went 3 for 5 with 3 rbi and 2 runs scored Monday as the Pulaski Rangers won their 3rd game out of the 4 played . He hit 3rd in the lineup and scored 2 runs with one stolen base. Ty is hitting .375. He played second base. He has not committed an error or struck out.

The Pulaski Rangers website is located at www.pulaskirangers.com/.

6/25/00 (1:30 p.m.) - Former Diamond Dog Justin Estel has pitched middle relief in two games for the Vermont Expos. In 4 innings he has allowed no runs, 2 hits, 1 walk, and struck out 2.

6/25/00 - Former Diamond Dog Ty Martin went 2-for-4 and started at shortstop for the Pulaski Rangers as they defeated Burlington,NC (Indians) 11-2 in the opening game of the season in the Appalachian League. He played flawlessly in his opening game. He hit a line drive up the middle from the right side of the plate and then got his second hit up the middle from the left side of the plate. He is batting second in the order.

Ty went to Pulaski as a 2nd baseman / shortstop. He has won the shortstop position after a week of workouts and is enjoying the minor league experience.

6/23/00
Baseball - (Jamie Rock Update): The Portland Rockies defeated the Boise Hawks (Angels) last night in Boise, 16-3. Jamie Rock played the entire game in left field and batted fifth in the lineup, going 3-for-6 with 1 2B, 1 RBI, and 2 runs scored. In his first appearance of the season, Justin Huisman (former Ole Miss baseball player) threw 3.2 innings in relief of the starter, allowing 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 2.

If any of you are located in a city that has a minor league team with an MSU player playing on the team, please email his stats and I will post it on my page.

Reid comes to Starkville from the University of Georgia where he, over a span of four years, assisted in building the foundation of the UGA softball program.

"We are thrilled that Bo has decided to join our staff," said Mississippi State head coach Kathy Arendsen. "He is one of the finest pitching coaches in the country and we have a young, talented pitching staff that will benefit greatly from his instruction. He brings us a vast amount of coaching experience and is an outstanding addition to our program."

Reid is an accomplished fastpitch hurler. He retired from competitive pitching in 1995, but not before leading his team to the national tournament in nine of the last 10 years of his career. A highlight of his playing stint came in 1992 when he pitched nine games in a 24-hour period, including four consecutive no-hitters.

He made his debut in softball coaching in 1984, working with Spartanburg Methodist as an assistant coach where he spent one season. Reid then joined Alleen Hawkins' staff at Furman University and the pair worked together 11 seasons with the Paladins before making the transition to the Southeastern Conference at Georgia.

In his first season with Georgia, Reid's development of the Bulldog pitchers showed quickly as Georgia finished as one of the better pitching teams in the conference, tallying a 2.39 team ERA while allowing the third-fewest hits among the 11 SEC softball-playing institutions.

Reid, 51, is the father of two children, son B.J. and daughter Ryan, who is now a sophomore pitcher at Chattanooga State.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to join the Mississippi State softball staff," Reid said. "I have a long and outstanding relationship with coach Arendsen and I am very happy to now get the chance to work alongside her. Mississippi State is a team of the future and I am very excited about being part of this program."

Next season, Reid will take on the task of working with a State staff which finished the 2000 campaign with a 44-27 record and a 2.36 team ERA.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU athletic department

6/20/00
MSU baseball camp info - MSU has over 200 campers at their current camp. The current camp, which is for ages 11-14, ends this Wednesday. The next camp starts this Thursday, June 22nd, and ends Saturday, June 24th. It is for ages 12 to high school seniors.

Kelly, a second-team All-Southeastern Conference selection this spring, has signed with a free agent contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He will report to Charleston, S.C., Wednesday and begin his career with the Charleston Riverdogs of the South Atlantic League.

In two seasons and 97 games at Mississippi State Kelly compiled a .311 career batting average, ranking second among MSU's career triples leaders with nine. He anchored the Bulldog outfield in center field as a senior, hitting at a .323 clip with 48 RBI, 17 doubles, eight triples and nine home runs in 97 games. He paced the Diamond Dogs with 34 extra-base hits and 17 stolen bases. He earned SEC Player of the Week honors on April 24 and was named to the NCAA Starkville Regional All-Tournament Team. Kelly played two seasons at Meridian (Miss.) Community College after completing his high school baseball career at Petal High School.

Mississippi State finished the 2000 season with a 41-20 record and a No. 15 ranking in the final Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America polls. Kelly becomes the eighth member of that MSU team to ink a pro baseball contract this month, joining third baseman Travis Chapman (Philadelphia Phillies), pitcher Kevin Donovan (Philadelphia), pitcher Justin Estel (Montreal Expos), senior infielder Ty Martin (Texas Rangers), pitcher Mark Freed (Chicago Cubs), catcher Ryan McGrath (Houston Astros)and outfielder Jamie Rock (Colorado Rockies). All were seniors except Estel and Freed, both juniors.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU athletic department

6/17/00
Baseball - A 40-win season, a climb to a top 10 national ranking, advancement to an NCAA Super Regional and a host of record-breaking performances are but a few of the highlights in a memorable 110th season of baseball for Mississippi State University in the 2000 campaign.

Coach Pat McMahon's third Bulldog Baseball edition battled to within two games of the school's eighth berth in the prestigious NCAA College World Series before completing their season at the NCAA Super Regional in Clemson, S.C.

Mississippi State bolted into the new century with a 41-20 record, marking the school's fourth consecutive 40-win campaign and it's 15th since 1979.

Picked to finish fourth in the SEC Western Division, the Bulldogs proved to be one of the league's surprise teams, posting a 17-10 mark and challenging for the SEC Western Division crown on the final weekend of the regular season. State took runner-up honors and a third-place overall finish in the SEC, winning seven of its 10 SEC weekend series.

The Bulldogs took the field with new starters at all four infield positions, behind the plate and in two of three outfield slots. Even with the preponderance of newness MSU reeled off nine wins to open the year and compiled a school-best 19-2 start to climb from the unranked to top twenty status prior to the beginning of rugged Southeastern Conference competition.

MSU's pitching staff took on a new look as well, with senior lefty Kevin Donovan moving from a relief role to starting status, joining sophomore righty Tanner Brock and junior southpaw Mark Freed in the weekend rotation. State used 13 different pitchers during the season, six in starting roles, compiling a 4.79 ERA with three complete games and four shutouts. Freed and Jeff Hunter combined for one of those blankings against Alcorn State, a 13-0 no-hitter, ninth in school history.

Donovan (7-5, 4.20) sparkled down the stretch, picking up a pair of wins in the Starkville Regional and pacing the club in innings pitched (98.2) and strikeouts (98). Freed (9-2, 4.02) returned to his freshman year form and led the Bulldogs in wins. State also got a dozen saves and three wins from hard-throwing sophomore righthander Adam Larson.

While this Diamond Dog unit was a team in the truest since of the word, it was not without its standout performers.

Senior third baseman Travis Chapman, who as a junior set the MSU fielding record for shortstops, successfully made the switch to the hot corner to make way for true freshman shortstop Matthew Maniscalco. A first-team All-SEC selection, he finished the year as one of the top fielding third basemen in the Southeastern Conference.

Chapman hit at a .350 clip and finished his career as one of the most productive players in MSU history.The Jacksonville, Fla., native piled up 327 career hits --- one shy of Richard Lee's school-record 328, became the SEC's 15th player to reach 200 RBI in a career (202), set the school record with 71 career doubles and was struck by a pitch a school-record 44 times, second-most HBPs in SEC history.

Team hitting honors in 2000 went to senior designated hitter Ty Martin, who compiled a career-best .352 batting average. Martin missed 15 games in the first half of the season after sustaining a lacerated thumb. But he returned to the lineup as the DH, lashing a dozen doubles, driving in 41 runs and belting five home runs. His final homer was a game-winning ninth-inning solo shot against Notre Dame in the championship game of the Starkville Regional. The late-game heroics earned him tournament MVP honors.

Six other State regulars hit .300 or better, including second-team All-SEC outfielder Shane Kelly (.323), who led MSU with 34 extra-base hits, eight triples and 17 stolen bases. Junior right-fielder Phillip Willingham (.322) compiled a team-best .429 batting average in six NCAA postseason games, while senior outfielder Jamie Rock (.308), senior catcher and team co-captain Ryan McGrath (.307) and junior first baseman Jon Knott (.302), with a team-leading 16 home runs and 66 RBI, helped MSU compile a .310 team batting average and average 8.4 runs per game.

Knott drew starts at first base in all 61 Bulldog games, as did true freshman shortstop Matthew Maniscalco, who hit .253, drove in 40 runs and gloved the ball at a .949 rate, tops among SEC shortstops. Maniscalco and right-handed pitcher Chris young (4-1, 1 save, 4.89), were named to the Louisville Slugger TPX Freshman All-American Baseball team.

Mississippi State's Baseball Bulldogs also excelled in the classroom, with eight Diamond Dogs earning SEC Baseball Academic Honor Roll status and one, senior designated hitter Ty Martin, receiving GTE-CoSIDA Academic All-America Team accolades.

Even MSU's legions of loyal baseball fans joined in the honors during the 2000 campaign, purchasing a school-record 4,555 season tickets establishing an NCAA regional tournament record for average attendance (6,766 for seven games) at the NCAA Starkville Regional. That tournament drew 47,365 fans, easily the most among the NCAA's regionals this year. State set an SEC weekend series attendance mark when 26,688 watched the MSU-Mississippi series at Dudy Noble Field, including 13,123 for the Saturday game.

Three seniors and three juniors from the 2000 MSU team were selected in Major League Baseball's First-Year Draft in June, capping an excitement-filled season that builds on Mississippi State Baseball's tradition of excellence.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department

6/15/00 - Dudy Noble Field, a beehive of baseball activity last month when more than 47,000 fans watched the NCAA Starkville Regional, will soon come to life again with this weekend's opening of the highly-popular Mississippi State University Bulldog Baseball Camps.

Seven camp sessions are scheduled between June 18 and July 20 and are expected to attract hundreds of aspiring young baseball athletes nationwide ranging in age from 7-year-olds to upcoming high school seniors.

"The response to this year's camp has been tremendous," said Mississippi State head baseball coach Pat McMahon. "We're excited about the opportunity to welcome these young baseball players to Mississippi State and Dudy Noble Field and to help them improve their athletic skills."

McMahon, assistant coaches Jim Case, Tommy Raffo and camp coordinator Matt Ishee, and a host of baseball coaches from a variety of baseball levels will serve as instructors for the Mississippi State Bulldog Baseball Camps.

The summer baseball camps open Sunday with the Junior High Camp (June 18-21 - ages 11-14). Subsequent sessions include the Hitting/Infield Camp (June 22-24 - ages 12 to HS senior), the High School I Camp (June 25-June 29 - ages 15 to HS senior), the Little League Camp (June 29 - July 2 - ages 7-10), the Pitcher-Catcher Camp (July 7-9 - ages 14 to HS senior), the High School II Camp (July 9-13 - ages 15 to HS senior), and the Day Camp (July 17-20 - ages 7-14).

Both high school camp sessions feature a unique "Showcase Day", with campers showcasing their skills in a simulated professional tryout and evaluation by the MSU staff, other college coaches and professional scouts. Instruction for each session features individualized offensive and defensive work and team drills.

Campers utilize on-campus housing and dining facilities during their stay at Mississippi State and conduct many of their camp sessions at famed Dudy Noble Field, Polk-DeMent Stadium, the home of the Baseball Bulldogs.

Prospective campers are encouraged to contact the MSU Baseball Office (662-325-3597) for registration information soon as many of the camp sessions are nearing capacity.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU athletic department

6/10/00 - All-SEC third baseman Travis Chapman, who helped lead Mississippi State to four NCAA regional tournaments and school-first back-to-back trips to the NCAA College World Series, has signed a professional baseball contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Jacksonville, Fla., native and former Bishop Kenny High School standout was selected by Philadelphia in the 17th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Draft conducted earlier this week and finalized his contractual agreement with the Phillies Thursday. He will report June 12 to Philadelphia's rookie camp in Clearwater, Fla., and is expected to be assigned to the Batavia (N.Y.) Phillies of the New York-Penn League.

Chapman hit .356 his senior campaign with 30 extra-base hits, 62 RBI, a team-leading 22 doubles and six sacrifice flies, an MSU single-season record 19 HBP and a .935 fielding percentage at third base, highest among SEC third basemen. He concluded his collegiate career with a .356 batting average and 327 career hits, one short of the MSU career hits mark. He was struck by an MSU career-record 44 pitches and set the school record with 71 career doubles. He finished among MSU's career top five listings with 202 RBI, 919 at-bats, 221 runs scored, 482 total bases and 248 games played. Chapman drew starts in 237 of his 248 career games, helping lead Mississippi State to berths in the 1997 Mideast Regional in Starkville, Miss., the 1998 NCAA Central Regional in College Station, Texas, the 1999 NCAA Columbus Regional in Columbus, Ohio, and the 2000 NCAA Starkville (Miss.) Regional and the Clemson (S.C.) Super Regional. During his four-year career Mississippi State posted a 172-85 record and advanced to the college baseball's "final eight" at the NCAA College World Series in both 1997 and 1998.

In addition to first-team All-SEC honors, Chapman was named SEC Player of the Week (May 8), earned SEC Baseball Academic Honor Roll status and was named to the NCAA Starkville Regional All-Tournament Team.

Five other Mississippi State players and six of MSU's November baseball signees were also selected in the MLB June draft conducted earlier this week.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU athletic department

6/09/00 - Two first-year players on Mississippi State University's NCAA Super Regional baseball team have named to the Louisville Slugger TPX Freshman All-American baseball team as chosen by Collegiate Baseball magazine.

Shortstop Matthew Maniscalco of Oxford, Ala., and right-handed pitcher Chris Young of Stow, Ohio, are among 12 freshmen from Southeastern Conference baseball teams included on the team.

Maniscalco, one of two Bulldogs to play in and start all 61 games this year, gloved the ball at a .949 clip, tops among SEC shortstops. He hit at a .253 clip, driving in 40 runs, belting 20 extra-base hits and ranking second on the club with six sacrifice hits en route to first-team freshman all-America honors.

Young, also a true freshman, posted a 4-1 record with a save and a 4.89 earned run average in 21 relief appearances. The hard-throwing righthander registered 34 strikeouts in 38-2/3 innings of mound work He was 1-1 with a save in SEC competition, earning his first league win and establishing season-bests with seven strikeouts in 3-1/3 innings of mound work against instate SEC rival Mississippi.

Two juniors on the 2000 MSU team, pitcher Mark Freed and first baseman Jon Knott, were the last two Mississippi State players to earn Freshman All-America Team distinction in 1998. Mississippi State, unranked in the preseason polls, compiled a 41-20 record this season, finishing third in the SEC and advancing to the NCAA Super Regionals and college baseball's "final 16" .

Martin, one of six Mississippi State players selected in this year's Major League Baseball First-Year Draft, signed with the Texas Rangers. McGrath signed a free agent pact with the Houston Astros and Rock inked as a free agent with the Colorado Rockies. All are expected to report to their respective Class A affiliate teams within the next week.

MSU designated hitter Ty Martin, a 20th-round pick of the Rangers, led the 2000 Bulldogs in hitting with a .352 average. He drove in 41 runs and belted 19 extra-base hits, including a dramatic game-winning ninth-inning solo shot that lifted MSU to an NCAA Starkville Regional-clinching 10-9 win over Notre Dame. He was also a third-team GTE-CoSIDA Academic All-America Team honoree. Martin reports June 15 to the Pulaski (Va.) Rangers of the Appalachian League.

Team co-captain Ryan McGrath signed with the Houston Astros after a career-best senior campaign at MSU. The former Corinth HS standout hit at a .307 clip with 25 RBI, 14 doubles, two triples and two home runs. McGrath drew starting duties behind the dish in all but five of MSU's 61 games, ranking second on the club with nine stolen bases and setting a school single-season record with eight sacrifice hits. He is scheduled to report June 16 to the Auburn (N.Y.) Astros of the Class A New York-Penn League.

Jamie Rock, a starter in both of his seasons at Mississippi State, compiled a .319 career batting average with 120 hits, 31 doubles, eight home runs and 82 RBI in 100 games played. The former Itawamba AHS and Gulf Coast (Fla.) Community College standout totaled 34 multi-hit games and compiled a .976 career fielding percentage, committing just three errors in two seasons. He drew starts in left field (63), center field (5), third base (2) and as the Bulldogs' designated hitter (19) while helping lead Mississippi State to NCAA regional tournament competition in both 1999 and 2000. Rock will take part in the Rockies' mini-camp in Tucson, Ariz., prior to beginning his professional career with Portland (Ore.) Rockies of the Class A Northwest League.

Five other Mississippi State players and six of MSU's November baseball signees were also selected in Major League Baseball's June draft conducted earlier this week.

The award adds to an already impressive resume' for the Port Orchard, Wash., native who currently holds eight career records at Mississippi State, including two set this season. She currently holds a 3.64 overall GPA in Biological Sciences and will graduate next year with her Bachelor's degree.

"What an incredible way to end a remarkable collegiate career," said Mississippi State head coach Kathy Arendsen. "Keri has excelled in everything that she has done at State. She has left an impressive legacy as one of the finest student-athletes to ever don the Maroon and White. We are truly going to miss her."

This season, McCallum finished second on the team with a .412 batting average to go along with 11 doubles, 11 triples, a career-high four home runs and 25 RBI. She tallied a .597 slugging percentage, drew 13 walks, was hit by pitch 12 times and turned in a .466 on base percentage. A force on the base paths as well, McCallum also set a single-season record with 31 stolen bases on 34 attempts and finished the season as the best defensive catcher in the Southeastern Conference with a .992 fielding percentage.

Prior to the 2000 SEC Tournament in Columbus, Ga., McCallum was named as the only unanimous selection to the All-SEC First Team. She later garnered First Team All-South Region honors, NCAA Regional I (Seattle) All-Tournament team honors and joined Kellie Wilkerson as Mississippi State's first-ever NFCA First Team All-Americans.

She will exit Starkville with 319 career hits in 818 at bats (.390), eight home runs, 38 triples, 48 doubles, 90 stolen bases and 191 runs scored. Her hit total places her second on the all-time NCAA list while her career triple total puts her atop the SEC list in that category.

The GTE Academic All-America Teams are selected by a vote of the 1,800-member CoSIDA. To be eligible, an athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.20 on a scale of 4.00. Sports information directors nominate eligible athletes from their schools who are named to district teams prior to being voted upon on the national level. CoSIDA has been selecting Academic All-America teams since 1952.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU athletic department

6/08/00 - The rumor that I'm hearing is the three MSU baseball underclassmen that were drafted in the Major League Baseball draft that was held this past Monday and Tuesday will all sign with the pro teams that selected them. The three are junior LHP Mark Freed, junior RHP Justin Estel and sophomore RHP Ryan Carroll.

6/07/00 - Just thought you guys would like to read an excerpt from my premium site baseball signees signability evaluation.

PAUL MAHOLM - LHP from Germantown (TN) HS. Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 17th round: