Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 45

Sundjy, My 10. N68 The CUrion-Ledgerlickson Daily News 7D Mets' future in Jackson depends on improvements at Smith-Wills By RUSTY HAMPTON NOTES Mississippi draftees Name School Po. Club Team assigned (League) Anthony Berry, Rust College OF Rangers Port Charlotte (Gull Coast) Wayne Busby, Miss. College SS White Sox Sarasota (Gull Coast) Keiver Campbell, Greenville OF Yankees unsigned Brad Cohen. Starkville Aca.

OF Dodgers unsigned Fred Cooley, USM RHP Braves unsigned Doug Cronk, USM 1B Rangers Port Charlotte (Gult Coast) Donald Culberson, Neshoba Central OF Brewers unsigned Adell Davenport, Southern U. (Greenville) 3B Giants Everett (Northwest) Chris Fruge. Miss Delta JC RHP White Sox Sarasota (Gulf Coast) Leon Glenn ECJC 1B Brewers Chandler (Arizona State) Tim Hodge, Jackson Callaway Blue Jays Medicine Hat (Pioneer) Jody Hurst, Miss. State OF Twins unsigned Steve James. MVSU IB White Sox Sarasota (Gulf Coast) Darrell Lindsey.

USM RHP Phillies Martinsville (Appalachian) Scooter Love, USM OF Brewers Chandler (Arizona State) Cecil Pettiford. JSU RHP Indians unsigned Gary Posey, Gulf Coast JC OF Red Sox unsigned Kevin Charles Rogers, MDJC LHP Giants Pocatello (Pioneer) Meredith Sanford, Alabama (Starkville) RHP Reds Sarasota (Gulf Coast) Roberto Smalls (Ventura), Piney Woods RHP Cubs Wytheville (Appalachian) Scooter Tucker, Delta State Giants Everett (Northwest) Dwayne Wade, Greenville Wash. Aca. OF White Sox unsigned Terre Woods, Utica JC OF-3B Blue Jays unsigned BASEBALL Hodge: 4I have no regrets' By MIKE CHRISTENSEN Suff Writer The alternately hot-and-cold weather pattern has thrown his sinuses into a slump, but otherwise Jackson's Tim Hodge is happy to be in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. More precisely, Hodge is happy to be in professional baseball.

Hodge, who graduated from Callaway High School in June, had a difficult decision to make recently, and he stands firmly by the one he made. "I have no regrets, definitely not," said Hodge, who passed up college baseball for the minor leagues. "I'm enjoying it, every bit of it except the weather." The Clarion-LedgerJackson Daily News Metro Player of the Year last season, Hodge was heavily recruited by area colleges and was leaning to USM. He passed on the scholarship offers and signed with the Blue Jays, who sent him first to St. Catharines, Ontario, and then to Medicine Hat, where he is being converted to the outfield.

"My father and I debated it for a while, and I think he understood how I felt," Hodge said. "As a second-round pick, I didn't think the chances were too good that I would go as high if I went to college and waited to be drafted again." Contributing to Hodge's decision to go pro was the fact that he had not scored high enough on the American College Test to be eligible as a freshman at an NCAA Division I school. Hodge passed up a final opportunity to take the test just after the draft. "I'd have hated to sit out a year," Hodge said. Of the 23 players with Mississippi connections who were selected in ma- SUM Writer The phone call caught first-year Jackson Mets general manager Bill Blackwell a little off guard.

A sports writer in Binghamton, N.Y., wanted to know if there was any truth to the rumor that the Mets Double-A franchise would be located in Binghamton next season. "That was the first I'd heard of it," said Blackwell. "I think the (New York) Mets have been very pleased up and down the organization with the way the players have been treated here in Jackson." It wasn't, however, the first time owner Con Maloney has heard about the Mets possibly leaving. A reporter from Glens Falls, N.Y., which is losing its Double-A Eastern League franchise after this season, called a few weeks ago. Maloney knows the parent Mets are unhappy with the condition of Smith-Wills Stadium.

The JaxMets' contract with the city runs out after this season, and Maloney 's negotiations will center around some improvements. "We have an extremely good relationship with Con Maloney and have the highest respect for Bill Blackwell," said Steve Schryver, the Mets' director of minor league operations. "However, we have expressed some reservations about the maintanance of the facility and the type of facility that's available to us. We believe in Con, but if Con is unable to get the things that we've talked about accomplished, you've got to wonder if Jackson wants professional baseball." Schryver said he has talked with the mayor of Binghamton, who wants to build a minor league ballpark and bring pro ball back to the city for the first time since the 1950s. "There's no reason to move just to move," said Schryver.

"We're not looking for that But we have seen the rebirth of baseball in past years all around the country with new stadiums and improved stadiums." Schryver said all is fine between the Mets and AWOL JaxMets shortstop Craig Shipley, who skipped a night at the ballpark. Shipley had a long talk with Schryver and manager Tucker Ashf ord, apologized to his teammates, and returned to the lineup Tuesday after cleaning out his locker following a Sunday victory and missing Monday's game. Shipley won't discuss his reason for taking a day off, but Schryver said it boils down to frustration. Shipley, 26, played briefly last season for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He didn't think he was given a fair shake by the Dodgers and hoped an off-season trade would give him a new start in baseball.

Spending another season in Double-A wasn't what he had in mind. "He's a young man who has very good skill and has had a difficult past couple of seasons," said Schryver. "Like any other human being, he can get frustrated and unnerved when thrown into a new environmenet. And from his past experiences (in pro ball), he doesn't necessarily have the faith and trust in people who represent the Mets." An update on college recruiting: Southern Mississippi has signed 13 players, Mississippi State five and Ole Miss five. However, one Ole Miss signee, Chris Fruge of Eunice, and Mississippi Delta Junior College, signed a pro contract.

State is expected to announce one more signee Rex Buckner of Tennessee. That is of interest to basketball coach Richard Williams, who is recruiting Buckner's best friend, 6-foot-10 Ronnie Robinson. USM coach Hill Denson said he also has a few more signees he will announce soon, and doesn't really consider the 13-plus a large number, considering the players he lost off his 36-26 team this spring. The Golden Eagles lost 10 key players three signed pro contracts, seven were seniors. The signees: USM Brad Skeen, Columbus New Hope; Mitch Whit-tington, Jackson, transfer from New Orleans; Jason Simmons, inf-p, Natchez; Scotty Bonds, inf Bee Branch, West Ark Community College; Brent Covington, inf, Amite, Chad Hebert, of, Biloxi; Andy Woodard, p-of Hattiesburg North Forest; Doug Benefiel, c-lb, Carthage, Larry Wesson, 3b-of, Forest; Chad Van Kooten, of, Fort Smith, West Ark CC; Damon Pollard, p-of, Denton, Texas, Navarro Junior College; Jason Novetsky Oak Park, John Gil-ligan, p-inf, Billings, Crowder (Missouri), Junior College.

MSU Reid Cornelius, Thomasville, Chris George, Marietta, Bart Carter, p-3b-c, Hamilton, Mike Al-f ord, of, Lafayette, Scott Cooke, p-of, Newport News, Va. Ole Miss Grant Sullivan, Chattanooga Keving Kessinger, of, Memphis, Kenny Carlyle, Memphis, Mike Cosman, Memphis, Northwest Mississippi Community College. son in 1987 and was just hoping someone would give him a shot this year. The Philadelphia Phillies obliged, picking Lindsey in a late round and is sending him to Martinsville, of the rookie-class Appalachian League, where he was off to a good start. Three other USM players, all juniors, were drafted, and two of them signed.

Outfielder Scooter Love signed with the Milwaukee Brewers, first baseman Doug Cronk with the Texas Rangers. Love was drafted in the seventh round by the San Francisco Giants in 1987, didn't sign and saw his value drop. He was picked in the 14th round this June. Ellisville's Fred Cooley, USM's leading hitter and ace reliever last season, apparently will not sign with the Atlanta Braves, who picked him in the ninth round. Like Love did a year ago, he is taking a calculated gamble.

Cooley, who recently tore a ligament in his left thumb, said he felt the signing bonus the Braves offered him was a good one for a ninth-round pick, but he thought he could improve his leverage by returning to USM for his senior jor league baseball's free-agent draft in June, 14 had signed pro contracts through the end of last week. The major league clubs have until the start of next June's draft to sign the players. For some, the decision of whether to sign was an easy one to make. Mississippi State outfielder Jody Hurst, picked by the Minnesota Twins, will return to Starkville next season. Barring a disastrous slump next season, Hurst's stock in the draft along with his potential signing bonus should only rise by next June.

Mississippi College junior shortstop Wayne Busby, drafted between the 10th and 20th rounds by the Chicago White Sox, called his selection "the chance of a lifetime." The former Forest Hill standout signed. He is now playing for the White Sox' Gulf Coast League club in Sarasota, where he is a teammate of former Mississippi Delta Junior College pitcher Chris Fruge, who passed on a scholarship offer from Ole Miss, and ex-Mississippi Valley first baseman Steve James. Southern Mississippi pitcher Darrell Lindsey, a Northwest Rankin product, wasn't drafted after a poor junior sea Raines returns to lineup From Wire Reports lMMfo 77 Mm fajfaemr NEW LOW PRICES ON Firestone brand tires for every car 5 40 ELESSS ed hitter Dave Parker, according to a report published Saturday in the San Jose Mercury News. Parker had thumb surgery on Wednesday and is not expected back until September. "We're talking," said A's general manager Sandy Alderson, who flew home Friday from Detroit, where the team is concluding a road trip.

Other possibilities besides Lynn, according to the Mercury News, are Harold Baines of the Chicago White Sox, Lloyd Moseby of Toronto, Ken Phelps of Seattle, Ken Griffey of Atlanta, Von Hayes of Philadelphia and Jerry Mumphrey of the Chicago Cubs. Meanwhile, the Athletics revived the elephant mascot that first appeared in the days of Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics 86 years ago but vanished in the early 1960s. Tim Raines, sidelined since June 24 with a pulled right hamstring, returned to the Montreal lineup Saturday night for the Expos game against the Atlanta Braves. To make room for Raines on the roster, the Expos optioned outfielder Herm Winningham to their Class AAA farm team at Indianapolis of the American Association. Raines had a .274 batting average with seven home runs and 30 RBI before going on the 15-day disabled list.

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