STARKVILLE — While the season was great, the ending was not for the Starkville High School baseball team.
Coach Travis Garner said his young team would eventually turn the corner. When the Yellow Jackets did turn the corner, the wins started mounting.
In the end, the youth was too much to overcome as Starkville saw its season end with 14-0 loss to DeSoto Central in the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 6A playoffs at Carlisle Field.
A favorite for the Class 6A title, DeSoto Central was taking to the brink Thursday night, before winning 7-6 in the series opener.
Friday night was never in doubt. The Jaguars scored eight times in the second inning and hit cruise control.
“Really proud of the seniors,” Garner said. “When they started as freshmen, it had been a while since the team had made the playoffs.
“Now we are in the playoffs and winning series in the playoffs. They should be proud of how far we have come.”
Starkville finished the season 16-15 overall. The Yellow Jackets did earn a second-place seed from the region and opened the playoffs with a first-round win over Murrah.
Even that series showed the youth as Starkville rolled to a victory in the series opener, let a nine-run lead slip away in the middle game and then won 24-0 in the final game of the series.
“We played some really good baseball the last month of the season and I think a lot of the young guys will benefit from this playoff experience,” Garner said.
Starkville enjoyed a eight-game win streak after starting the season 5-11 against a challenging non-region schedule.
“A lot of credit goes to the seniors who kept the other players working hard when we were struggling early,” Garner said. “We played some of the best teams in the state in the non-region part of the schedule because we thought that would help us get ready for the playoffs.
“The biggest challenge with a young team was consistency. We were able to have some of that during the winning streak. You have to pitch it well when you aren’t hitting and you have to hit it well when you aren’t pitching as well as you would like.”
Brady Hunt, C.J. Kemp, Blake Miller, Conner Reinike and Tyler Stovall played their final games with Starkville Saturday night.
DeSoto Central (23-7) pitcher Matthew Taylor carried a no-hit bid into the fifth inning. Reinike and Stovall broke up that attempt with a pair of hits for the Yellow Jackets.
For the Jaguars, Peyton Mills had three hits and six RBIs. Mills homered during the eight-run second inning.
Donari Herron, Cason Milliorn and Hunter French each had multiple hits.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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