STARKVILLE — Fall Signing Day was quite an eventful one at Starkville High School as two seniors signed their National Letters of Intent on Wednesday afternoon.
Families, friends and teammates gathered inside the main library of SHS as the school honored baseball players Chipper Hornburger and Brennon Wright.
The pipeline of Starkville baseball continues in a big way with two all-division players who will be continuing their baseball careers at the junior college level.
Hornburger will be headed to Coahoma Community College and Wright will be playing at Meridian Community College next year.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Starkville head coach Luke Adkins said. “That’s what I do it for. These guys have been major contributors for us for the last four years, and it’s only continued.”
Hornburger found his stride last season and has consistently been one of Starkville’s fastest players in recent years.
He wasn’t afraid to use his speed as a junior, stealing 28 bases for the Yellow Jackets while hitting .298 with 25 runs scored and a .383 on-base percentage.
CCC was the perfect landing spot for Hornburger, who found that the Tigers’ outfield situation was what he was looking for.
“I know a couple friends that play with them and they were telling me that they needed someone to control the outfield and lead off for them,” Hornburger said. “I think I can play a big part of that and on the bases because of my speed.”
Alongside Hornburger, Wright has been a constant at first base and on the mound for the Yellow Jackets during his career, though he was sidelined from pitching last season after getting Tommy John surgery last November.
He’s more than made up for it at the plate, hitting .352 in 21 games as a junior with 19 hits, 17 runs scored and 16 RBIs. He’s hit nearly .340 throughout his entire high school career, posting an insane .475 on-base percentage.
Wright has been committed to MCC since January and has been counting down the days for Wednesday’s official signing day.
“I knew right as I got on campus that this is definitely where I need to be,” Wright said. “I definitely gave it some time to talk it over with my family, but eventually, I came to the decision that this is where I wanted to be.”
Both can take deep sighs of relief and play loose during their senior years, not having to worry about making a college decision, which is a big weight off their shoulders.
For the teammates who were there, Wednesday wasn’t just a sigh of relief but a moment of inspiration for the younger players on the team for their individual baseball careers.
“To me, there’s nothing more rewarding and to have the rest of the team here to celebrate, hopefully that motivates our younger guys to want to do the same,” Adkins said.
Starkville baseball still has one player left to complete his NLI — Ethan Pulliam, who verbally committed in December 2020 to Mississippi State.
Pulliam is expected to make his commitment official within the next month or so.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.