Colton Ledbetter and Slate Alford Shine for Newport Gulls in New England Collegiate Baseball League

Mississippi State baseball's Slate Alford and Colton Ledbetter have proven themselves as some of the best players in the NECBL this summer.

Mississippi State baseball infielder Slate Alford and transfer Colton Ledbetter have had incredible seasons with the Newport Gulls of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. 

Ledbetter -- an incoming outfielder from Samford -- leads the NECBL in both hits and RBI. The junior has played in 44 regular season games for the Gulls, posting a .365 batting average with 57 hits, 43 runs scored and 47 RBI. Ledbetter has also recorded 11 home runs, 10 doubles and one triple over the course of two months. He has been walked 30 times while striking out in just 33 at-bats and stealing 11 bases. 

The other piece of the dynamic duo is Alford, a sophomore who saw action in a few games for the Diamond Dawgs last season. He has recorded impressive regular-season statistics for the Gulls, batting .346 on the season with 53 hits, 40 RBI, 15 doubles and nine home runs. Four of his homers have come in the last week of action, and one of them was a grand slam to help Newport pull ahead late in a game against the Mystic Schooners. 

Both Alford and Ledbetter were selected to play for the Southern Division team in the NECBL All-Star game on July 24. Ledbetter stole the show, going 4-for-4 at the plate with 5 RBI, one run scored, one home run and one stolen base. Alford went 1-for-4 with one run scored. The South went on the win the game by a score of 13-2. 

Ledbetter and Alford have both had incredible success in the offseason: something that they will look to carry with them as they head back to Starkville and begin training in the coming months. The two sluggers are already showing that they could become vital parts of Mississippi State's lineup heading into the 2023 college baseball season.