It was a Copiah-Lincoln Community College reunion of sorts atthe University of Southern Mississippi’s Pete Taylor Park. Foropeners, former Co-Lin catcher Lance Newman was working behind theplate for Troy State University. In the other dugout USM thirdbaseman Chris Dunn was swinging a bat and relief pitcher BrentQuinn was ready to toe the mound as Co-Lin alumni.

Troy State had the last laugh, beating the Golden Eagles 9-4.Newman, a junior from Brookhaven (Loyd Star), had one hit in fourat-bats, collecting a single, an RBI and scoring one run.

Dunn, struggling through his first year at USM, was 0-for-2. Forthat matter, most of the USM has been struggling at the plate. TheGolden Eagles are 20-25 on the season and have been absorbing theirshare of lopsided losses in Conference USA.

Dunn, from Magee, led the NJCAA Division II in homers lastseason with 20 to his credit. Senior college baseball has been adifficult adjustment for the likable young man..

Quinn, by comparison, saw his first action of the season againstTroy State, He pitched the final 2 innings, striking out 1 batterwhile allowing 1 run on 2 hits. Quinn is a senior right-hander fromJackson (Hillcrest).

Newman bats second in the Trojans’ lineup and has been doing anoutstanding job as the team’s No. 1 catcher. “Lance plays the gameextremely hard and contributes in many facets of the game,” saidTroy State coach John Mayotte. “He is a contact and RBI guy. Hesteals bases and demonstrates a major league arm and block andreceiving abilities as a catcher.”

The Trojans (21-22) play a tough schedule and have managed tomake the best of it. In fact, 21 of their scheduled games wereagainst NCAA Regional and Super Regional squads from 2000.

Mayotte was determined to see his Trojans rebound from adisappointing 2000 campaign of 22-34. They are accustomed towinning Trans American Athletic Conference championships andadvancing to the NCAA regionals for three of the past fourseasons.

Against USM, rightfielder Collin Holder led the victory with a3-for-5 plate performance.

Holder’s effort included a homer, a double and 3 RBIs as theTrojans accounted for 15 hits. Defensively, they turned threedouble plays. Holder is a junior from Montgomery, Ala.

For USM, leftfielder Michael Artman, rightfielder Jeff Cook,second baseman Ben Mosley and shortstop Allen Winningham finishedwith 2 hits each.

Congratulations to Dan Angero and Judge Little of Meridian ontheir wire to wire victory in the Mississippi Golf AssociationBancorpSouth State Four-Ball Championship last Sunday. They shotrounds of 64-67-66 – 197 or 16 under at the Canebrake Golf Club inHattiesburg to beat the runner-up team of David Coleman and BenjiNelson of Madison by one stroke. Coleman-Nelson shot 69-65-64 -198.

Angero-Little won the 1999 title. Nelson-Coleman won it in 1998.Third place went to the teams of Rett Crowder and Chris Mills andDonny Holman and Michael Hodges, both shooting 202.

Despite very windy conditions, the scoring was excellent.Canebrake received rave reviews from all of the players. Hats offto Canebrake course superintendent Joel Keller and resident PGAprofessional Jeff Q. Smith for their painstaking efforts to haveCanebrake in top condition.

Canebrake will be the host course for the 2002 MGA State AmateurChampionship. It is currently ranked as the third best course inMississippi by Golf Digest, trailing Old Waverly of West Point andDancing Rabbit (Azalea) of Philadelphia.