Support your hometown high school sports team because these players and coaches put forth a lot of effort and hard work to be the best they can be and by going to their games you show them that you appreciate their efforts. If you want to have an added incentive, go to the game to see if you can find a prospect I can put on this page. I want your input to make this page the best it can be.
| 1997 | March | April | May | June | July | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Jan | Feb | March | April | May | June | July | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 1999 | Jan | Feb | March | April |
05/29/99 - Add another name to the list of top juniors (senior-to-be next season) that will be heading out to the Junior Sunbelt Classic in OK. Ripley's outstanding baseball player Andy Wilbanks will also be on the team.
05/28/99 - Starkville Academy standout P/OF Trey Wall has signed a scholarship to play baseball for East Mississippi Community College. Trey was 7-1 on the mound this year with 15 doubles, 5 HR's and a team leading 36 RBI's. Trey also holds the school record for career wins. His overall high school record was 36-7. Trey is looking forward to playing at the next level and hopes to do well enough to possibly play for MSU after Juco.
05/27/99 - Once again New Hope HS baseball coach Stacy Hester will be taking 18 of the top junior baseball players from the state of Mississippi to the Junior Sunbelt Classic in Oklahoma. Other teams will come from Texas, Georgia, California, Oklahoma, Arizona and Canada.
The players and the cities they held from are as follows:
05/20/99 - Correction: Southaven's Bubba Kelly is actually 6-3.5 and weighs 155-lbs. The word is MLB scouts are very excited about Bubba because of his upside. Even at 155 pounds, he throws the ball in the high 80's, topping out at 90 mph.
05/20/99 - Another pitcher to watch this summer and next season is Oak Hill Academy's (West Point, MS.) Bailey Menetre. Ben, who is 6-2, 185, compiled a 10-3 record this year, including a perfect game and a 1-hitter. He throws his fastball in the mid-80's and has a forkball and curve to go along with it.
05/19/99 - A couple of senior pitchers that deserve special mention are Southaven HS's Bubba Kelly, a 6-2, 180-lb. hard thrower, who shut the door on nationally ranked (5th in USA Today) Hattiesburg HS to help his team win the Mississippi Class 5A Championship. His teammate Justin Donovan (brother of MSU pitcher Kevin Donovan) knocked in the winning run off of highly touted pitcher Matt Butler, a Mississippi State signee.
The other senior pitcher is West Point HS's Collins Hughes, who is also a hard thrower (87 mph range). Collins, who is 6-2.5 and weighs 185 pounds, has topped out at 89 mph. I have heard MSU has shown interest in this young man.
05/19/99 - Brookhaven HS has hired Randy Spring as its new head baseball coach, replacing Robbie Hayes who is going to law school at Mississippi College. Randy, who is 29 and played at Southern Miss, has coached at Freed-Hardman University (graduate assistant), North Forrest HS and Forrest County AHS.
05/13/99 - The recently released All-District 6-4A team included five district champion Brookhaven Panthers.
Pitcher - Chris Kennedy (Senior) District-6 MVP 6-4 with 1 save
Outfielder - Chad Byrne (Senior) .376 avg., 29 SBs, 1 HR, 31 RBI
Outfielder - Arlandus Brown (Junior) .336 avg., 30 SBs, 24 BB, 19 RBI
Outfielder - Fred Perkins (Sophomore) .448 avg., 20 SBs, 3 HR, 25 RBI
Firstbaseman - Ben Goza (Freshman) .364 avg., 8 HR, 47 RBI, 709 Slg.%
Brookhaven Coach, Robbie Hayes, a former Mississippi State Diamond Dawg, was named the District's Coach of the Year.
05/12/99 - Pearl HS completed its first season under head coach Tim Dowdy with a record of 16 wins and 18 losses. Pearl's 34 game schedule included 27 teams that made the playoffs the last two years. Pearl's pitching staff consisted of five sophomores and one senior. Senior Clifton Creel was 3-4 for the Pirates with a 2.14 ERA. The five sophomores who will make up the Pirate pitching staff for the next two years as Pearl moves into the 4A classification are James Cantrell (RHP, 4-4, 60.2 IP, 3.92 ERA, 80K's, ), Will Duke (RHP, 2-3, 26 IP, 3.50 ERA, 20 K's), Flint Roberts (RHP, 3-3, 39 IP, 50 K's), Jake Bell (LHP, 1-2, 2.78 ERA, 17 K's), and Eric Wheat (LHP, 2-2, 20.2 IP, 25 K's). The young pitching staff pitched very well against one of the toughest schedules in the state. Offensively, junior Josh Perry led the Pirates (.374, 2 HR, 12 doubles, 15 RBI's), second in hitting was sophomore Jake Bell (.357, 1 HR, 8 doubles, and 12 RBI's). Senior shortstop Steven McAllister led the team with 27 RBI's. Clifton Creel hit .336 with 4 HR's and 26 RBI's.
05/11/99 - Noxapater beat Puckett 9-5 last night which sets up a rematch between Hamilton and Noxapater for the 1A State Championship.
05/10/99 - Louisville HS not only has a top football prospect in Chris Eaves, a senior-to-be, but also has three 10th graders-to-be who have a chance to be top prospects by their senior years. They are Davis Carter (DL, 6-6, 340), Bryant Thomas (QB, 6-1, 175, 4.6) and Rhyne Thompson (OG/LS, 6-1, 258).
05/10/99 - The Southaven Chargers (26-6) won the 5A North Mississippi Championship by defeating Tupelo (30-6) 9 to 0 Saturday afternoon. Senior LHP Donnie Corey, now 5-1, lowered his ERA to 1.24 by going the distance while allowing 5 hits and striking out 5. For the season, Corey has pitched 45 innings with 58 K's, 23 BB and 30 hits. He has won 4 games in a row against Columbus (25-7), Madison Central (33-3), and two games against Tupelo (30 -6). Hitting stars in the game were Corey with 2 hits, Matt Smith with 2 hits, and Darron Broadway with 2 hits, including a 2-run homer.
The Chargers won the first game of the series 3-2 Thursday night in Tupelo. Senior RHP Bubba Kelly (8-1), hitting 90 mph, went 5 innings while striking out 9 and allowing 4 hits. Senior RHP Marshall Mullins (5-1) struck out 4 and allowed 1 hit over the last two innings.
Southaven now takes on the Hattiesburg and Northwest Rankin winner for the 5A state championship. Game one will be in Southaven, Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p. m. Game two is scheduled for Northwest Rankin or Hattiesburg on Saturday.
05/08/99 - Looks like Amory HS is loaded once again. Here are the names of several potential D-I prospects:
05/08/99 - Indianola defeated Marshall Academy 4-3 Thursday at Indianola to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Jason Burch pitched a good game, but wound up with a no-decision. Michael Novarese took the loss. The one bright spot for Marshall Academy was Garrett Elliott's 3-run homer (7th homer of the season) in the 4th inning. Games 2 and 3 (if needed) will both be played at Marshall Academy Saturday.
05/07/99 - Starkville Academy senior Trey Wall led the way with a home run and 5 RBI's as the Vols defeated Jackson Prep 10-5 in game 1 of their playoff series. They resume play today at 4:30 at Volunteer Field in Starkville.
05/06/99 - Weir HS will have its Spring Jamboree May 13th at 3:30 p.m. Teams participating are:
If you live in the area, head on out (with your MSU colors on) and watch some great football.
5/04/99 - Kosciusko was eliminated from the playoffs by New Hope last night 11 - 1. New Hope started Josh Buckley, followed with Kevin Long ( Dandy Dozen player) and returned Buckley for the last inning. New Hope pitchers were effective and at their best with KHS players on base. KHS stranded 16 runners in the 6 inning game. Kosciusko was a very young team this year with only 3 returning starters. Next year, KHS and New Hope will compete in the same division once again.
The New Hope victory sets up a rematch of Itawamba and New Hope, both ow whom are from the same division, for the North State 4A Championship.
05/03/99 - In game one on Friday, #6 ranked Petal took a 4-0 lead in the third inning. Brookhaven rallied to tie the score at 4 in the bottom of the sixth. In the bottom of the seventh, Brookhaven got runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, but Petal senior pitcher Louis Jordan struck out Brookhaven's number 2, 3, and 4 hitters in the order. In the bottom of the eighth, Brookhaven loaded the bases with 1 out, but Jordan retired the next two batters to end the inning. Petal rallied for nine in the top of the ninth to defeat the Panthers 13-5.
In game two on Saturday, Petal rallied for two runs in the first and never looked back, handing Brookhaven only their second shutout of the season 7-0. Petal moved to 29-3 with the win and will advance to play the winner of the Laurel/George County series in the South State finals. Brookhaven ended its season at 24-11.
The Brookhaven Panthers entered this season in a rebuilding year. They won their first district title in almost 2 decades after starting the season 0 and 3 and eclipsed the old school record of 21 wins in a season by winning 24 games. The Panthers started 5 sophomores and 1 freshman, and only lose 3 seniors from the entire squad. Great things will be expected from them in the future.
05/02/99 - Here is additional info from the 4/29/99 Marshall Academy / Heritage Academy playoff game. Home runs were hit by juniors Michael Novarese (his 7th of the season)), Paul Maholm (4th), Mickey Anderson (2nd) and sophomore Garrett Elliott (6th).
05/02/99 - The 24-6 Southaven Chargers completed a two-game sweep of the 33-3 Madison Central Jaquars Saturday afternoon. Madison Central was ranked #2 in the state and 17th nationally by USA Today.
In the first game, Friday night, senior LHP Donnie Corey (4-1, 1.40 ERA) threw a 1-earned run, 5-hit, 7-K game as Southaven won 4-3. The hitting star was Nate Grinols with 2 hits and 3 RBIs.
Saturday afternoon, Southaven won 6-2. Senior RHP Bubba Kelly (6-4, 160-lbs), registering 88-89 mph on the gun, (7-1) and Marshall Mullins (4-1) combined for 12 Ks while allowing 4 hits in 8 innings.