Mangum’s career record is now 344, eight shy of Furniss’s SEC record of 352. The Bulldogs will face Texas Southern Tuesday night, before taking on Arkansas at Fayetteville for a three-game series. Mangum may break Furniss’s Arkansas record. The Bulldogs will play Ole Miss next Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Mangum’s hometown of Pearl. That would be quite something, wouldn’t it? This seems natural given Mangum’s history against Rebels – he has been the Rebel killer. Before we look at the SEC record, let’s take a look back at Rea who broke the Mississippi State record. Ron Polk, the man who coached Rea for four years at State as well as Mangum in Cape Cod League, is the best person to compare them. Polk said to them last week, “Two peas within a pod.” While neither one is very visible, they are both extremely competitive. Both possess a strong work ethic. Both could be very efficient and could both hit the ground running. “As a coach, it is great to have players like Jeffrey or Jake because their motors run all the time.” Rea, who was recruited from tiny Nettleton to State, played for the Bulldogs between 2004 and 2007. He played sometimes second base. Sometimes he played in the outfield. He hit every time. As a freshman, he hit.324 and as a sophomore,.308 and.372 respectively. This brings up another similarity in Rea and Mangum. Jeffrey could have been drafted by the Boston Red Sox after his junior season. Like Mangum, he chose to play his senior year at State. Polk said, “I think Jeffrey and Jake love college baseball, and they love Mississippi State.” They weren’t going get life-changing money because they were small men who don’t hit for power. Rea was a tiny college baseball star. He was smaller than the 6-foot, 179-pound Mangum. Rea was just 5′ 8″ tall and weighed in at 155 when he was a State senior. Rea’s older brother Brian Rea was a Delta State Hall of Famer. Hitting was a family trait. Jeffrey, despite his size was highly recruited by State and Ole Miss. To the dismay of Dan McDonnell (then an Ole Miss assistant who would eventually become Louisville’s head coaching coach), Jeffrey chose State. We now come to an episode that took place in 2007 when Jeffrey Rea was playing against McDonnell and Louisville in what would be his last Bulldog game in College World Series. This scene is the most memorable in the sports reporting career of this reporter. State had just lost a heartbreaker to North Carolina in its 2007 CWS and was now playing Louisville in an elimination match. Louisville led the Bulldogs 12-4. Rea had already scored two runs in the ninth inning when he reached the plate. Rea, like Mangum was a line drive in waiting. It happened on the first pitch his last collegiate at-bat – a linedrive that flew past the pitcher and into center field. The State fans stood in large numbers and cheered, as did most of the old Rosenblatt Stadium crowd. On the losing side of a 12-4 game, who gets a standing O? Jeffrey Rea is that man. McDonnell embraced Rea and told him that he was eager to see him in the Major Leagues. It never happened. Rea was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and hit.337 at two levels of minor league baseball in 2007. Rea was in Mesa, Arizona just as spring training 2008 was over. He was hitting a routine groundball, but he was still running full speed for first base, when he injured his quadriceps. He tried running again after two months of rehabilitation. He said that it was “just not the same” and doctors said they couldn’t promise that surgery would help. He was unable to run the same speed as before. He says, “It was hard but when it is your time, it will be your time.” Rea is now a father and works as an agency manager at Mississippi Farm Bureau in Pontotoc. Rea says he watches Mississippi State baseball on TV, but he is still a fan. He also says that he admires Jake Mangum. Rea said, “I feel like Jake is my friend despite not having a personal relationship with him.” “It was a joy to see a Mississippi man break my record, particularly if he plays the game as it is supposed to be played. He is 100 percent. It’s quite amazing that the man who broke my school record will also break the record for the Southeastern Conference. ”
I hope he breaks all of them.”