Starkville High School baseball coach Travis Garner tells his team to embrace every playoff berth.
The players and coaches at West Point High can agree with that statement.
When the Mississippi High School Activities Association playoffs begin this weekend, Starkville will make a fourth-straight appearance in Class 6A, while West Point will play in the Class 5A tournament for the first time since 2011.
In Class 4A, New Hope and Caledonia will see action, while West Lowndes and Hamilton will take part in the Class 1A tournament.
“When the kids set goals each season, they can sometimes get carried away,” Garner said. “We like to remind them the main goal to start the season is to make the playoffs. You can’t take that for granted. You can’t assume it is going to happen. That is the main goal, so when you achieve that, you are happy you have a chance to keep playing.”
Starkville (15-11) finished third in Class 6A, Region 3. The opening playoff opponent will be Region 2 runner-up Tupelo. The Yellow Jackets have advanced to the second round in each of the past two seasons.
“We are young in some spots,” Garner said. “The kids have gotten a lot of experience this season and grown up throughout the year. The schedule has been tough, but it was set up that way to get this team battle tested for the playoffs. We have been working toward this the entire season.”
Garner said the Yellow Jackets faced 14 ranked opponents this season. Region play included three games against Class 6A favorites Madison Central and Northwest Rankin. The team also faced nationally ranked competition at a spring break tournament in Florida.
“We simply don’t have that guy who can throw 87, 88,” Garner said. “Most schools in 5A or 6A have one or two. We have to pitch to contact and defend the field very well. We just can’t walk people and make errors because we don’t have the strikeout guy that is going to erase those kinds of mistakes.
“Offensively, we are hitting around .300 as a team. We have done well with runners in scoring position. The biggest thing will be making all the plays defensively.”
West Point (10-14) earned the third spot from Class 5A, Region 2. Region 3 runner-up Cleveland Central is the first-round opponent.
“We are young in a lot of areas, but we have not used that as an excuse,” West Point coach Blake Hutchison said. “The kids have gotten a lot of experience throughout the season. We only have two seniors (Seth Edwards and Marquez Carter), and we are going to miss them a lot.
“Since I arrived the goal has been to make the playoffs and we have been close. The kids are excited about being back in. We don’t want to stop here but still there is a lot of excitement.”
West Point enters the postseason on a four-game losing streak. However, Hutchison said the team was dealing with some sore arms and some pitchers were given rest down the stretch after the playoff berth was secured.
“In the middle of the season, we were really playing well. We had a win against Saltillo behind a dominating pitching performance from Roe Ketchum,” Hutchison said. “The next week we split with Grenada and they won the region. So after getting the region wins over Saltillo and Grenada, the kids knew this was a different team and that we could make the playoffs.”
Sophomore Gray Berry leads the Green Wave with a .429 batting average. Brandon Lairy, Ketchum, and Edwards are also hitting above .300. Berry and Ketchum have led the way on the mound.
“This team is close to being 100 percent healthy again,” Hutchison said “It’s a cliche, but it is all about defense for us. We will have to make the plays and not give away outs. Offensively, we are good enough to give ourselves a chance.”
New Hope (21-4) has found a return to Class 4A competition to its liking. The Trojans won all eight region games in Region 4.
New Hope will face Region 1 No. 4 seed Senatobia in the opening round of the playoffs. Last season, New Hope played in the Class 5A North State championship series.
“Really proud of how this team has put everything together,” New Hope coach Lee Boyd said. “We lost a great group of seniors last year, so we had some questions. We didn’t have a lot of worry because we knew this team had some athletes. Still, you have to come up with a few answers, and we were able to do that early in the year.”
New Hope has won 11 of its last 12 games. The Trojans are averaging 10.6 runs per game. By comparison, the 2014 Class 5A State championship squad averaged 7.5 runs per game.
Seniors Drew Pounders and Nick Sims and junior Tyler Murphy check in at .400 or better. The Trojans have hit 21 home runs.
On the mound, sophomore Ryan Burt has won all seven of his starts and has eight wins overall. A diverse pitching staff has found time for eight pitchers.
“The team has hit one through nine this year,” Boyd said. “That is what separates state championship teams from the rest. How far can you go down your lineup with players producing? The pitching may have been a little better than expected. Fortunately, the run support has been there on the nights where it is not at its best.”
Caledonia (13-11) will open the playoffs with Region 3 champion Yazoo City after a fourth-place finish in Class 4A, Region 2 play.
West Lowndes (7-7) will face Region 7 runner-up Sebastopol after a third-place finish in Class 1A, Region 6.
Hamilton (15-5) will face Region 7 No. 4 seed Leake County after winning the Class 1A, Region 6 regular-season title.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Class 6A
Starkville vs. Tupelo
Friday at Tupelo, 6 p.m.
Saturday at Starkville, 2 p.m.
Monday at Tupelo, 6 p.m.
Class 5A
West Point vs. Cleveland Central
Friday at Cleveland, 6 p.m.
Saturday at West Point, 6 p.m.
Monday at Cleveland, 6 p.m.
Class 4A
New Hope vs. Senatobia
Friday at New Hope, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday at Senatobia, 6:30 p.m.
Monday at New Hope, 6:30 p.m.
Caledonia vs. Yazoo City
Friday at Yazoo City, 6 p.m.
Saturday at Caledonia, 6 p.m.
Monday at Yazoo City, 6 p.m.
Class 1A
West Lowndes vs. Sebastopol
Thursday at Sebastopol, 5 p.m.
Thursday at Sebastopol, 7 p.m.
Friday at West Lowndes, 5 p.m.
Hamilton vs. Leake County
Thursday at Hamilton, 4 p.m.
Thursday at Hamilton, 6 p.m.
Friday at Leake County, 3 p.m.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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