STARKVILLE — Riley Dawkins and Jackson Owen have formed a battery that would make the Energizer bunny jealous.
The lefty pitcher and power-hitting catcher just keep going and going and going, no matter which baseball field the two set foot on or what uniforms they don: Rec baseball with Swing Elite, showcase ball with the East Coast Sox; spring seasons with Starkville High School.
“I’ve been throwing to him all my life,” Dawkins said of Owen.
So it was only fitting that the pair of Starkville seniors chose to sign their letters of intent to play college baseball together Wednesday afternoon in the Starkville library. Their destinations won’t be the same — Dawkins is headed to Southern Miss; Owen to Northeast Mississippi Community College — but the duo got to celebrate jointly one more time.
“It’s really cool to see the relationship we have moving on to the next level,” Dawkins said.
Starkville High baseball coach Luke Adkins said the pair of seniors are leaders within the Yellow Jackets’ program.
“All our other guys gravitate toward them,” Adkins said. “They’re really kind of the spark plug that makes us go.”
Now, Dawkins and Owen will have one last season with the Jackets before heading off to their own futures. Dawkins will follow in his coach’s footsteps in Hattiesburg: Adkins started his college baseball career at Southern Miss before transferring to Mississippi State.
“To have a kid kind of follow in the same path, it’s really kind of special,” Adkins said. “It’s been kind of neat for me to be able to reconnect with them that way as well.”
Dawkins’ first NCAA Division I offer came from Louisiana Tech, but when an assistant coach with the Bulldogs left for Southern Miss, the lefty soon received an offer from the Golden Eagles as well. Dawkins loved the campus and the team facilities and jumped at the chance to play for what Adkins called a “top-tier program.”
“Year in, year out, they’re competing for not only their conference but also regional berths,” Adkins said. “It’s been that way for a long time, even when I was playing.”
With a fastball touching 90 miles per hour, a developing curveball and a change-up he hopes will befuddle right-handed hitters, Dawkins hopes to help sustain that success in Hattiesburg. But even when his playing career is over, he will be happy to be at the school.
“Going to Southern Miss, I just want to get better as a player each and every day on and off the field,” Dawkins said. “When baseball does run out, I know I’ll have a good school to have a good degree and continue after that.”
Adkins said it’s rewarding to see players like Dawkins pursue their college dreams and receive an education in the process. He was similarly happy for Owen, who built a relationship with Northeast coach Richy Harrelson and announced his commitment July 30 after the COVID-19 pandemic shortened his junior season and altered his recruiting process.
“It made it tough for schools to recruit, since they didn’t have anything to recruit off of,” Owen said.
Still, Owen found a home in Booneville, and Adkins said the catcher figures to be just as successful as Dawkins will be.
“Jackson Owen, I think, is going to tear it up,” the coach said. “I have no doubt that within the next year or two, he’ll be in the same league with Riley.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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