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Dickerson’s power surge reflects Southern Miss strength program

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Dustin Dickerson connected for four home runs in five in the Auburn Regional. Credit: Joe Harper/Southern Miss

HATTIESBURG – Southern Miss shortstop Dustin Dickerson, from nearby Laurel, hit two home runs in his first three seasons with the Golden Eagles.

At the Auburn Regional last and Monday, Dickerson slammed four round-trippers, twice as many in one extended weekend as he had in three previous seasons. All totaled at Auburn, Dickerson hit safely eight times, a triple and a double, in 22 at bats. He scored five runs and batted in 11 to the Golden Eagles win four straight games to advance to the Super Regional this weekend against Tennessee in Hattiesburg. Little wonder he was selected the Regional's most outstanding player.

Rick Cleveland

“Same swing I've always had,” Dickerson said, after the tournament. “I'm not doing anything differently.”

Perhaps not, but clearly there's so much more power packed in Dickerson's swing. Those weren't wind-blown balls that just got over the fence at Auburn. No, he whacked a couple of tape-measure shots over Auburn's green monster wall in left field and also hit another well over the 396- sign to straight-away centerfield.

Dickerson for three seasons had been a huge asset for the Golden Eagles, but mainly as a slick-fielding shortstop who could make all the plays. He batted ninth in the order for much of that time. He hit for average, but not for power. This season, he has hit .328 with 10 home runs, 20 doubles, and three triples. Moved up to the No. 2 hole in the batting order, he has driven in 50 runs.

“When I came here I weighed 155 pounds soaking wet,” Dickerson said smiling.

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“Dustin was a twig,” is the way Southern Miss strength and conditioning coach Todd Makovicka put it.

He's a sturdy oak now, having added 30 pounds to his physique. “All muscle,” Dickerson said. “Coach Mac has been really, really good for me.”

Dickerson still doesn't look like a body builder. But his shoulders are much broader, his chest is thicker, and his upper legs are much more muscular. Said Makovicka of Dickerson, “He wasn't born with it. He wasn't naturally strong. He has had to work for it.”

Dustin Dickerson is congratulated by Scott Berry after the first of his two home runs last Saturday against Auburn.. Credit: Robert Greenough/Southern Miss athletics

Makovicka and his two graduate assistants have been invaluable to the entire Southern Miss program. Scott Berry, the head coach, swears by them. In fact, Berry will tell you that perhaps the best move of his 14 years as the head man was to raise $540,000 for a strength and conditioning building behind the third base stands at Pete Taylor Park in 2015.

“Just look at our before and after,” Berry said. “There's your proof.”

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Let's do just that. In 2010, Berry's first season as head coach, the Eagles were 36-24. Their victory totals over the next five seasons were 39, 32, 30, 35 and 36.

In their first full year of the weight room, the Eagles won 41 games in 2016, followed by 50 in 2017, 44 in 2018, 40 in 2019, 40 in 2021, 47 in 2022 and 45 this season. They were 12-4 in the COVID season of 2020.

“That increase in victories is no ,” Berry said. “We lifted before but we shared a weight room with every other athletic program on campus at the football facility. There were only certain times we could lift and sometimes the time we had wasn't conducive to fitting in our schedule. To me, getting our own weight room, at our ballpark, right next to our clubhouse, right behind our dugout, was the missing piece of the puzzle. I think it shows in our record.

“And its not just what it has done for us on the physical side,” said Berry, a long-time lifter himself. “There's definitely a mental advantage to it, too. You put in the work, you see the results. You're stronger physically, but you are also more confident mentally because you know how much stronger, more durable you are.”

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Dickerson is Exhibit A. Balls that were League singles two years ago, are gappers for doubles and triples now. Balls that were fly balls even a year ago are sailing far beyond the fences now. It's not just at the plate. Dickerson has added pop on his throws from the hole at shortstop. The son of Philadelphia Phillies coach Bobby Dickerson, he always has possessed at Major League glove. He can make all the plays at shortstop.

The added muscle presumably will improve greatly his value in this summer's Major League Draft. Dickerson has much more pressing matters that consume him currently. Southern Miss defeated LSU in its own Regional last year, then got blown out and shut out by eventual national champion is a Super Regional at Pete Taylor Park.

“We're a year older,” Dickerson said. “We've been here before. We know what it takes. The moment is not going to be too big for us. We expected to win the Regional last week. We expect to win the Super Regional this week.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=247857

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Mississippi Today

Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur

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mississippitoday.org – Vickie King – 2024-05-17 11:53:33

Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating when she had a life-altering epiphany…

“I gotta get out of these woods.” 

She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do. 

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“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. “I know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.”

A variety of soaps created by Renada Stovall. Stovall is a chemist who creates all natural skin and hair care products using natural ingredients.

In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.

Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.

Renada Stovall, owner of Nadabutter, selling her all-natural soaps and balms at the Clinton Main Street Market: Spring into Green, in April of this year.

Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, “pop-up markets,” across the during the summer. She's available via social and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. “My turmeric and honey is really popular,” Stovall added.

“The all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use from Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.”

Soap mixture is poured into a mold to cure. Once cured, the block with be cut into bars of soap.
Renada Stovall, making cold soap at her home.
Renada Stovall adds a vibrant gold to her soap mixture.
Tumeric soap created by Nadabutter owner, Renada Stovall.
Soap infused with honey. Credit: Vickie D. King/

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1954

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-05-17 07:00:00

MAY 17, 1954

Ella J. Rice talks to one of her pupils, all of them white, in a third grade classroom of Draper Elementary School in Washington, D.C., on September 13, 1954. This was the first day of non-segregated schools for teachers and . Rice was the only Black teacher in the school. Credit: AP

In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the unanimously ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the

The historic brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin. 

In Mississippi, segregationist called the day “Black Monday” and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.

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This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Every university but Delta State to increase tuition this year

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mississippitoday.org – Molly Minta – 2024-05-17 06:30:00

Every in Mississippi is increasing tuition in the fall except for Delta University.

The new rates were approved by the governing board of the eight universities, the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, at its regular meeting Thursday. 

The average cost of tuition in Mississippi is now $8,833 a year, a roughly 3% increase from last year. can expect to pay tuition ranging from $7,942 a year at Mississippi Valley State University to $10,052 a year at Mississippi State University. 

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In recent years, universities have cited and rising insurance costs as reasons for the tuition increases. At Thursday's meeting, the board heard a presentation on how property insurance is becoming more expensive for the eight universities as Mississippi sees more tornadoes and storms with severe wind and hail.  

READ MORE: Tuition increases yet again at most public universities

But it's an ongoing trend. Mississippi's public universities have steadily increased tuition since 2000, putting the cost of college increasingly out of reach for the average Mississippi . More than half of Mississippi college students graduated with an average of $29,714 in student debt in 2020, according to the Institution for College Access and .

At Delta State University, the president, Daniel Ennis, announced that he will attempt to avoid tuition increases as the regional college in the Mississippi Delta undergoes drastic budget cuts in an effort to become more financially sustainable. 

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“We will resist tuition increases so that our most economically vulnerable students can continue to have access to the opportunities that a college degree can ,” he wrote in a memo to faculty and staff on Monday. “We will move beyond basic survival and into a place where we have the capacity to take better advantage of our undeniable strengths.” 

Delta State didn't increase tuition last year, either. have been concerned the university is becoming too pricey for the students it serves. 

Tuition for the 2024-25 academic year, by school:

  • Alcorn State University: $8,105
  • Delta State University: $8,435
  • State University: $8,690
  • Mississippi State University: $10,052
  • Mississippi University for Women: $8,392
  • Mississippi Valley State University: $7,492
  • University of Mississippi: $9,612
  • University of Southern Mississippi: $9,888

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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