Tupelo right-hander Chris Stratton made a verbal commitment Sunday to play baseball for Mississippi State.
The 2008 Daily Journal Player of the Year posted a 10-1 record with a 1.95 ERA in leading Tupelo to the Class 5A state finals. The rising senior struck out 98 batters in 75.1 innings, and he hit .367 at the plate.
MSU has always been on Stratton’s radar, but the hiring of new coach John Cohen sealed the deal.
“I’m just real excited about the new staff and what they’re all about, and the new era of State,” Stratton said. “Coach Cohen, he’s unreal. Coach (Butch) Thompson, the new pitching coach, is real good. He’s real intense, and I’m real excited about getting close to him.”
Stratton, who’s 16-1 over two seasons, throws a mid-to-upper-80s fastball with a good curveball, and he’s working on a changeup. His biggest strength is his pinpoint accuracy.
“He has the ability to throw any of his pitches for strikes at any time in the count,” Tupelo coach Gary Enis said.
Read more about this story in Tuesday’s Daily Journal.
June 30, 2008 at 12:22 pm |
Stratton will only get better next year. He is a stud to be the ace on that staff as a junior and will probably be in the low 90′s next year.
June 30, 2008 at 1:42 pm |
“the new era of State”
Sounds like a real smart kid.
June 30, 2008 at 4:39 pm |
Lee Stratton was the basketball coach not long ago…. any relation?
June 30, 2008 at 4:40 pm |
That is, Lee Straton was the Tupelo boys basketball coach
June 30, 2008 at 7:01 pm |
bulllsy, former Coach Lee Stratton is his dad.
July 1, 2008 at 9:32 am |
Big pickup for Coach Croom and staff this morning. DL Josh Boyd from Philadelphia, MS has committed to the Dawgs!
July 1, 2008 at 10:24 am |
For those of you thinking that Jamont Gordon will go to Europe, not so fast my friends. Kyle Veazey said that he’ll probably sign with the Cavs or 76ers, and the Cavs are so awful at PG not only would Gordon make that team, he’d probably wind up starting after a while.
July 1, 2008 at 10:33 am |
warbirdz, he did not say that. He said that those are two options. No one knows what he is going to do.
July 1, 2008 at 12:44 pm |
It’s pretty obvious that he’s not coming back to State because it would be of no use to him at all and when you look at possible teams he could sign with, Cleveland is easily the most obvious choice. He wouldn’t have a problem making that team IMO.
July 1, 2008 at 2:44 pm |
Anyone looking for some good entertainment should go to YouTube and watch “The Return of the Dawg Pound Rock” as told by a buddy of mine who was an orientation leader at State this summer. It’s quality stuff.
July 1, 2008 at 4:25 pm |
time to forget aboout sports get out in fields take care of farm crops 4 july time taking care of corn crop final growth til harvest soy beans need attention cotton ok just kill dem bollweevels enjoy watermellon day 4 jul
July 1, 2008 at 4:57 pm |
meth, i think your harvesting a little something besides corn and soy beans……….
July 1, 2008 at 5:21 pm |
bully man gota was dem bollweevels dey rade ma nana trees
July 2, 2008 at 12:01 am |
Congrats Stratton! When you get down there be sure to call up C Garrett and let him know what he is missing!!!!
July 2, 2008 at 6:13 am |
Heard they were celebrating by eating here.
http://www.ihos.com/steakhouse.html
July 2, 2008 at 8:52 am |
Another baseball commitment for Cohen:
Ben Bracewell, RHP/SS from Briarwood Christian in Alabama. He was a 2008 honorable mention All-American
“Bracewell earned Shelby County Pitcher of the Year honors after posting the second-lowest earned run average in school history as a junior, including the lowest mark since Briarwood moved up to Class 5A. Bracewell finished the season 5-3 with a microscopic 0.86 ERA and 96 strikeouts.”
July 2, 2008 at 8:53 am |
Wow! If we can hang on to these folks our pitching staff will be pretty stout in a few years.
July 2, 2008 at 11:08 am |
Per Veazey’s blog, Jamont Gordon is now being represented by Mike Conley and will join the 76ers Summer League team. Congrats to Gordon and good luck.
July 2, 2008 at 3:55 pm |
WarbirdZ: New Orleans is schedule to have an abundance of freshmen coming to school at colleges down there this fall. Tulane 1550, Loyola, 725, and Xavier 800. You may have to board down in one of those FEMA trailers or sleep out under the stars. Anyway I hope the best for you and your college life.
July 2, 2008 at 5:00 pm |
No need to worry, Tulane has plenty of dorm space.
July 3, 2008 at 12:56 am |
how about that new video board going up!!!
http://www.mstateathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=1505675&DB_OEM_ID=16800
hope you dont mind the link Gregg!!
July 3, 2008 at 5:52 am |
Spear, I saw that last night on another board and thought there’s no way. But I guess it’s gonna be put up. Freakin awesome. I would be shocked if it is up by October but I am not putting anything past Greg Byrne. The man is on a roll…he might as well bowl in the other side of the stadium by November.
July 3, 2008 at 8:12 am |
The women on Nafoom are having a fit about this. Saying the company who’s building ours is not equiped and is a less quality of HD. I love it!!!
July 3, 2008 at 8:38 am |
I love that we completely just ruined their excitement about the new board by building ours bigger. HA!
July 3, 2008 at 8:41 am |
I’d be surprised if our Practice facility wasn’t a lot nicer too.
July 3, 2008 at 9:46 am |
i cant believe we are actually making advancements towards a better stadium….that is awesome!!!…..they said it would be the biggest in the sec….but i think bowling in the rest of the stadium opposite to the new scoreboard would be an awesome idea….but first we have to start selling out all the games….
July 3, 2008 at 4:14 pm |
Another good note to start the long weekend:
Rivals has State’s 2009 football recruiting class ranked #15 so far.
http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=823591
July 5, 2008 at 2:45 am |
hey spear- my uncle designed the one at USM, pretty sweet one there too. Anyway when he designed it 2 years ago I knew we would do something soon. Its gonna be awesome, and add so much to our stadium
July 6, 2008 at 1:47 pm |
I’m not a tennis fan but this Wimbledon Final is unbelievable.
July 6, 2008 at 5:26 pm |
I am a huge tennis fan (and a huge Nadal fan) and this was the greatest sports day for me since the Red Sox won the World Series last October.
July 6, 2008 at 7:04 pm |
I suppose the greatest tennis match ever.
July 6, 2008 at 8:56 pm |
WTH happened? I didn’t hear anything.
July 7, 2008 at 9:34 am |
Hey, guys! What’s up? Just thought I would do a quick check-in and say hello. Yes, 2tdhcoc, great, great, match. It was hard to top the 96 Open, but this one just may have done so.
Any news? I’m planning a trip to Memphis on Wednesday to visit with Farley for a few minutes. I’m taking my son so he can get a pretty good appreciation for his own health.