Mississippi

Mississippi State Baseball Signee Braden Booth is Eager to Get to Work

Published

3 months ago

June 13, 2024

Mississippi State Baseball Signee Braden Booth is Eager to Get to Work

STARKVILLE, Miss.— Mississippi State baseball is a prestigious program with some of the country’s top facilities. Dudy Noble Field is arguably the top stadium in the country, and high school recruits flock to the “Carnegie Hall of College Baseball.”

That was the case for Braden Booth, a native of Madison, Ala., who committed to the Bulldogs in November 2021.

“What stood out to me about Mississippi State was pretty much everything around it,” Booth said. “The atmosphere there, you can’t beat it, and the coaches, I felt like I made a really good connection with them. You can’t beat Mississippi State baseball.”

When Booth committed, the Bulldogs were coming off a national title, and the program was at an all-time high. However, the following seasons were a struggle for MSU, as the team finished at the bottom of the SEC in 2022 and 2023.

However, the righty never wavered on his commitment despite pitching coach Scott Foxall being let go before the end of the 2023 season.

“Whenever I found out that Coach (Scott) Foxhall was let go, I was obviously bummed about it,” Booth said. “I was talking with my parents about what we are gonna do, and we just decided to wait and see who they hire.”

It took MSU head coach Chris Lemonis a long time to hire the next pitching coach, but it was worth the wait, as South Carolina pitching coach Justin Parker was brought into the fold. Parker spent two seasons in Columbia, and the Gamecock hurlers posted a team ERA of 4.19 in 2023, ranking 12th in the nation, and impressed Booth.

“I talked to my travel coach about it, and he got me in touch with a South Carolina player, and I called him to talk about (Justin) Parker,” Booth said. “He was like, “I honestly think that is the best coach for you in college baseball.” I got to talk to Parker and realized that guy knows what he is talking about.”

The impact was immediate as Parker turned the State pitching staff from one of the worst to one of the best. He led the Bulldogs to a team ERA of 4.17, which ranked 13th in the NCAA, lowering the ERAs of Jurrangelo Cintje, Tyler Davis, Tyson Hardin, and first-team All-SEC pitcher Khal Stephen.

“Coach Parker did an amazing job with the pitching staff,” Booth said. “I’m really pleased with the way the team played this year.”

Booth had an impressive campaign this year at Bob Jones High School as he finished the season with a 13-1 record with an ERA of 1.31 and tallied 127 strikeouts. The most important achievement was leading his team to their first baseball state championship, and he was impressive in the series by tossing a two-hitter and striking out seven batters.

“It has always been a goal since my freshman year. At the beginning of the season our team always does season goals, and every single year, one of our goals was to win a state championship,” Booth said. “It wasn’t the case until my senior year, but we finally got it done.”

Not only did Booth excel on the mound, but he also held his own at the plate. The 6-2 190-pound third baseman batted .429 with ten home runs and 49 RBI, and he says that he will continue to do both in Starkville throughout the summer and fall.

His excellence on the mound and at the plate led him to be named the Gatorade Alabama Player of the Year, an honor he never expected.

“If you would have told me before the year that I was going to win all that, I honestly probably wouldn’t have believed you,” Booth said. “It means everything to win that award; I looked up to the older guys when I was in high school and middle school and thought they were the best players in the state, and for them to not win that award and turn around four or five years later and I win that it was just surreal to me and I still haven’t fully processed that yet.”

Recruiting and signing talented players is the lifeblood for any program to sustain success, and Booth certainly fits the bill. Despite all the accolades, he is hungry to get better and put MSU back where it needs to be.

“What I look forward to most is being around great players and the process of getting better each day and trying to make our way to Omaha eventually,” Booth said.

Three Bulldogs Earn Spots on NCBWA All-America Teams (si.com)

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Mississippi

Mississippi alligator breaks 2 state records and is possibly a world record

Published

5 hours ago

September 10, 2024

Press Room

Mississippi alligator breaks 2 state records and is possibly a world record

‘When she came up she was under the bottom of the boat in between the pontoons. She was slapping the boat with her tail and all that. I thought she was going to knock my motor off for a minute.’

After two frustrating nights on the last weekend of the season, a Mississippi hunter caught the alligator he’d been after, but what he didn’t realize when he pulled it in his boat was that not only did it break two state records, it’s possibly a world record.

Jason Ullendorf said a cousin of his was buying a part at a boat shop last week when he was told about an alligator in the Pascagoula River. The alligator had been spotted near a sandbar and had been making people visiting the location uncomfortable.

“We figured we’d help them out and get it out of there,” Ullendorf said. “We went down there to look at it, and it was a pretty good gator. It’s kind of crazy how it happened.”

Catching it was easier said than done, though. Ullendorf and members of his hunting party repeatedly hooked the alligator, only to have the hooks pull out or break off when the alligator would go under logs.

“We chased it from about 9 o’clock until about 3 o’clock in the morning,” Ullendorf said. “By then we’d lost all our hooks.”

More: Hunters bag Mississippi alligator weighing almost 700 pounds

Another long night of hunting alligators

The following day, Ullendorf bought more hooks and returned to the river with only one other hunter, Joseph Mangano of Richton. Fortunately, they found the alligator in the same spot as the night before. Unfortunately, it was shaping up to be a replay of the night before with the two repeatedly hooking the alligator, only to have the hooks pull free.

“It was frustrating,” Mangano said. “At one point, we got so frustrated we left it and an hour later started again. We knew we would hook it, but we were going to have to get it out of the trees.”

At 4:45 a.m., the hunters got a break. The alligator surfaced in open water near the sandbar. The two hooked the alligator with a rod and reel and then got a hand line on it as the alligator towed the two men and their 18-foot pontoon boat upriver. Everything was going relatively smoothly until they pulled the gator near the boat.

“When she came up she was under the bottom of the boat in between the pontoons,” Ullendorf said. “She was slapping the boat with her tail and all that. I thought she was going to knock my motor off for a minute.”

More: ‘The size and mass of his head is unreal.’ Mississippi alligator hunters bag 800-pound giant

Mississippi hunters suspect their alligator is a female

The two got the alligator in their boat and while Ullendorf referred to it as a “she,” he didn’t think it was a female at the time. This alligator was too big to be a female, and the longest female alligator ever recorded in the state was caught in 2022 by Jim Denson and measured 10 feet, 2 inches.

“As soon as she came up we said, ‘That’s a male,’” Ullendorf said. “We never second-guessed it.”

But then they did. When to two took the alligator to Mangano’s business in Richton, Running M Meat Company, they discovered the alligator didn’t have male sex organs.

“I couldn’t believe it at first,” Ullendorf said. “We called Andrew Arnett to come down and verify it. I didn’t believe it at all.”

Is this Mississippi alligator a world record?

Arnett is the head of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Alligator Program. He confirmed it was a female and certified it at 11 feet, 3/4 inches long and 324 pounds. Not only was it a state record for longest female, it was the new state record for heaviest.

However, it may have broken another record, if only it existed. Multiple internet searches came up empty for an official world record for female alligators, but some states keep official records. According to searches by the hunters and Arnett, the longest female alligator on record before Ullendorf’s was 10 feet, 6.75 inches long and it was caught in Florida. If that’s true, Ullendorf has the new world record for longest female alligator.

“Just from what I’ve seen online, I think so,” Arnett said.

Do you have a story idea? Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com.

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Mississippi

Mississippi Mass Choir new album

Published

13 hours ago

September 10, 2024

Press Room

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The Mississippi Mass Choir has a new album! We Still Believe is available!

The director and some choir members joined Studio 3 to discuss the songs.

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Mississippi

Fascinating Snake Species Found Along the Mississippi River

Published

20 hours ago

September 9, 2024

Press Room

Fascinating Snake Species Found Along the Mississippi River

The Mississippi River stretches 2,350 miles from Minnesota to Louisiana, serving as a vital commercial waterway and a habitat for diverse wildlife. It’s home to abundant fish like largemouth bass and catfish, as well as waterfowl like wood ducks and Canadian geese. But what about snakes? These reptiles are abundant in and along the famous river and are worthy of analysis. Today’s video will explore 12 snake species living around the Mississippi River.

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