WEST POINT — Starkville High School players weren’t happy when they were hit by pitches in Tuesday’s road game at West Point.
So Yellow Jackets coach Luke Adkins helped take the sting away.
“I was like, ‘Man, you’ve gotta be pumped,'” he told his aching players, “because those walks, those hit by pitches — especially with those guys — turn into triples, because they’re gonna take second base and more than likely take third.”
Between Jaden James, Ethan Pulliam, Jack Perry and Tae Lucious — all players with the capacity to run a 6.5 60-yard dash — Starkville is “really, really blessed with some speed on this team,” Adkins said. “The more guys we get on base — the more hit by pitches — the more damage we can do.”
On Tuesday, as the Green Wave (1-2) issued 12 walks and hit five batters in a 12-2 Starkville win in five innings, the Yellow Jackets (2-0) did the damage of which they knew they were capable. Starkville scored four runs in the first inning and another in the second. In the fourth, they scored five without the benefit of a single hit, and the same was true in a two-run fifth. The Jackets had just five hits in the game, but they took full advantage of the free bases West Point pitchers Xavier Moody, Rhett Ketchum and Carson Taylor so willingly gave out.
“It’s mostly inexperience,” West Point coach Blake Hutchison said. “They’ve got good enough stuff to get hitters out. I feel like they’re pressing a little bit, trying to make the perfect pitch rather than pitching to contact. I think we’ve got a pretty good defense behind them; we’ve just gotta understand you don’t have to strike everybody out. Let them hit it, put it in play, and let us play defense behind them.”
Apart from walks and hit batsmen, four Starkville runs came in on wild pitches or passed balls.
But while West Point’s hurlers struggled with their command, Starkville junior Mason Thurlow settled down to have an effective outing. After walking the bases full in the bottom of the first, hitting West Point catcher John Austin Ricks with a pitch and allowing another run to score on a wild pitch, Thurlow struck out three straight Green Wave hitters to end the threat. He worked a clean second and third with one walk in each frame, striking out six batters in all. In the team’s postgame huddle, Thurlow “was one of the guys I bragged on,” Adkins said.
Junior Sam Hunt finished the job for the Jackets, pitching a scoreless fourth and fifth inning to end the game on the mercy rule. Hunt gave up West Point’s only hit — an infield single up the middle for Ketchum — with two out in the bottom of the fifth.
Lucious led Starkville by going 2 for 2 with a pair of walks. The East Mississippi Community College baseball and football commit was happy to improve on a hitless performance in the Jackets’ 14-1 rout of New Hope on Saturday.
“He has got some of the most natural talent that I’ve seen,” Adkins said. “He has stepped right back into baseball, and it’s like he has been practicing every day. He’s just one of those special kind of kids. He’s got a really good eye at the plate. From a leadoff perspective, he’s kind of what you want.”
Lucious and Starkville have a tough week ahead, playing home games against East Webster on Thursday and Amory on Friday before facing West Lauderdale and Oak Grove on Saturday.
West Point will play at Kosciusko on Thursday.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
