Mississippi

Braves Minor League Recap: Luke Waddell homers twice for Mississippi

Published

1 year ago

June 17, 2023

Braves Minor League Recap: Luke Waddell homers twice for Mississippi

It was an incredibly busy day down on the farm for Atlanta’s MiLB affiliates as there were a total of seven games played on the day. We’ve got a lot to get into, so let’s dive into Friday’s minor league action.

(29-38) Gwinnett Stripers 3, (35-31) Nashville Sounds 5

Joe Dunad, DH: 1-4, HR, RBI
Forrest Wall, CF: 2-4, RBI
Braden Shewmake, SS: 2-3, 2B, BB
Michael Soroka, SP: 6 IP, 3 H, ER, 4 BB, 3 K

Box Score

Unlike their Double-A counterparts, Gwinnett couldn’t quite pull out the win in extra innings on Friday.

The Stripers scored first, plating a run in the top of the third inning. Joshua Fuentes laced a one-out double into center field before Forrest Wall tripled to bring him home, giving the Stripers a 1-0 lead. Gwinnett would tack on an additional run in the top of the fourth inning as Joe Dunad sent a 3-1 pitch over the right field wall, extending the Stripers’ lead to 2-0.

Michael Soroka got the nod for the start for the Stripers and tossed three scoreless innings before allowing Nashville to get on the board in the fourth inning. Soroka would allow the Sounds to tie the game up at 2-2 in the bottom of the second, but all-in-all, he would go six innings allowing just the two runs.

Things would remain relatively quire for both squads for a while as Gwinnett and Nashville couldn’t find a way to scratch across a run. The Stripers would actually load the bases in the top of the ninth inning, but failed to bring a runner home, leading to extra innings.

Justin Dean started the tenth inning at second base and was brought home via a a bunt single off the bat of Wall to give the Stripers a 3-2 lead.

In the home half of the tenth inning, Beau Burrows replaced Brian Moran who had tossed two scoreless innings while striking out a pair of batters. However, Burrows allowed a game-tying single and just two batters later gave up a walkoff, two-run home run leading to the Stripers downfall by a final of 5-3.

(28-31) Mississippi Braves 6, (37-23) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 5 (Completion of June 15 suspension)

Luke Waddell, SS: 4-5, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI
Drew Campbell, CF: 2-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI, BB
Scott Blewett, SP: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

Box Score

Mississippi and Pensacola picked this one up in the top of the seventh after Thursday’s game was suspended due to rain. For a recap of the full nine innings, look for Garrett Spain’s recap from Thursday night.

Knotted up at 3-3 when suspended, this one would need extra innings to determine a winner.

When action resumed, the Braves were at the plate but Luke Waddell grounded out to end the inning. Pensacola would come to the dish as Hayden Deal took over on the mound for Scott Blewett. Deal would allow a go-ahead homer to the first batter he faced in the frame, making it 4-3 Pensacola. Both squads would go scoreless in the eighth inning.

Down to their final three outs, the Braves wasted no time in the top of the ninth inning as leadoff man Drew Campbell sent a 2-1 pitch over the left center field fence to tie the game at 4-4.

Alec Barger would be called on to try and send the game to extra innings and would do so successfully, striking out two batters while retiring the side in the home half of the ninth.

Andrew Moritz began the top of the tenth inning at second base and after Cal Conley flew out, Luke Waddell launched a go-ahead two-run homer, giving Mississippi a 6-4 lead.

Barger would be left in to try and seal the deal for the Braves. Despite loading the bases with two outs, Barger allowed just one run before notching a strikeout to end the game and giving the Braves their first win on the day.

(29-31) Mississippi Braves 15, (37-22) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3

Cade Bunnell, 1B: 3-6, HR, 2B, 5 RBI, 2 R
Luke Waddell, SS: 2-4, HR, 4 RBI, 3 R
Landon Stephens, CF: 2-6, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, R
Luis De Avila, SP: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

Box Score

In their second game of the day, Mississippi dominated to go 2-0 on Friday.

The Braves wasted no time, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. After Cal Conley grounded out to start the game, the next five Braves would reach. Luke Waddell, Jesse Franklin V, and Tyler Tolve each singled to load the bases before Cade Bunnell strolled to the plate. After working a 2-2 count, Bunnell launched a grand slam over the center field wall, breaking the game open before Pensacola had a chance to come to the plate, giving Mississippi a 4-0 lead.

Starter Luis De Avila would allow the Blue Wahoos to gain a run back in the bottom of the inning on a sac fly to make it 4-1 Mississippi.

Both pitching staffs would regain control after the first frame, as the next run wouldn’t be scored until the bottom of the sixth inning. De Avila would get the nod to push through the sixth, and while he would manage to do so, he would surrender a two-run homer which allowed the Blue Wahoos to cut into the lead, making it 4-3 Mississippi.

From that point forward, it would be all Braves. In the top of the seventh, the Braves would add another run to their lead on a Cade Bunnell groundout which scored Jesse Franklin V to make it 5-3 Mississippi.

Leading by a pair of runs, the eighth and ninth innings is where Mississippi broke the game wide open. In the eighth, Mississippi plated five runs thanks in part to their second grand slam of the game. Hudson Potts walked to leadoff the inning as Andrew Moritz singled before a Cal Conley walked to load the bases. On the very first pitch he saw in the inning, Waddell launched a homer, giving the Braves a 9-3 lead. But the Braves wouldn’t be finished there. After the next two batters were retired, Bunnell doubled before an error allowed him to score, extending the Mississippi lead to 10-3.

The Braves would continue to pour it on in the top of the ninth inning, once again scoring five runs like the frame prior. Moritz singled as Conley and Waddell walked to load the bases once again. Franklin V brought Moritz home on a sac fly and Tolve singled to bring home an additional run to make it 12-3 Braves. Following a Bunnell strikeout, Landon Stephens decided to get in on the home run party, sending a three-run shot over the left field wall to extend the Mississippi lead to 15-3.

On the mound, Nick Howard, Kyle Wilcox, and Dommingo Gonzalez would combine to toss three scoreless innings while striking out six in the win.

(28-33) Rome Braves 3, (36-25) Hudson Valley Renegades 4

Kevin Kilpatrick Jr., CF: 3-5, HR 2 RBI
Keshawn Ogans, SS: 1-2, 2B, RBI
Ian Mejia , SP: 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 K

Box Score

Rome suffered a heartbreaking loss on Friday. After coming back to tie the game up in the top of the eighth inning, the Braves would ultimately cough up the lead, losing on a walkoff.

In the top of the first inning, Kevin Kilpatrick led off with a single as Nacho Alvarez and David McCabe worked one-out walks to load the bases. A Keshawn Ogans sac fly brought home the first run of the game, giving Rome a 1-0 lead.

Ian Mejia got the start on the bump for the Braves. In the first inning, the righty would allow the only blemish on his line across five innings by giving up one run for Hudson Valley to tie the game at 1-1.

Mejia would settle down and hold the Renegades scoreless over the next few innings, keeping the game tied. On the opposite side of the ball, the Rome offense would struggle to find its footing, failing to provide Mejia with much of any run support.

The next run for either squad would come in the bottom of the sixth inning as Hudson Valley scored another run off of Mejia, this one unearned, giving them a one-run lead at 2-1.

In the top of the eighth inning, Rome would take their first lead since the top of the initial frame. Stephen Paolini drew a leadoff walk as Kilpatrick Jr. sent a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence for a two-run homer to make it 3-2 Braves.

Patrick Halligan would take over out of the bullpen for Mejia in the bottom of the sixth inning. While he tossed a scoreless seventh inning, Halligan allowed a run in the bottom of the eighth inning as Hudson Valley tied the game at 3-3.

In the top of the ninth, Rome actually put a runner in scoring position after Geraldo Quintero singled and Bryson Horne followed that up with a walk. But the next three batters would be retired in order, leaving the game tied.

Halligan would be allowed to start the inning but would be replaced after hitting a batter with one out in the inning. Peyton Williams would come on in relief and allow back-to-back singles as a Renegade scored, handing the Braves the loss by a 4-3 final.

(29-32) Augusta GreenJackets 5, (32-27) Carolina Mudcats 11

Ethan Workinger, LF: 1-4, 2 RBI, BB
Justin Janas, 1B: 1-3, 2 RBI, 2 BB
E.J. Exposito, 2B: 1-4, 2B, RBI
Owen Murphy, SP: 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K

Box Score

Normally, one inning wouldn’t be enough to “do in” a team on any given night. However, one frame was the deciding factor in Augusta’s loss.

Owen Murphy got the start on the mound for the GreenJackets and had a rough first inning. The 2022 first-rounder allowed the first two batters to reach on doubles, allowing one run to score. Another run would score in the frame, but was unearned. In the home half, Augusta drew a pair of walks but couldn’t bring a runner home to cut into the lead.

Trailing by two runs in the bottom of the second, Augusta’s offense would erupt, taking the lead. Jeremy Caledonio was hit by a pitch and would be doubled home in the very next at-bat, by E.J. Exposito making it 2-1. After Exposito was caught stealing Cory Acton and Tyler Collins worked walks sandwiched around a strikeout and Ambioris Tavarez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Justin Janas would then draw a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at 2-2. Ethan Workinger continued his then knocked a bases-loaded single to plate two additional runs, giving the GreenJackets a 4-2 lead.

Murphy’s struggles would continue in the next few innings as he would allow one run in the third and one run in the fourth, enabling Carolina to tie the game at 4-4. Murphy would allow the Mudcats to take another lead in the top of the sixth as he issued two walks and a single. The run would come off a wild pitch, meaning Carolina would take a 5-4 lead.

The GreenJackets would get that run back in the home half of the inning as Janas singled home Dawson Dimon, knotting the game at 5-5.

Landon Harper would take over for Murphy in the sixth inning and while he managed to get out of the inning without allowing a run of his own, the seventh frame would be far less kind to him. After getting a leadoff groundout, Harper allowed the next seven batters to reach with five of them reaching via extra-base hit. All told, Carolina would plate six runs in the inning, giving them an 11-5 lead, which would hold as the final as Augusta failed to bring another runner across the plate.

(4-5) FCL Braves 14, (3-6) FCL Rays 6

Jose Dilone, 1B: 2-3, HR, 4 RBI, 3 R, 2 BB
Jesus Aguilar, DH: 3-5, 2B, 4 RBI, 2 R
Douglas Glod, CF: 2-5, 2 RBI
Reibyn Corona, SP: IP, BB, 2 K

Box Score

It was a good day for the FCL Braves as they tallied 14 runs on 16 hits to stomp the FCL Rays on Friday to get within one win of getting back to .500 on the season.

Two players drove in eight runs for the Braves as Jose Dilone and Jesus Aguilar — in his second game as a member of the organization — each tallied multi-hit games with four RBI. After going scoreless in the first two frames, the Braves would proceed to score 13 of their 14 runs in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.

Former top international signee Douglas Glod put together a strong performance on the day as well, as he went 2-5 with a pair of RBI in the win as well.

Reibyn Corona got the start but only went one inning, allowing a walk and striking out a pair. In relief, 20-year-old Efrain Polanco made his third appearance on the season and has yet to give up a run so far after tossing three scoreless innings while striking out three on Friday.

Dilone has been another bright spot for the FCL team thus far. While his age relative to the level has to be taken into consideration — sitting at 22 years-old — Dilone has put up an OPS of 1.386 with a pair of homers and 11 RBI to this point.

(1-8) DSL Braves 5, (2-7) DSL A’s 6

Josnaider Orellana, DH: 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R, BB
John Estevez, 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R, BB
Luis Guanipa, CF: 1-1, R, 2 SB
Jose Pineda, SP: 1.2 IP, H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

Box Score

The early struggles continued for the DSL Braves on Friday as they dropped to 1-8 on the season. Getting off to an early lead, the Braves plated three runs in the top of the first inning, Luis Guanipa led things off with a single as four other batters would reach in the inning, giving the Braves an early 3-0 advantage.

However, the lead wouldn’t last long as the Braves would subsequently give up the lead after giving up two runs in the second inning and a single run in the third.

The A’s would take their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, plating three runs off of reliever Rudit Pena, who would ultimately end up with the loss on the night.

Trailing 6-3, the Braves would get two runs back in the top of the sixth inning. Elian Garcia, John Estevez, and Carlos Monteverde each drew a walk to load the bases before Josnaider Orellana doubled to bring home a pair of runs to make it 6-5.

The Braves pitching staff would hold the A’s scoreless over the final three innings, but the offense failed to scratch across another run.

Source link

Mississippi

As Climate Threats to Agriculture Mount, Could the Mississippi River Delta Be the Next California? – Inside Climate News

Published

3 hours ago

September 7, 2024

Press Room

As Climate Threats to Agriculture Mount, Could the Mississippi River Delta Be the Next California? – Inside Climate News

This story was originally published by The Tennessee Lookout.

A smorgasbord of bright red tomatoes and vibrant vegetables line the walls of Michael Katrutsa’s produce shop in rural Camden, Tennessee. What began a decade ago as a roadside farm stand is now an air-conditioned outbuilding packed with crates of watermelon, cantaloupe and his locally renowned sweet corn — all picked fresh by a handful of local employees each morning.

The roughly 20-acre farm west of the Tennessee River sells about half of its produce through his shop, with the rest going to the wholesale market.

Farms like Katrutsa’s make up just a sliver of roughly 10.7 million acres of Tennessee farmland largely dominated by hay, soybeans, corn and cotton. Specialized machines help farmers harvest vast quantities of these commodity “row crops,” but Katrutsa said the startup cost was too steep for him. While specialty crops like produce are more labor-intensive, requiring near-constant attention from early July up until the first frost in October, Katrutsa said he takes pride in feeding his neighbors.

The World Wildlife Fund sees farms in the mid-Mississippi delta as ripe with opportunity to become a new mecca for commercial-scale American produce. California currently grows nearly three-quarters of the nation’s fruits and nuts and more than a third of its vegetables.

Explore the latest news about what’s at stake for the climate during this election season.

But as climate change compounds the threats of water scarcity, extreme weather and wildfires on California’s resources, WWF’s Markets Institute is exploring what it would take for farmers in West Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas to embrace — and equitably profit from — specialty crop production like strawberries, lettuce or walnuts.

Specialty crops make up only 0.19% of the region’s farm acreage, but their higher sale value allows them to generate 1.08% of the region’s agriculture revenue, according to WWF’s May report, called The Next California, spearheaded by Markets Institute Senior Director Julia Kurnik. She argues that there’s an opportunity to proactively create more inclusive, higher-yield business models on existing farms, preventing natural ecosystems from being unnecessarily transformed into farmland.

But shifting produce growth to the Mid-Delta comes with hurdles: it requires buyers willing to try new markets, understanding of new crops’ diseases and needs, specialized equipment like cold storage and lots of expensive hands-on labor.

“It is not as simple as a farmer simply putting new crops in the ground,” Kurnik said.

Early Adopters Put Idea to the Test

Sixth-generation Arkansas farmer Hallie Shoffner is putting WWF’s models to the test through a nonprofit called the Delta Harvest Food Hub. The hub works with Black and women farmers to pilot the scalability of growing specialty crops in the Delta region, starting with specialty rice.

Shoffner grows basmati, jasmine, sushi rice, sake rice seeds and more on her 2,000-acre, century-old farm located in an unincorporated town outside Newport, Arkansas. She’s skeptical about a full switch to produce, but sees specialty rice products as “low-hanging fruit” easily adopted in the mid-Delta, where commodity rice is already widely grown.

The United States is the fifth-largest rice exporter in the world, and Arkansas is the country’s top producer, with other Mississippi River valley states not far behind. But the majority of specialty rice is grown in California or imported from East Asian countries.

Sixth-generation Arkansas farmer Hallie Shoffner grows specialty rice like basmati, jasmine and sushi rice, on her farm near Newport, Arkansas. Credit: Phillip Powell/Arkansas Times

Arkansas rice farmer Hallie Shoffner runs the nonprofit Delta Harvest Food Hub, which works with farmers to pilot the scalability of growing specialty crops in the Delta region, starting with specialty rice. Credit: Phillip Powell/Arkansas Times — Sixth-generation Arkansas farmer Hallie Shoffner grows specialty rice like basmati, jasmine and sushi rice, on her farm near Newport, Arkansas. Credit: Phillip Powell/Arkansas Times

“We are forward-thinking farmers who want to change, who want to do something different,” Shoffner said. “We want to make more money, because we know we cannot make as much money as small farms in the current agricultural economy.”

The commodity farming that dominates Delta agriculture makes the economic success of farmers largely dependent on the market prices of rice, corn, soybeans, wheat and other crops, Shoffner said. This incentivizes farms to grow larger to ensure they turn a profit even when prices are low, like they are now. But smaller farms struggle to stay afloat.

Shoffner said her vision for developing specialty crop markets in Arkansas will be through more collaboration between many smaller farms to diversify crop production and produce for large contracts together. She’s also exploring possibilities for expanding chickpea, sunflower, sesame and pea production in Arkansas.

And while she’s at it, Shoffner is working to make agriculture more equitable.

“As a white farmer who is a sixth generation farmer, I realize that I have inherited a large amount of land that systematically disenfranchised Black farmers,” Shoffner said. “And it is my responsibility to acknowledge that, and leverage what I’ve been given to help others.”

Her project, Delta Harvest, has a contract to grow specialty rice with a large company and she’s working with several Black farmers. She was too small to do it by herself, so they are doing it cooperatively.

Finding the Right Markets

In Mississippi, efforts to shift some of California’s sprawling specialty crop industry to the Mid-Delta drew skepticism from some farmers—even those with established specialty crop operations.

For the past 20 years, Don van de Werken has co-owned a 120-acre blueberry and tea farm in Poplarville, Mississippi, distributing much of its crops to buyers in his county and nearby cities.

Van de Werken questioned whether there would be enough regional demand to sustain a scaled-up specialty crop industry in Mississippi, noting that the success of his own enterprise hinges on targeting hyper-local markets like New Orleans. Shipping vegetables, fruits and other produce to buyers outside the Delta region would quickly become cost prohibitive for local farmers, van de Werken said.

“The problem we have, not just in Mississippi but the mid South in general, is we just don’t have the population base,” said van de Werken, who is also president of the Gulf South Blueberry Growers Association. “We don’t want our blueberries to go to Maine or Seattle. We want to focus our produce in a regional market.”

To make growing specialty crops worthwhile, Mississippi farmers would need to identify nearby buyers willing to purchase the new products on a consistent basis, van de Werken said. While selling goods directly to retail grocery chains like Kroger is often difficult, farmers could reduce financial risks by signing purchasing agreements with regional brokers like Louisiana-based Capitol City Produce.

“Anybody that puts anything in the ground is already taking a risk, but you want to minimize that risk,” he explained. “If you can prove to the brokers and the buyers that they can make money doing this, then the farming will come.”

The WWF report investigates ways to distribute risk across the supply chain to make selling to new markets easier on farmers, and works to connect buyers with Mid-Delta farmers.

AgLaunch, a Memphis-based nonprofit that guides farmers in innovation, estimates that adding specialty crops to the Mid-Delta region could spur $4.6 billion in added revenue and 33,000 jobs. But while commodity crop prices are readily available on the Chicago Board of Trade, the specialty crop market is generally not so transparent. Large, vertically integrated companies usually dictate contract terms, AgLaunch President and farmer Pete Nelson said.

AgLaunch helps build “smart contracts” that allow multiple farmers to produce on a contract, helping them secure higher quantity deals with proper compensation as a collective.

This story is funded by readers like you.

Our nonprofit newsroom provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going. Please donate now to support our work.

Donate Now

Purdue College of Agriculture professor Fred Whitford said the idea of farming cooperatives that help smaller farmers carve out space in a large-quantity market is more than 100 years old. Whitford compared commodity producers to retail giants like Walmart, which make money by selling in bulk. Small producers are more like Ace Hardware, he said.

“Maybe the smaller folks have an ability to make more off their land by going to a specialty crop,” he said.

New Challenges Need New Solutions

Farmers who embrace specialty crops will face hurdles before they make it to the market.

Growing produce can be more profitable but “easier said than done,” Whitford said. “It’s nice on paper … but boy, in reality, you’re going to have to keep an eye on this crop, whatever you’re growing, because one slip up … then you have lost a lot of money.”

In Tennessee, Katrutsa grew strawberries in addition to his other crops for 10 years, but last April, a hail storm pulverized his entire field, leaving him with nothing. He’s not growing strawberries this year, and he might not plant them again — he’s not sure if he can find enough labor to make it work.

He grows many types of produce so if one fails, it’s less catastrophic. He sources seedlings from a neighboring state (it’s cheaper than growing from seed) and plants five times each season to maximize yield.

He works with a consultant to help identify diseases and how to treat them. Tomatoes are the most challenging, Katrutsa said. Some of his tomato plants withered this year due to bacterial wilt that flourishes in wet soil and high temperatures and has few effective chemical remedies.

Carolyn Preble helps out farmer Michael Katrutsa at the farm shop, which stocks the more than 20 acres of produce Katrutsa grows in rural Camden, Tennessee. Credit: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout

Chemical treatments pose other challenges. In Shaw, Mississippi, Michael Muzzi relies on a range of herbicides to grow soybeans and other feed grains on his 2,000-acre farm. Once sprayed, herbicides like Liberty and Dicamba remain in the ground and can drift in the air, which is hazardous to specialty crops, like tomatoes, that aren’t resistant.

“You’re not going to be able to spray [those herbicides] on specialty crops,” Muzzi said. “You’d have to have something that’s chemically tolerant.”

Growing fruits and vegetables on a farm with previous heavy herbicide use would require insulating those crops from chemical runoff — a feat that could only be reliably achieved by leaving whole acres of land unused for years, he said.

AgLaunch is exploring innovative ways to address these problems. For some farmers, this means helping make their existing row crops more efficient using farmer-incubated technology, adding local value by growing specialty crops or taking on processing, Nelson said.

Then there’s disruption with higher risk: farmers can partner with agriculture automation technology startups, allowing them to field test their products and collect data in exchange for farmer equity in the startup companies. If the startup succeeds, the farmer shares in the benefits.

“It’s not as simple as, ‘Hey, we should grow tomatoes,’” Nelson said. “It’s how you think about the whole value chain and make sure the farmer is protected. Make sure it’s not an opportunity just to grow a crop, but it’s an opportunity to own part of the processing or to build new products.”

Kurnik said WWF isn’t trying to recruit farmers to start growing specialty crops – they just want Mid-Delta farmers to have the information they need to make informed decisions. In terms of acreage, row crops “dwarf” specialty crops in the United States. A small percentage shift would mean a significant change in the level of specialty crops in the Delta.

“We don’t need everyone to want to jump on board tomorrow,” she said. “They would flood the market if they did.”

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. Disclosure: The Next California report was also funded by Walton.

About This Story

Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That’s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.

That’s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can’t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We’ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.

Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.

Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don’t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places?

Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.

Thank you,

Source link

Mississippi

Mississippi man dies of an apparent overdose in MDOC custody in Rankin County

Published

10 hours ago

September 7, 2024

Press Room

Mississippi man dies of an apparent overdose in MDOC custody in Rankin County

A 41-year-old man incarcerated at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County died Thursday of an apparent overdose.

Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain confirmed the death in a news release.

The man was identified as Juan Gonzalez. According to prison records, he was serving a four-year sentence on multiple convictions in Hinds County and was tentatively scheduled for release in May 2025.

“Because of the unknown nature of the substance, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the Mississippi Department of Health were notified,” MDOC reported.

The investigation into Gonzalez’s death remains ongoing.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Source link