For the New Hope High School baseball team, the expectations for the 2014 season were extremely high.
The reward was even greater.
New Hope repeated as Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state champions. The Trojans accomplished that feat after being considered the favorite for the crown at the beginning of the season.
“The second championship was even sweeter,” New Hope then-junior pitcher Josh Stillman said. “The first championship was special, but this one was even better. We wanted to make history. That was the goal from the start of the season.”
New Hope defeated West Jones 11-0 in the deciding game of a best-of-three series for the state championship at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Stillman pitched a one-hitter in the four and a half-inning championship game.
The New Hope baseball team’s run to a second-straight and seventh state title is The Dispatch’s Top Prep Sports Story for 2014.
“This was a special team,” New Hope coach Lee Boyd said. “The 2013 championship was special because we hadn’t won one in a while (10 years). After the season ended, we talked to the guys about making history. Each season is different. You can’t act like you have won anything before the games are played. The guys were really motivated about the chance to make history.”
The title helped New Hope win its first back-to-back state championships.
“We prided ourselves on being the hardest working team in the state,” New Hope then-senior shortstop/pitcher and Ole Miss signee Will Golsan said. “After we won the championship my junior year, I didn’t think we could work any harder. I was wrong. We really went out and worked even harder. It was a team. Everybody got along just about every day. It was a lot of fun playing with these guys.
“We wanted to do something the school will always remember us by.”
New Hope walked a tightrope to win the 2013 state championship. The Trojans didn’t win their region in the regular season. However, New Hope started in the play-in round and won five series to take the state championship.
A year later, the Trojans had less drama.
New Hope finished 32-4, including an 8-1 mark in the Class 5A, Region 2 play. After a players’ only meeting following a region loss to Oxford, New Hope responded with 18-straight wins.
“We just have to get everybody focused and everybody on the same page,” New Hope then-senior outfielder Rooke Coleman said. “The main thing about this team is nobody got upset. Everybody took responsibility for what was going on. We knew we could play better. After that meeting, we were really more energized as a team. We knew if we played our game, we were going to be hard to beat.”
The winning streak ended with a 5-4 loss to West Jones in the opening game of the state championship series. New Hope saw a 4-0 sixth-inning lead slip away in that defeat.
From there, New Hope’s pitching dominated in a 3-0 win that evened the series and Stillman’s gem to seal the deal.
“When you have pitching and defense, you can win a lot of games,” New Hope then-senior pitcher/outfielder and Mississippi State signee Taylor Stafford said. “It was a great relief as a pitcher when you looked around and you knew you had the best defense in the state backing you up.”
Stillman earned The Dispatch’s Player of the Year honors after hitting .337 and posting an 8-0 record with 0.92 ERA. Golsan hit a team-best .398. Senior J.C. Redden, an East Mississippi Community College signee, won 10 games, while Stafford won seven.
“It was a special team,” Boyd said. “They did everything the right way. They won with class and dignity. People will be talking this team for years to come.”
Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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