STARKVILLE — Nathan Pugh and the rest of the seniors on the Starkville High School baseball team don’t like to think about what’s next for them and their coach after this season.
They know they’re all in this together.
“We don’t like to think of this series or that series as potentially the last series for coach Carlisle because we’re all seniors, so it’d be the end for us, too,” Pugh said. “If we keep advancing, coach Carlisle and us as seniors each get more games left.”
Starkville will try to keep that mentality this weekend when it takes on New Hope High School in a best-of-three Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A North State playoff series. Game one will be at 7 p.m. Friday.
Carlisle announced earlier this season he would retire from coaching after this season, ending a 29-year run as the Yellow Jackets’ coach.
While facing elimination last week at home, Starkville scored seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to earn a 13-3 victory against Center Hill. The victory allowed the Yellow Jackets (21-7) to take the first-round series in three games.
“We had a business-like atmosphere, and I like the way the kids approached that type of pressure situation because they didn’t feel nervous,” Carlisle said. “They were all about having fun and playing loose. That’s how I want this team to be.”
To have that carefree attitude, Carlisle hasn’t spoken to any of the players about this being his final season as coach.
“I know it’s hard for them to ignore it with the field being named after me and having Danny Carlisle Day this season, but I really don’t think the kids are focused on me and my career,” Carlisle said.
Pugh, a co-captain first baseman who will pitch in game two at 3 p.m. Saturday in Starkville, agrees that Carlisle’s retirement hasn’t clouded the team’s focus.
“The way we all look at it is we don’t want our high school careers to be over without a shot at a state championship,” Pugh said. “This has been a special season for everybody because we’ve always seen what’s in the present and not looked too far ahead.”
Carlisle calls this group of seniors “one of the more special groups he’s ever coached on and off the field.” He said those leaders have stressed that this season is about the team and not their coach.
“We tell them play for the enjoyment of themselves and your teammates,” Carlisle said. “Everything else will probably be things they can’t control and probably don’t want to.”
Carlisle won’t be able to control the hype surrounding a matchup against New Hope. The Trojans (22-7) likely will go with junior right-hander Landon Boyd in game one. Boyd scattered six hits in a complete-game victory against Lake Cormorant last week. He is being evaluated by Division I schools, including Mississippi State University, Senior Nick Brooks, who has signed with East Mississippi Community College, is expected to match up against Boyd.
“Nick is a kid that will relish the opportunity of pitching against somebody like that on the road in a hostile environment,” Carlisle said. “I’ll tell him I want this to be my last trip ever to New Hope, meaning we take this series in two games.”
Pugh, who will play next season at Pearl River C.C., said the local rivalry aspect of the series hasn’t been lost on the Yellow Jackets.
“We do play summer ball against some of those guys, and the rivalry aspect is something that you enjoy playing sports for,” Pugh said. “I can’t wait to have a packed house at all of the games this weekend.”
Carlisle said a key for Starkville will be to limit the nerves and to make New Hope beat it without giving the Trojans unearned runs.
“Whether it’s Little League or the Majors, baseball games aren’t normally won, they’re lost,” Carlisle said. “I don’t want anybody in this group to lose it. I want them to try and go out and take it from New Hope. I want them to be aggressive and try to play to win instead of afraid to lose.”
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