STARKVILLE — Jarrod Parks really liked his personnel when he took over the Starkville Academy baseball team.
But the former Mississippi State standout admits he knew practically nothing about the baseball teams in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.
“I knew what we had, but I wasn’t sure how competitive we were going to be,” said Parks, who came to the school in July after serving as an assistant at East Mississippi Community College for two seasons. “Day in, day out, I wasn’t sure what we were up against. As the season progressed, I saw this team had a chance to be special.”
Starkville Academy (19-4) will move into the special part of the season today when the MAIS Class AAA playoffs crank back up. Parks’ team drew a first-round bye and will start its second-round best-of-three series against Simpson County Academy (16-9) at 6 p.m. today in Mendenhall. The second and third (if necessary) games will be at 4 p.m. Thursday in Starkville.
Wins in three playoff series will be needed to win the state
championship.
“There are a lot of seniors on this team, so we have been pointing to this season for a long time,” Starkville Academy senior outfielder Drake Gordman said. “Anytime you have a new coach, there will be some new things. We just tried to learn as quickly as we could what needed to be done.”
Parks said he liked what he saw during some fall workouts. He knew the team would have experience and depth. In the second of his two seasons, Jody Britt went 23-11 and guided the Volunteers to the semifinals of the MAIS Class AAA playoffs in 2015.
“I knew we had three or four guys who had good velocity and could get it up there,” Parks said. “I felt like we were going to be able to score some runs. I also felt like we had a solid nucleus on defense. How many other teams were going to have that dominant pitcher? Those were things we had to find out.”
The other question was how quickly the Volunteers would go “all in” about being pushed in another direction.
“We came in here with really high expectations,” Starkville Academy senior outfielder Colt Chrestman said. “Coach Parks has played in the big stadiums. He brings a lot of experience about the game. It has been fun coming to practice every day and learning more.”
Parks played at Madison Central High School and Meridian C.C. before being on three teams at MSU. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim picked him in the 24th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft. He advanced to the Angels’ Class A Advanced affiliate (Inland Empire 66ers) in San Bernardino, California, during his rookie season, but a back injury cut the playing days short.
Now that Parks’ coaching career is under way in earnest, he is looking forward to seeing how far his first squad can go.
“You want a total buy-in,” Parks said. “I think the real question is how quickly can you get that. These players knew they were talented and already had a good thing going. However, any coach is going to do things slightly different. Really when district play started is when the light switch came on.
“We really played a like a different team after that. Everyone believed, and they knew the things we were doing were the right things.”
Starkville Academy breezed to the district championship by winning seven of its first eight district games. It lost to Leake Academy in its last district game after all the seeds have been clinched.
During the run, the Volunteers captured two of three games against Heritage Academy. Senior Caleb Griffin threw a one-hitter in a 6-0 win that clinched the district championship. Griffin is expected to start tonight.
“Defensively, we are really good,” Griffin said. “That means you can just go out there and throw any pitch at any time. If I have control of two or more pitches, then I like our chances. For the seniors, this is a special year. Coach Parks has really worked with me and my pitching game has really grown this season. It has been exciting to see.”
Parks has enjoyed watching his team develop. He also has found the MAIS field isn’t overwhelming,which means the Volunteers have a chance.
“While giving respect to any opponent we face, I really like our chances,” Parks said. “We just have to control what we can control. If we pitch to our potential and continue to make the routine plays, we will score runs. We have been balanced, so when one area is not working well, we still do the other two things pretty well.
“However, it is the playoffs now, so we want to do all three things well. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where we don’t play well for an entire series.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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