There have been times this season when the New Hope High School baseball team has been its worst enemy.
New Hope coach Lee Boyd admits his team has kicked the ball around on occasions, hasn’t pitched as well as everyone would have liked, and has relied on its hitting to bail it out.
In the second season, though, the Trojans have found ways to put the pieces together. And while there have been close calls, New Hope stands two wins away from having a chance to play for its eighth state championship.
At 7 p.m. Thursday, New Hope (27-5) will play host to Kosciusko (18-13) at Trojan Field in Game 1 of the best-of-three Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 4A North State title series.
“In the playoffs, it has been like a complete role reversal,” Boyd said. “We have had some timely hits and some timely home runs and we have pitched it really well, so I hope those two teams come together — the good offensive team and the good pitching team — and play together for a series because I think we will need that this series.”
The winner will face the winner of the South State title series between East Central and Vancleave next week at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Times and dates for the best-of-three series for all six MHSAA classifications will be set at a later date.
New Hope advanced by defeating Senatobia, Mooreville, and Ripley, while Kosciusko comes in riding a four-game winning streak after beating Caledonia and Amory (6-5 in nine innings, 7-6) in the two previous rounds. Kosciusko, the No. 3 seed from Region 4, beat Corinth in three games in the opening round.
New Hope beat Kosciusko 6-4 on April 10 and 13-3 on April 13 as part of an 8-0 run through Region 4. Boyd feels having home-field advantage will be important in the series, but he also knows Kosciusko is a scrappy team that will make New Hope earn everything it gets, just like Mooreville and Ripley did in the last two series.
“Kosy played us well the first time,” Boyd said. “The Mooreville series, we’re five outs from going home and we get a big home run there (from Ryan Burt). Then you’re down three runs to Ripley in the fifth (in Game 2) and you lose that game you’re going back to their place for Game 3. To come back and win that game was huge. I was proud of our guys and excited about that never-give-up attitude that we have had the last two series.”
Boyd admitted he doesn’t know why the pitching has improved in the postseason. He said Burt, a left-hander, has been solid, as evidenced by his 10-1 record and 1.71 earned run average. Payton Springfield is second on the team with six wins and first in innings pitched (59 1/3). He has allowed 71 hits and 29 walks and struck out 74.
“Ryan has thrown the ball well in spots all year and so has Springfield,” Boyd said. “Springfield really didn’t have his best stuff throughout the year. We did throw him against some bigger programs like the Tupelos and the Starkvilles and teams like that that swing the bat really well. He has really gotten it together in his last three or four starts.
“Nick (Sims) has, too. Nick has come in and pitched well in some clutch spots.”
Sims leads New Hope with a .406 average. Drew Pounders is next at .377, while Tyler Murphy is hitting .363 and Burt is hitting .349. Rye McGlothin leads the team with eight home runs. Springfield has four home runs, while Bryce Braddock has four.
Senior catcher Cade Odom believes the Trojans have found ways to pick each other up when one part of the equation hasn’t worked well. In the last series against Ripley, Odom credited Burt for his pitching effort in Game 1 and McGlothin for supplying the power with one home run in each game.
“That was an example where the rest of the team wasn’t performing like we wanted to, but when we weren’t doing what we wanted to, somebody else stepped up and did it,” Odom said. “That is how it has been all year. There have been a few games where everybody in the lineup has performed at their best, but it can be top half, top four, bottom five or reverse. That is where we have picked up the slack.”
McGlothin said the team chemistry has been a constant and has enabled the “brothers” to pick each other whenever necessary. He said those bonds were forged in Propst Park and on travel teams growing up where many of the Trojans played together. McGlothin said working with his friends on the high school team has given everyone a chance to strengthen those ties and to play for each other.
“We do it for the name on the front of our jersey, not the back,” McGlothin said. “We try not to get too big headed about ourselves and not just focus on us. Even if you go 0-for-3 and the team wins, that is all that matters: the team.”
Even though Boyd feels the Trojans haven’t swung the bat as well as they are capable of in the playoffs, he believes the pieces are primed to do what they need to do to help push New Hope into the title series.
“I just hope the offensive team from the regular season shows up for this round,” Boyd said.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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