By Mike Christensen
Andrew Gipson can’t say that he predicted his Belhaven University team would crash the postseason for the first time in 14 years. But after overhauling the roster from 2024, he liked what he saw when the current Blazers first hit the field.
“As we started fall ball, I felt like, “The pieces are here to make this work,'” the second-year coach said.
The pieces came together for a second-place finish in Collegiate Conference of the South regular season race, a runner-up finish in the league tournament and a hard-to-come-by at-large invitation to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Belhaven plays Rhodes College on Friday in the first round of the Webster (Mo.) Regional.
Meanwhile, just down Riverside Drive, Millsaps College is also celebrating a regional berth. For the first time in 10 years, Jim Page has the Majors back in the D-III postseason; they open Friday against region host East Texas Baptist in Marshall, Texas.
The Majors finished last in their conference in 2024. “It was heartbreaking game after heartbreaking game all of last year,” Page said. “I told the team afterward, people can call me crazy, but if we could just re-do this season, it’d be completely different.”
With virtually the same cast of players back for 2025, it was essentially a re-do. And it was completely different: The Majors won the league’s regular season title and earned the program’s ninth D-III regional bid in Page’s 37 seasons.
BLAST FROM PAST
Gipson was an assistant coach under Hill Denson in 2011, the last time the Belhaven made a postseason tournament. That’s when the school was in the NAIA. Gipson played under Denson during the “glory days” of Blazers baseball, when the team was routinely winning conference championships and making it to NAIA regionals. The Blazers, with Gipson on the team, made a trip to the NAIA World Series in 2010.
After the transition to non-scholarship NCAA Division III, the program endured a stale period. When Gipson took the head coaching job in the summer of 2023, coming from the staff at D-I Southeastern Louisiana, he told the administration, “I’ll get it back to where we were.”
His first team went 25-17. With 33 new players added to the roster, the current team is 31-13 and stands 19th in the D-III NPI rankings.
“This thing means a whole lot to me,” Gipson said. “Just to get it back in the manner we have … I’m proud of it. I’m proud of the guys.”
Eight Blazers were named either first- or second-team All-CCS.
Included is Friday’s starter, Kade May (7-1, 1.51 ERA), from Florence by way of Copiah-Lincoln Community College. “The kid can really pitch,” Gipson said.
Other arms of note are No. 2 starter Colton Sylvester (7-2, 4.37) and Lane Alack, who fills a crucial swing role.
Gipson said one key to the team’s surge early this season was the way shortstop Austin Canale and third baseman Dathan Cummings, both freshmen, solidified that side of the infield defense.
The big bat for the Blazers belongs to Tristan Pearson, from Biloxi via Jones College. He is hitting .401 (.554 on-base percentage) with 54 runs. “He and Hunter Harrell have been sparkplugs,” Gipson said, “and Blake McCarthy has been driving those guys in all year.”
The Blazers hit .321 as a team with a .439 OBP, testament to their gritty approach. They have 105 stolen bases. They hit just 16 homers — home-field Trustmark Park is a big yard — but pounded out 80 doubles.
“Big picture, I wanted us to be multiple,” Gipson said, “to be able to do whatever the particular scenario requires. We can play matchups, run different lineups out there depending on what type of pitcher we’re facing. Our ability to be multiple is probably our biggest strength.”
MAJORS ON A MISSION
The Millsaps’ players mantra this season, Page said, was “Get Some.” The veterans wanted to erase the memory of a ’24 season full of hard luck and disappointment. “It’s been a tremendous team,” Page said. “We’ve got older guys who’ve led the way and kept us on track. Going worst to first like we did, that’s a tribute to the kids. They played with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder.”
From 14-27, 4-17 Southern Athletic Association, in 2024, the Majors went 13-5 in the SAA and are 29-13, ranked 23rd in the NPI. (Two of the losses were to Belhaven in the Maloney Trophy Series.) Page won the league’s coach of the year honors, and Bradley Pelle and Nick Tarantino were honored as player and pitcher of the year.
“Almost everybody we’ve played has told us, ‘You guys are really good,'” Page said.
Tarantino, a senior who’ll go Friday vs. ETBU, is 10-1 with a 2.94 ERA, 85 strikeouts in 82 2/3 innings. Program veteran Wil Wood and Jackson Hood have also stood out on the bump. Pelle, a senior, is hitting .393 with 14 homers, 58 RBIs and 15 steals. “When the pitcher misses (location), he doesn’t miss,” Page said. Gray Berry, a vocal senior from West Point and East Mississippi CC, is at .407 with 64 runs. A new strength-and-conditioning program has noticeably improved the Majors’ defense, Page said.
Millsaps has built a strong tradition under Page, a recent Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame inductee with more than 850 career wins and multiple conference awards and titles. The team rose to the No. 1 ranking in D-III in 2009. In 2013, the Majors made a run to the D-III World Series. There had been a postseason drought since 2015, but that has now ended. And the current team has enough depth in arms, firepower in the lineup and playmakers on defense to make a tournament run, Page said.
“Eight teams get to the World Series, but it’s not always the top eight or the best eight,” he said. “It’s the eight that get through. We can be one of those.”
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