College baseball's regular season is in its last week, which means baseball bracketology is a popular activity. State needs to finish strong to become a Regional host. Southern Miss probably has already punched its ticket as a 2- or 3-seed. Ole Miss, playing its best baseball presently, needs victories, period. Meanwhile, the State High School softball tournament is this week in Hattiesburg, and the state baseball tournament comes to Trustmark Park in Pearl next week.

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

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For the third consecutive year legislative efforts to direct state money to renovate LeFleur's Bluff in Jackson have been stymied, thanks in large part to Gov. Tate Reeves.

Earlier this week, the Republican governor vetoed a portion of a bill that directed $14 million to the office of Secretary of State Michael Watson for work on developing and improving a nature trail connecting parks and museums and making other tourism-related improvements in the LeFleur's Bluff area.

It is not clear whether the Legislature could take up the veto during the 2025 session, which begins in January, though, that's not likely. The Legislature had the option to return to Jackson Tuesday to take up any veto, but chose not to do so.

Of the project, Watson said, “Our office was approached late in the session about helping with a project to revitalize LeFleur's Bluff. As Mississippi's state land commissioner, I was more than happy to help lead this effort not just because it's a natural fit for our office, but also because I believe Mississippi needs a thriving capital city to retain our best and brightest. Investing state funds in state property on a project to enhance the quality of life in Jackson makes good sense.

“Unfortunately, some only support it when it equates to campaign contributions. Sadly, through the line-item veto of the appropriation, Mississippians will once again wait another year for the opportunity to benefit from state investments for the greater public good.”

READ MORE: Gov. Reeves warns Mississippi: Challenge my vetoes, and it could jeopardize hundreds of projects

Various groups, such as representatives of the Mississippi Children's Museum and many other community leaders have been working on the project for years. The area already is the home of the Children's Museum, Museum of Natural History, Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and a state park.

The issues with LeFleur's Bluff first arose in 2022 when Reeves vetoed a $14 million appropriation that in part was designed to redesign and create a new golf course in the area. Previously, there had been a nine-hole, state-owned golf course operated by the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks at LeFleur's Bluff State Park.

In 2022, the LeFleur's Bluff project was one of literally hundreds of projects funded by the Legislature – many of which was tourism projects like LeFleur's Bluff. The governor only vetoed a handful of those projects.

When issuing the LeFleur's  Bluff veto, Reeves said the state should not be involved in funding golf courses.

Then last year $13 million was directed to the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to spend on the LeFleur's Bluff project. But legislative leaders said state money would not go toward a golf course.

Lawmakers opted to transfer the project to the Secretary of State's office late in the 2024 session, apparently in part because they felt the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks had not made enough of an effort to begin the project.

Lynn Posey, executive director of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, said that before moving forward with the project, “We felt like we needed to do engineering work and see what the situation was. We never got a chance to move forward” because the Legislature redirected the money.

Posey said an engineer's report was needed because “it is a unique piece of land.” He said much of the land is prone to flooding.

He said before that work could begin the Legislature switched the authority to the Secretary of State's office. Posey was appointed to his current position by Reeves, whose office had no comment on the veto.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said after the governor's veto, “Projects like the LeFleur's Bluff development are critical to the Capital City, the wider metropolitan area, and our state. Public parks add to the quality of life for our citizens. I am hopeful the individuals involved in this project, including those at the Mississippi Children's Museum, will continue their work to improve this state asset.” 

While the Constitution instructs the governor to provide to the Legislature a reason for any veto, Reeves did not do so this year when vetoing the money going to the Secretary of State's office.

On Monday, the governor also vetoed a portion of another bill dealing with appropriations for specific projects. But in this case, the veto was more of a technicality. The bill was making corrections to language passed in previous sessions. In that language were five projects the governor vetoed in 2022.

The language, as it was written, would not have revived those previously vetoed projects, the governor said. But Reeves said he vetoed the five projects out of caution. He did the same in 2023 when those five projects, which included money appropriated in 2022 for the Russell C. Davis Planetarium in Jackson, were carried forward in a bill also making corrections to previously passed legislation.

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

HATTIESBURG — Ole Miss was hoping for some baseball deja vu Tuesday night. Southern Miss, still with nightmares from about this time two years ago, was trying to avoid the same.

Remember? Ole Miss, getting white-hot at just the right time, came to Pete Taylor Park here in May of 2022, beat the highly ranked Golden Eagles, then returned to Hattiesburg a couple weeks later for an NCAA Super Regional and thrashed USM twice more en route to that amazing national championship run.

Early on Tuesday night at the jam-packed “Pete,” Mike Bianco's Rebels seemed to be re-writing that 2022 script. Andrew Fisher's two-run, 416-foot blast gave the Rebels a 2-0 lead two batters into the game. The Rebels scored two more in the second inning for a 4-0 lead.

“It looked like it was going to be our night at the plate,” Bianco would later say.

The Southern Miss bullpen had other ideas. Four Golden Eagle relievers combined for seven innings of one-hit, shutout baseball, and, cheered by a sellout crowd of 5,706, the home team reeled off seven unanswered runs for an important 7-4 victory.

The victory moved USM to 35-17 on the season and vaulted the Eagles to a No. 29 national RPI headed into the last weekend of the regular season. For Ole Miss, hopes of an at large NCAA Tournament bid took a hit, although just how much remains to be seen. Ole Miss still has an NCAA-worthy No. 24 RPI, but the Rebels record stands at 27-25, just two games above .500 heading into the last weekend of the season.

“Winning here might have raised our RPI a few points,” Bianco said, “but I still think this weekend's series (at LSU) is what really matters. We need to go win that series.”

Southern Miss first-year head coach Christian Ostrander, when asked about the early 4-0 deficit, said this: “This team doesn't panic when it gets down. Ole Miss is a really good team playing well lately, and they popped us in the mouth early. But we stayed in the middle of the ring and kept punching. Our bullpen was fantastic, our offense did what we needed and our defense made some really clutch plays. This team has grown up a lot over the course of the season.”

Southern Miss has done just that. Replacing more than 70 percent of the players who started games last season, the Eagles started slowly and have had to overcome several injuries along the way. Only three players – Slade Wilks, Carson Paetow and Nick Monistere – who were everyday starters last season started Tuesday night.

“I know a lot of people will make a big deal about this because it was Ole Miss, but this was important or a whole lot of reasons,” Ostrander said, turning and pointing to left field and USM's huge “Tradition of Excellence” sign, which lists the program's many accomplishments. “What's most important is adding to that tradition you see right there. This win tonight helps keep us headed in that direction.”

It likely guaranteed Southern Miss an eighth straight NCAA Regional berth. Southern Miss already had achieved its 22nd consecutive 30-victory season, the nation's longest such streak. Tuesday night's victory moves the Eagles a step closer to an eighth straight 40-victory season. They are the only Division I program that owns seven straight 40-win seasons.

Hard-throwing sophomore right-hander JB Middleton from Yazoo City probably had the most to do with turning Tuesday night's game around. He entered to begin the third inning with the Eagles trailing 4-1. He pitched three innings of no-hit baseball, facing only 10 batters and striking out five of those.

Middleton, who prepped at tiny Benton Academy, has always thrown in the mid-to-upper 90s, but he entered the game with a 5.32 earned run average and giving up a hit an inning. In high level college baseball, a 97-mph fast ball that doesn't move often leaves the ballpark going even faster. His fast ball was moving more against the Rebels and he also used a fast-dropping change-up for a couple of big strikeouts.

“In the last couple weeks, I have been throwing a two-seam fast ball that seems to have a little more run to it than the four-seam fast ball I was throwing,” Middleton said. “It looks like I am going to stick with the two-seamer.”

The Eagles also got excellent bullpen work from lefty Ben Riley Flowers, true freshman right hander Josh Och and sophomore right hander Colby Allen, who appears to have settled into the role of closer. USM pitching benefitted from a couple of remarkable defensive plays, including right fielder Carson Paetow's diving ninth inning catch that robbed Reagan Burford of at least a double and shortstop Ozzie Pratt's acrobatic play that nailed Campbell Smithwick at first in the eighth inning.

Pratt, who grew up in Oxford, and Paetow were also the Eagles offensive heroes. Pratt had two hits, including a run-scoring double, and scored twice. Paetow added three hits including a triple high off the center field wall and drove in three runs. Monistere added a two-run double.

So now, Southern Miss will begin its final regular season series Thursday night against Sun Belt rival Texas State before heading to Montgomery next week for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Ole Miss was to spend Tuesday night in Hattiesburg and then head for Baton Rouge for the huge series with LSU. The Rebels probably need to win that series or make a huge run at next week's SEC Tournament in order to make the NCAA Tournament. Southern Miss, on the other hand, is playing for seeding now. In Hattiesburg, the NCAA Tournament has pretty much become a foregone conclusion.

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