1. sports
2. baseball

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Sunday, June 7, 2015
OHS BaSeBall CHampiOnSHip
A word from OHS coach
ROSTER
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Matthew Guyton
Carson Stinnett
Jack Clemons
Blake Parham
Wes Snellgrove
Jason Barber
Sage Mullins
Giles Lamar
Ryan Young
Chase Kessinger
Duncan Graeber
Ben Bianco
Jack McClure
Grae Kessinger
Ryan Smith
Drew Phillips
Will Christian
Houston Roth
Dalton Markle
Matthew Finn
Preston Perkins
Walker Abel
Korbin Harmon
Reid Markle
Parker Stinnett
Drew Bianco
Tyler Smith
Tag Gatlin
C.J. Terrell
Quentin Wilfawn
Jack Burkes
www.oxfordeagle.com
R E S U LT S
CHRIS BAUGHMAN
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Head coach: Chris Baughman
Assistants: Daniel Parrish,
Chase Goolsby, David Webb,
Steve Furney, Logan Dodson
T
en years ago, I stood in the
dugout alongside Brian
Harvey, Bradley Roberson, and
Steven Blackmon watching the
most talented group of baseball players
make school history by winning the
first-ever baseball state championship.
I remember that hot, humid
Mississippi day like it was yesterday.
Cade Hoggard blasting a home run off
of the scoreboard, Chad Cregar belting
a grand slam to break the all-time RBI
record for the school, and Wes Grillette
coming on in relief to shut down
the Petal Panthers. A lot can and has
changed in 10 years, but what has not
is the feeling inside of watching a group
of 15-18-year-olds pile one on top of one
another after once again forever etching
their name in the history books of this
great school’s legacy.
This year will no doubt be unforgettable for any person affiliated with
this team, but I have been blessed with
a front-row seat day in and day out to
watch the magical season play out. The
contributions by each and every player
throughout the season are far too numerous to place in this 500-word column,
but the memories created by this outstanding and talented group of young
men greatly outnumber the individual
contributions.
It was obvious to any spectator that
the 2015 Oxford Charger baseball team
will be remembered as the most talented
and arguably the best team in school his-
BRUCE NEWMAN
tory. However, it is without a doubt the
characteristics of this team off the field
that will always make them special to me.
Watching a group of juniors and seniors
accept, mold, and lead younger players
on the team is not only what sets this
group apart but also exemplifies what
being in high school athletics should
mean.
Day in and day out, this team desired
to be great. After each at-bat, players
discussed how they were pitched, what
a pitcher looked like, and what they
expected their next at-bat like no other
team I have coached in the past. They
consistently picked each other up when
someone was down, and they praised
each other for their accomplishments.
They pushed each other in the weight
room and on the baseball field, and
they held each other to the highest standard, which was set at the beginning of
the year. They laughed together, sang
Whitney Houston together, and ultimately celebrated together.
Ten years can change a lot about a
person. What little hair I have left from
the 2005 championship team has now
turned grayer. I have married the love
of my life and am now blessed beyond
measure to be a father to a rambunctious
2-year-old.
However, what has remained the same
is that feeling of witnessing firsthand the
joy of hard work, love and commitment
paying off.
To the 2015 Oxford Charger baseball
team, thank you. You deserve this.
2/28
Ripley
2/28
East Union
W, 14-0
3/7
New Albany
W, 8-1
3/7
Itawamba AHS
W, 15-0
3/11
Cabot, Ark.*
W, 12-4
3/12
Sallisaw, Okla.*
3/12
Checotah, Okla.*
W, 13-4
3/16
Arlington, Tenn.
W, 5-1
3/17
Kossuth
W, 5-3
3/19
Lafayette
W, 2-1
3/21
Houston
W, 9-2
3/24
New Hope^
W, 9-0
3/27
New Hope^
W, 3-1
3/28
Houston
W, 7-2
3/30
Saltillo^
W, 10-0
4/2
Saltillo^
W, 13-1
4/4
Tupelo
W, 8-1
4/6
Reavis, Ill.
4/6
Collierville, Tenn.
4/7
West Point^
W, 10-0
4/9
West Point^
W, 5-3
4/11
South Panola
W, 15-4
4/11
Olive Branch
W, 10-4
4/14
New Hope^
W, 4-0
4/20
Water Valley
W, 8-0
4/20
Saltillo^
W, 13-3
4/21
West Point^
W, 16-0
4/28
Center Hill%
W, 2-0
4/30
Center Hill%
W, 7-1
5/5
Germantown%
W, 5-0
5/7
Germantown%
W, 12-2
5/12
New Hope%
W, 3-2
5/14
New Hope%
L, 1-0
5/16
New Hope%
W, 10-3
5/19
George County%
W, 4-0
5/21
George County%
W, 9-0
*—spring break tournament
^—Division 2-5A game
%—MHSAA Class 5A playoff game
W, 7-0
W, 7-5
W, 10-0
W, 6-0
www.oxfordeagle.com
Best of oxford
friday, June 5, 2015
Congratulations
CHARGERS!
Grae Kessinger #15 and Chase Kessinger #11
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Sunday, June 7, 2015
OHS BaSeBall CHampiOnSHip
www.oxfordeagle.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 5
Chargers In The Polls
Page 22
Kessinger’s big night against former team advances Oxford
Page 6
Talent, depth make Chargers an easy target
Page 23
Oxford blanks Germantown for 30th win
Page 8
Barber’s perfect game highlights hot start for Oxford
Page 24
Oxford cruises past Mavs, into North Half championship
Page 9
Roth’s arm, Bianco’s bat propel Oxford against New Hope
Page 25
Bianco’s walk-off blast gives Oxford lead in North Half finals
Page 11
Offense backs Barber’s no-hitter against Saltillo
Page 26
Walk-off homer ends OHS’s perfect season
Page 12
Oxford piles on against West Point, moves to 20-0
Page 27
Chargers pound Trojans, advance to state championship
Page 13
Oxford caps twinbill sweep with rout, stays undefeated
Page 28
Roth baffles Rebs, puts Oxford on brink of championship
Page 15
Chargers rout West Point to cap perfect season
Page 29
Oxford routs Rebels to claim 5A state championship
Page 20
Timely plays, hits help Oxford squeak by in playoff opener
Page 30
COLUMN: This nucleus of Chargers isn’t done winning big
www.oxfordeagle.com
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
CHARGERS IN THE POLLS
USA Today Super 25
1. Parkview (Ga.)
2. Bishop Gorman (Nev.)
3. OXFORD
4. Alexander (Texas)
5. Pleasant Grove (Utah)
6. Edwardsville (Ill.)
7. Archbishop Moeller (Ohio)
8. College Park (Calif.)
9. Don Bosco Prep (N.J.)
10. Providence (N.C.)
11. St. Rita (Ill.)
12. Archbishop McCarthy (Fla.)
13. Canyon del Oro (Ariz.)
14. Owasso (Okla.)
15. Cullman (Ala.)
16. San Dimas (Calif.)
17. Wando (S.C.)
18. Barbe (La.)
19. Western Branch (Va.)
20. La Costa Canyon (Calif.)
21. Dallas Jesuit (Texas)
22. Park Vista (Fla.)
23. Buford (Ga.)
24. Rock Canyton (Colo.)
25. James Martin (Texas)
MaxPreps Xcellent 25
1. Parkview
2. Canyon del Oro
3. San Dimas
4. OXFORD
5. Bishop Gorman
6. Oak Ridge (Texas)
7. Dallas Jesuit
8. Buford
9. Don Bosco Prep
10. College Park
11. Alexander
12. Archbishop Moeller
13. Columbus (Fla.)
14. Archbishop McCarthy
15. Venice (Fla.)
16. Buchanan (Calif.)
17. Edwardsville
18. St. Francis (Calif.)
19. Barbe
20. Jasper (Ind.)
21. Providence
22. Keller (Texas)
23. Chicago Mt. Carmel (Ill.)
24. Reagan (Texas)
25. Park Vista
Baseball America
1. Parkview
2. Alexander
3. Bishop Gorman
4. Venice
5. OXFORD
6. San Dimas
7. Canyon del Oro
8. Buford
9. DeSoto Central (Miss.)
10. Columbus
11. McCracken Co. (Ky.)
12. College Park
13. Dallas Jesuit
14. Archbishop McCarthy
15. Don Bosco Prep
16. Buchanan
17. Barbe
18. Cullman
19. Owasso
20. Archbishop Moeller
21. St. Francis
22. Pleasant Grove
23. Greenbrier (Ga.)
24. Calallen (Texas)
25. Huntington Beach (Calif.)
Perfect Game
1. Parkview
2. Buford
3. Bishop Gorman
4. Barbe
5. College Park
6. OXFORD
7. Archbishop McCarthy
8. Oviedo (Fla.)
9. Cullman
10. Venice
11. San Clemente (Calif.)
12. JSerra Catholic (Calif.)
13. Archbishop Moeller
14. St. Thomas More (La.)
15. Canyon del Oro
16. Owasso
17. DeSoto Central
18. Wando
19. Columbus
20. Mesquite (Ariz.)
21. Westminster Christian (Fla.)
22. Bentonville (Ark.)
23. Buchanan
24. St. Ritaw
25. San Dimas
Congratulations to all of our
OXFORD
CHARGERS
on an amazing season and for being
State Champions!
SWAYZE ALFORD
ATTORNEY AT LAW
662-234-2025
www.swayzealford.com
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Sunday, June 7, 2015
OHS BaSeBall CHampiOnSHip
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PRESEASON OUTLOOK
Talent, depth make Chargers an easy target heading into 2015 season
Original date of publication: Feb. 27, 2015
By Davis Potter
Sports Editor
Oxford spent last season hunting the
best team in its division. In an ironic
twist, the Chargers may very well be the
hunted in 2015.
There’s an entire outfield to replace as
well as some pieces in the infield off a
team that went 26-10 and made a run to
the Class 5A North Half championship
series a season ago, but Oxford isn’t lacking for talent. With three verbal commitments to the Southeastern Conference
school in its backyard and a handful of
junior college signees on the roster, it’s no
secret Oxford will be one of the state’s top
teams once again.
“We’ve got a big bullseye on our back,
but we’re going to accept that role and
kind of see how well we play with it,”
Oxford coach Chris Baughman said.
It starts on the mound, where the
Chargers may have the state’s top 1-2
punch in Ole Miss commits Jason Barber
and Houston Roth, both juniors.
Barber went 6-4 with a 2.11 earned run
average last year and racked up a teamhigh 81 strikeouts. Roth, the reigning
EAGLE Player of the Year, burst onto the
scene as a sophomore, allowing just 18
earned runs in 14 starts to post a teambest 1.70 ERA. He went 12-1 with his
only loss coming in the postseason.
The staff got another boost with the
addition of right-hander Grae Kessinger,
another 2016 Ole Miss commit who
moved in from Center Hill in the summer. The son of former Rebel Kevin
Kessinger and the grandson of Don,
Kessinger will get a spot start here and
there before eventually moving into relief
as the closer, Baughman said.
CONGRATULATIONS
on a Great Year
and
State Championship
OXFORD CHARGERS!
1610 Jackson Avenue West • Telephone (662) 234-2220
www.bankcom.com
BRUCE NEWMAN
Oxford coach Chris Baughman knew
every opponent would give his squad
its best shot this season.
“This is probably the deepest staff we’ve
ever had, which five years ago when I took
the job, that was my goal,” Baughman
said. “I wanted to develop depth on the
mound.”
But most of Kessinger’s innings will be
spent as the Chargers’ starting shorstop.
Known for his elite glove, Kessinger will
immediately upgrade an Oxford defense
that has sometimes struggled to make the
routine play in the past.
“He’s probably the best defensive player
I’ve coached bar none,” Baughman said.
“He’s smooth at short. He makes all the
routine plays, and he makes those wow
plays that we’ve never really had anybody
make.”
Northwest Community College signee
Jack McClure is back for his senior season at catcher, senior Drew Phillips is
back at first base, and Roth and Barber
will man second base and third base,
respectively, when they’re not pitching.
Roth will eventually move to the outfield
once freshman second baseman Drew
Bianco returns from a preseason injury.
See TARGET on Page 19
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OHS BaSeBall CHampiOnSHip
Congratulations
Sunday, June 7, 2015
FROM PARENTS
OF SENIORS
From left, Walker Abel, Dalton Markle, Matthew Guyton, Drew Phillips,
Ryan Smith, Jack McClure, Ryan Young, Wes Snellgrove
Congratulations
FROM PARENTS OF
SENIOR DIAMOND GIRLS
Back row (from left): Jasmine Minor, Natori Terrell, McKayla Frierson, Lindsey Ann Hill, Reed Ashton Kevin,
Sally Rychlak, Alli Hayward, Carson Luke, Lilli Alford
Front row (from left): Eliza Williams, Caroline Powell, Meghan Kennedy, Lizzie Kelly,
Gabby Joyce, Ally Collier, Mary Beth Lively, Brooke Riley
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SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
www.oxfordeagle.com
P R E - D I V I S I O N P L AY
Barber’s perfect game highlights hot start for Oxford
BY DAVIS POTTER
Sports Editor
THOMAS GRANING
Jason Barber’s outing against Itawamba AHS in early
March was a sign of things to come as the junior righthander fanned 13 in a perfect game.
Oxford played 11 games before
it got to its Division 2-5A schedule, and it was during those contests the Chargers showed glimpses of the dominant team they’d
become over the course of the
spring.
The Chargers started with
seven straight on the road, pitching shutouts in three of them.
They outscored Ripley and East
Union a combined 21-0 in the
New Albany Classic to pick up
their first two wins before notching two more in a tournament in
Amory on March 7.
Jason Barber set the tone in
the last of those two tournament
games for what would be a historic season.
Oxford’s ace was virtually
untouchable against Itawamba
AHS, tossing a five-inning perfect game in a 15-0 rout for the
Chargers. The junior right-hander
usually sits in the upper-80s with
his fastball, but he revved it up to
the low 90s to blow Indian after
Indian away to the tune of 13
strikeouts.
“The ball was absolutely
exploding out of his hand that
night,” Oxford coach Chris
Baughman said.
Next up was spring break, but
inclement weather washed away
the annual tournament Oxford
hosts at Edwin Moak Field that
week. Oxford instead tripped to
the Midwest to take on teams
from Arkansas and Oklahoma
and won all three games it played.
The Chargers needed eight
innings to get past Cabot
(Arkansas), 12-4, on March 11 and
held off Sallisaw (Oklahoma) for
a 7-5 win on March 12 before easing past Checotah (Oklahoma),
13-4, later in the day.
Oxford played in front of its
home fans for the first time
March 16 against Arlington
(Tennessee), a game the Chargers
won, 5-1. The Chargers took
care of Kossuth before crosstown foe Lafayette gave Oxford
all it wanted on March 19.
See START on Page 19
Congratulations
OXFORD
CHARGERS
on your amazing season!
Your
Friendly Neighborhood...since
Bank
1910.
662-234-2821
www.fnboxford.com
We are proud of
each of you!
Will Christian
Congratulations to you
and our “Skeeters” for a
great year and a great state
championship win!
We love you,
Mom, Ted, Dad and Leigh
www.oxfordeagle.com
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
9
GAME 13: OHS 3, NEW HOPE 1
Roth’s arm, Bianco’s bat propel Oxford to another win over Trojans
Original date of publication: March 29, 2015
BY DAVIS POTTER
Sports Editor
Oxford’s baseball team is right
where it wants to be.
The Chargers finished off a weeklong sweep of New Hope with a 3-1
victory Friday at Ole Miss’ OxfordUniversity Stadium. The win kept
Oxford (13-0, 2-0 Division 2-5A)
undefeated and gave the Chargers an
early leg up in their quest to win the
division championship.
“We talked (Thursday) about how
we haven’t started off 2-0 in the
division since we got to 5A,” Oxford
coach Chris Baughman said. “It’s
always been that we’ve split against
them. I know we haven’t started off
2-0 against them, and that’s what we
HIGHLIGHTS
— Freshman Drew Bianco
breaks scoreless tie with two-run
triple in fourth
— Houston Roth surrenders
three hits and fans eight in a
complete-game win
— Oxford beats New Hope for
second time in four days to start
2-0 in Division 2-5A play
wanted to do.”
Doing it against the defending
Class 5A champion and its biggest
rival made for a sweet four-day stretch
for Oxford, which started the week
with a shutout of the Trojans (5-4, 0-2)
in Columbus on Tuesday.
“When we beat them down there, it
was great. But it wasn’t enough,” said
junior right-hander Houston Roth,
who went the distance to improve
to 3-0. “With what they’ve done the
past two years, I feel like we’ve got a
strong team this year. We just wanted
to come out and pound them again.
“We all think it’s the best rivalry in
high school baseball in Mississippi,
and to come out here and get two on
them, it’s just huge.”
Roth and New Hope’s Josh
Stillman, who surrendered just five
hits and struck out six in the loss,
matched each other pitch for pitch
through the first three frames before
Oxford broke through in the fourth.
See PROPEL on Page 19
BRUCE NEWMAN
Oxford’s Drew Bianco (left) celebrates after hitting a
two-run triple against New Hope at Oxford-University
Stadium on March 27.
Congratulations from High Point!
265 N. Lamar Blvd • Oxford Square North • 2311 Jackson Ave. W. • Oxford Galleria
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Sunday, June 7, 2015
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Congratulations
CHARGERS
Way
to Go
Drew!
A great year
#17!
PHILLIPS
FAMILY
HOLDINGS, LLC
www.oxfordeagle.com
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
11
G A M E 1 5 : O H S 1 0 , S A LT I L LO 0
Offense backs Barber’s no-hitter as Oxford coasts past Tigers in five
Original date of publication: March 31, 2015
BY DAVIS POTTER
HIGHLIGHTS
Sports Editor
Jason Barber wasn’t perfect, but he was
close enough.
Oxford’s junior right-hander overwhelmed Saltillo’s lineup from the start,
hurling a no-hitter and helping the
Chargers (15-0, 3-0 Division 2-5A) keep
their perfect record intact with a 10-0 victory in five innings at Edwin Moak Field
on Monday.
It was the second no-no of the season
for Barber, who threw a perfect game
against Itawamba AHS earlier this month.
The Ole Miss commit was two hit batsmen away from turning in another one.
“It’s baseball. It happens,” Barber said
of plunking a pair of Tigers in the fourth
inning. “It’s disappointing, but at the
same time, it’s great to have another good
outing.”
Barber (5-0) went back and forth
between his off-speed pitches and his
fastball early, but once he and his coaches noticed Saltillo (4-9, 1-2) was slow to
catch up, he consistently overpowered the
Tigers with heaters on the inside part of
the plate.
“They were trying to shorten up and
just get their swings real short on me and
let me provide the power,” he said. “I just
tried to bust them in.”
Barber struck out the side in the second, fanned a pair in the fourth and
punched out two more in the fifth, finishing with eight strikeouts in all. He still
— Three of Ben Bianco’s four RBIs
come on second-inning homer
— Jason Barber hurls second
no-hitter of season to improve to 5-0
THOMAS GRANING
Ben Bianco rounds third and scores against Saltillo on March 30 at Edwin
Moak Field. Bianco also hit a home run in the five-inning win.
hasn’t allowed an earned run this season
and has 48 punchouts against four walks
in 28 innings of work.
“I just really worked on trying to get
ahead of batters because whenever you
walk them, that’s just a baserunner out
there,” Barber said. “I’d much rather give
Way to Go Chargers!
up a hit than walk somebody. I try to
challenge everybody this year.”
Sais Oxford coach Chris Baughman,
“He was electric, and his fastball was just
great. They had a good approach on him,
but he’s just that good. When he’s on,
he’s that good.”
The Chargers’ offense gave Barber all
the support he needed in the first with
Ben Bianco’s RBI single and a two-run
single from Drew Phillips three batters
later for a quick 3-0 lead. Bianco added
a three-run home run in the second for
good measure, and Matthew Guyton’s
RBI double in fifth ended the game early.
Right-hander Xan Reese took the loss
for Saltillo, yielding five earned runs on
five hits while striking out four and walking four in four innings.
Bianco finished 2-for-2 with four RBIs
while Guyton had a pair of hits in four
at-bats. Barber and Grae Kessinger each
had an RBI.
Oxford will make the trip to Saltillo on
Thursday for a rematch, weather permitting. The goal is to treat it like any other
game after Monday’s lopsided victory.
“They’re extremely focused on what
they want to accomplish, and sometimes
I feel like I’m preaching to the choir, but
I’ve got to preach it because that’s my
job,” Baughman said. “I want to remind
them each chance I get that they’ve got
an opportunity to do something special.”
—[email protected]
Congratulations Chargers!
from
“THE” STUDIO
Deborah Kaye School of Dance
To contact, email Debbie Paine at
[email protected]
DKSD-Deborah Kaye School of Dance
Floral • Bridal Registry • Fine Gifts
234.2515 oxfordfloral.com
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SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
www.oxfordeagle.com
GAME 20: OHS 10, WEST POINT 0
Oxford finds offense late, piles on against Green Wave to go to 20-0
Original date of publication: April 8, 2015
BY DAVIS POTTER
Sports Editor
At this point, Oxford baseball
coach Chris Baughman is trying
make sure his team isn’t getting
bored.
Oxford cruised to another win
Tuesday at Edwin Moak Field,
routing West Point 10-0 in five
innings to improve to 5-0 in
Division 2-5A play and clinch a
playoff berth. The victory also
kept the Chargers’ perfect season
intact at 20-0.
Oxford had to figure out West
Point starter Stefan Moore early
on, but the Chargers hardly broke
a sweat otherwise, something
that’s becoming the norm.
The Chargers have pitched
three straight shutouts and have
run-ruled four of their last six
opponents. Of those opponents,
only Tupelo and Saltillo have
scored on Oxford, both teams
mustering just a single run.
But Baughman thought his
team was too lackadaisical at
times Tuesday despite the lopsided score.
“I don’t think we came out
with the energy I wanted us to,”
Baughman said. “I wasn’t pleased
with our effort. We finally kicked
it in gear in the fourth (inning),
but I thought we could’ve come
out with a better effort.”
With ace Jason Barber on the
mound for Oxford, the Green
Wave (4-8, 1-4 Division 2-5A)
didn’t have many chances to
threaten. Barber plunked the first
HIGHLIGHTS
— Oxford clinches playoff
berth with seven games left
— Jason Barber runs season-long streak of consecutive innings without allowing
an earned run to 33 in complete-game win
BRUCE NEWMAN
Grae Kessinger slides in safely at third as West Point’s Chris
Gibson awaits the throw at Edwin Moak Field on April 7.
batter of the game and issued a
one-out walk later in the first, but
West Point didn’t get a runner
past first base the rest of the night.
Barber, a 2016 Ole Miss commit, eventually got into a groove,
retiring eight of the last nine batters he faced with the only exception reaching on an error in the
fifth. The right-hander fired a
two-hitter while striking out six to
move to 6-0 and has yet to allow
an earned run in 33 innings this
season.
—[email protected]
Congratulations
Chargers!
Steve Massengill
State Representative District 13
www.oxfordeagle.com
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
13
G A M E 2 6 : O H S 1 3 , S A LT I L LO 3
Oxford caps twinbill sweep with rout of Tigers to stay undefeated
Original date of publication: April 21, 2015
BY JAKE THOMPSON
Assistant Sports Editor
It was another doubleheader
day for the Oxford High baseball
team, and as they have been
all season, the results were the
same.
The Chargers defeated Saltillo
13-3 in six innings to cap a
sweep of the twinbill after beating Water Valley 8-0 at Edwin
Moak Field on Monday.
The wins kept Oxford perfect with a 26-0 record and
improved the Chargers to 8-0 in
Division 2-5A with the win over
Saltillo. The Chargers will go for
the undefeated regular season
tonight against West Point on
Senior Night.
In the nightcap, the Tigers
were the aggressor, roughing up
Oxford starter Grae Kessinger
and jumping out to a quick 2-0
lead due to a two-run home
run by second baseman Connor
Wade in the first inning. Saltillo
added another in the second for
a 3-0 lead.
Kessinger, who earned his
third win, struggled during his
outing Monday night, giving up
five hits along with the three
runs in the first two innings.
He managed to settle in in the
third and fourth innings, keeping Saltillo scoreless. After four
innings of work, Jason Barber
came in for two innings of relief
work.
“We just tried to get (Kessinger)
a start in case we need him down
“(Kessinger) knows this
game. He never gets too
high, never gets too low.
You watch him and you
wouldn’t know if we’re up
10, down 10 or tied. He’s
a tremendous leader.”
— COACH CHRIS BAUGHMAN
on Grae Kessinger’s demeanor
following early deficit
the road,” Oxford coach Chris
Baughman said. “He didn’t have
great stuff. He left pitches up
early, but he settled down in the
third and fourth and got us to
where we needed to be to get to
Jason.”
After putting his team in a
Congratulations
Sage Mullins (#8)
We are so proud of your awesome year!
- Dad, Mom, & McCall
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
three-run deficit, Kessinger
helped his own cause with a
bases-clearing, two-run double
to knot the game at 3-3 in the
bottom of the second. The third
run scored on a Saltillo throwing error. Kessinger went 1-for-2
with two walks and reached on
a fielder’s choice and finished
with three RBIs.
“(Kessinger) knows this game,”
Baughman said. “He never gets
too high, never gets too low. You
watch him and you wouldn’t
know if he was 0-for-4 or 4-for-4,
and you wouldn’t know if we’re
up 10, down 10 or tied. He’s a
tremendous leader.”
Oxford added one more run
in the second to take a 4-3 lead.
The Chargers scored 13 unanswered runs with two more in
HIGHLIGHTS
— Grae Kessinger, who
gets rare start on mound,
helps himself with two-run
double to erase early deficit
— Chargers score 13 unanswered runs to notch eighth
run-rule victory
the fourth, six runs in the fifth
and one more in the sixth to
force the run-rule to end the
game.
Catcher Jack McClure went
3-for-4 with two RBIs, and center
fielder Matthew Guyton went
2-for-3 and two RBIs as well.
—[email protected]
Amara Salon would
like to congratulate the
Oxford Chargers on their
State Championship.
We are so proud of all you
have accomplished!
Walk-ins welcome • (662) 234-0101 • 609 S. Lamar • Oxford • www.amarasalonoxfordms.com
14
Sunday, June 7, 2015
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www.oxfordeagle.com
Congratulations to you all. We love you and look forward to another
winning season next year.” -Your family and special friends
www.oxfordeagle.com
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
15
GAME 27: OHS 16, WEST POINT 0
Chargers rout West Point to cap perfect regular season
Original date of publication: April 22, 2015
Oxford makes
history, but
Chargers insist
‘there’s still work
left to be done’
HIGHLIGHTS
— Oxford clinches first
undefeated regular season in
school history
— Chargers bat around in
second to plate 11 runs, the
most they scored in a single
inning all season
BY DAVIS POTTER
Sports Editor
Never has a season for Oxford’s
baseball team been so perfect.
The Chargers overwhelmed yet
another opponent Tuesday night
at Edwin Moak Field to put a bow
on the first undefeated regular
season in school history with a
16-0 win over West Point. It was
the 27th shot an opponent had
at Oxford, but it ended in a 27th
victory for the Chargers.
“You can’t really find the words
to really describe it,” Oxford
senior catcher Jack McClure said.
“It’s awesome.”
Most of them haven’t been
close.
Oxford’s latest win was the
ninth to end early thanks to the
10-run mercy rule. The Chargers,
who went 9-0 in Division 2-5A
play, enter the MHSAA Class 5A
playoffs with 244 runs scored this
season while allowing just 40.
“You’ve got to give a lot of
credit to the coaches,” McClure
said. “They really worked with us
over the fall as well as during the
season, and they just do a good
job of making us individually better hitters. I can’t thank them
enough for what they do.”
Said junior right-hander
Houston Roth, “We have so
many great hitters on this team,
and then the pitching as well is
just dominant. All around, we’re
just a great team.”
Thanks to an 11-run second
inning that put Oxford well on
its way to another lopsided win,
— Jason Barber’s grand
slam gets Oxford rolling early
this team’s leadership and this
team’s desire to be great is definitely what’s driven them all year
long.”
Taking their best shots
BRUCE NEWMAN
Jason Barber (right) is congratulated by teammate Jack McClure after hitting a grand slam
against West Point on April 21 at Edwin Moak Field. The Chargers’ runaway win gave them their
first undefeated regular season in school history.
17 different Chargers played on
Senior Night. Roth, one of three
juniors committed to Ole Miss,
threw four innings of one-hit ball
while striking out four to pick up
his sixth win. Senior Walker Abel
retired the Green Wave in order
in the fifth.
Oxford batted around in the
second against West Point’s Ryan
Crowley and plated the most runs
it has in any inning this season.
The Chargers got RBI knocks
from Matthew Guyton and Drew
Phillips and a sacrifice fly from
Grae Kessinger before Jason
Barber provided the big blow in
his lone plate appearance with a
towering grand slam to left.
Crowley lasted just 1.1 innings
in the loss, allowing five hits and
walking six. Chris Gibson came
on to get the final two outs in the
frame but allowed an RBI double
to Ben Bianco and a two-run
single to Wes Snellgrove in the
third as the Chargers pushed the
lead to 15-0.
Oxford also scored three runs
on bases-loaded walks, the last
coming on Ryan Young’s free pass
in the fourth.
Abel went 2-for-3 with a pair of
singles. Bianco finished with two
RBIs while Roth drove in one.
“The leadership of this team is
what sets it apart because we’ve
had talented teams that would
lose games on Saturdays, have
letdowns or whatever it may be,”
Oxford coach Chris Baughman
said. “But this team’s character,
There have been a few scares
mixed in, including a 5-3 comeback win over the same West
Point team on the road earlier this month, but nobody had
enough to knock Oxford from
the ranks of the unbeaten.
“They’ve won games every
which way we could win games,
and I’m proud of them,”
Baughman said. “I love every one
of them. I love watching these
guys play, and I’m just proud of
what they’ve accomplished.”
The focus now shifts to the
postseason, where Oxford will
have a week off before starting
its second-round series next
Tuesday against either Center
Hill or Vicksburg in Oxford. The
Chargers aren’t worried as much
about their record as they are
capturing a state title they fell four
wins short of a season ago when
they were ousted in the North
Half finals.
“There’s still work left to be
done. We all know that,” McClure
said. “We all know what we want.
It’s the ultimate goal.”
—[email protected]
16
Sunday, June 7, 2015
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Championship season in a snap
photos by Bruce Newman and Thomas Graning
OHS BaSeBall CHampiOnSHip
Sunday, June 7, 2015
17
18
Sunday, June 7, 2015
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17
GREAT JOB #
Drew Phillips
www.oxfordeagle.com
- Mom, Ganna & Gandaddy, Gran & Boom, Bud & Lori, Me Me
www.oxfordeagle.com
Sunday, June 7, 2015
OHS BaSeBall CHampiOnSHip
Target: Baughman liked
makeup of team from start
Continued from Page 6
Joining Roth in the outfield will be some combination of Matthew Guyton, Ryan Young, Duncan
Graeber, Sage Mullins, Wes Snellgrove and Preston
Perkins. The group is tasked with replacing four outfielders lost to graduation, including starters Michael
Bianco, Chadwick Lamar and Tyler Jackson.
“It’s totally going to depend on who’s hot at the
plate,” Baughman said of the outfield rotation. “If
a kid’s hitting, then he’s going to be in the lineup.”
Even with all those pieces a year ago, Oxford
couldn’t get past Division 2-5A rival and reigning
state champ New Hope, which swept the Chargers
out of the playoffs. New Hope isn’t going anywhere
and Saltillo should make the division stronger, but
Baughman thinks this year’s version of the Chargers
could be the one to break through.
“I like our talent, and I really like our team,”
Baughman said. “But we’re going to have to make
some breaks, and we’re going to have to play well
throughout the course of the year for us to accomplish what I think we can accomplish.”
—[email protected]
19
Start: Oxford takes on Midwest, survives scare from LHS early
Continued from Page 8
Right-hander Houston
Roth and Lafayette lefty
Mack Bishop were locked
in a pitcher’s duel for a
majority of the night as the
game went to the seventh
inning deadlocked at 1.
Bishop got two quick outs
in the home half of the
frame before hitting Jack
McClure with a pitch.
Ben Bianco followed
with a single to get
McClure into scoring position, and Roth gave himself and his team the win
with a walk-off knock to
move the Chargers to 10-0.
“(Oxford) made one
more play than we did,”
Lafayette coach Patrick
Robey said afterward.
“Those things happen.
Their guy made the key hit
there at the end. There was
a lot of emotion. A lot of
pride on the line when we
play these guys.”
Oxford didn’t have
nearly as much trouble at
Houston two days later,
beating the Hilltoppers,
9-2, to continue its momentum. The Chargers started
division play at New Hope
on March 24 and went 21
more games without los-
ing.
“I think when we started
going through division play
and Jason and Houston
really started to click, I
think that we had chance
and we knew as coaches
that it was going to be real
special,” Oxford assistant
Daniel Parrish said.
—davis.potter
@oxfordeagle.com
Propel: Roth fans 8, works out of jam to preserve lead against rival
Continued from Page 9
A hit batter and walk put a pair
of baserunners on for freshman
Drew Bianco, who brought both of
them home with two-out triple to
the right-center field gap to break the
scoreless tie.
“We’ve worked for two weeks now
on hitting that ball the other way and
staying on that ball,” Baughman said.
“(Bianco) did exactly what we’ve been
working on.”
Grae Kessinger followed with a single to plate Bianco to push Oxford’s
lead to 3-0, which was enough of a
cushion for Roth. The 2016 Ole Miss
commit allowed just three hits and
fanned eight while working himself
out of a late jam to allow Oxford to
keeps its distance.
New Hope’s biggest threat came
in the sixth when Stillman’s sinking
liner to right got past Ryan Young for
a one-out triple.
—[email protected]
Matthew Guyton #1
CONGRATULATIONS CHARGERS 2015
Mom, Dad, & Mary Arden
20
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
www.oxfordeagle.com
CLASS 5A SECOND ROUND (GAME 1): OHS 2, CENTER HILL 0
Timely plays, hits help Oxford sneak past Center Hill in playoff opener
Original date of publication: April 29, 2015
BY DAVIS POTTER
HIGHLIGHTS
Sports Editor
Oxford got one of its stiffest tests
of the season Tuesday night.
The Chargers did just enough to
pass.
Oxford’s offense broke through
late after squandering some early
chances to back another clean outing from Jason Barber, and the
Chargers escaped in their MHSAA
Class 5A playoff opener with a 2-0
win over Center Hill at Edwin Moak
Field.
It was a rare scare for the Chargers,
who won nine of their 27 regular-season games by way of a mercy rule
and had been held to two runs
just once before Center Hill right-
— Drew Bianco beats out
bases-loaded infield single in
home half of the sixth to break
scoreless tie
— Oxford turns unorthodox
double play in sixth to keep
game scoreless
— Jason Barber escapes
jams in fourth and sixth to help
Chargers win 28th straight
hander Frankie Hefflinger baffled
them for most of the night.
“We’ve won games every way you
could win them, and that showed
tonight,” Oxford coach Chris
Baughman said. “We never really
blinked. We never got anxious up
there. … Proud of our kids getting
ourselves in that situation and finding a way to produce in it.”
Oxford (28-0) threatened numerous times, stranding runners at the
corners in the second inning, a
runner at second in the third and
leaving the bases loaded in the fifth
when Hefflinger got back-to-back
strikeouts of Sage Mullins and Drew
Bianco to escape trouble.
But Bianco came through with
the sacks juiced again in the bottom of the sixth when he legged
out a two-out infield single just
ahead of the throw of shortstop
Parker Haberstroh, allowing Ben
Bianco to score the game’s first run.
See SNEAK on Page 30
BRUCE NEWMAN
Center Hill’s Parker Haberstroh (left) is tagged out by
Grae Kessinger during a rundown between third and home
in Game 1 of the teams’ MHSAA Class 5A playoff game at
Edwin Moak Field on April 28.
OXFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT
CHARGER ATHLETICS BOOSTER CLUB
Congratulations to our
Oxford Charger State Championship
Baseball Team!!!
#BobbyWasSafe
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OHS BaSeBall CHampiOnSHip
Sunday, June 7, 2015
STATE CHAMPS
35-1
Congratulations Chargers
What a
great year
Houston
#19
radiology associates of oxford
21
22
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
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CLASS 5A SECOND ROUND (GAME 2): OHS 7, CENTER HILL 1
Kessinger’s big night against former team sends Oxford to quarterfinals
Original date of publication: May 1, 2015
BY DAVIS POTTER
Sports Editor
OLIVE BRANCH — Though
he’s just a teenager, Grae Kessinger
has already made a lot of memories
on the baseball field. He might’ve
topped them all Thursday night.
Oxford’s junior shortstop returned
to the place he called home for the
first couple of years of his high school
career and finished a triple shy of the
cycle to help the Chargers finish off
a sweep of Center Hill and advance
to the quarterfinals of the MHSAA
Class 5A playoffs with a 7-1 win at
the CHHS baseball field.
Next up for the Chargers (290) is a best-of-three series against
Germantown. The first game will be
HIGHLIGHTS
— Grae Kessinger belts
go-ahead home run in fifth for
three of his five RBIs
— Houston Roth strikes
out season-high 13 in complete-game win
Tuesday at Germantown at a time to
be determined.
“It’s up there,” Kessinger said
when asked where the performance
ranked for him personally. “It was
a little added motivation. Not that
it was bad, but when you come out
and play your friends, you want to
beat them and they want to beat you.
I came out focused, and I’m really
glad I could help my team out and
get a victory.”
Kessinger, who played for Center
Hill the previous two seasons before
moving to Oxford last summer, dealt
the knockout blow to his former
team when he belted a three-run
home run to the opposite field in
the fifth inning to put Oxford ahead
for good. He also doubled in the
first and knocked a two-run single
through the box in the sixth to finish
with five RBIs.
The 2016 Ole Miss commit took
some good-natured ribbing and some
heat from some of his former teammates throughout the series, which
made the go-ahead bomb even sweeter.
See NIGHT on Page 31
DAVIS POTTER
Grae Kessinger (15) celebrates with teammates after
hitting a three-run home run at Center Hill on April 30 in
an MHSAA Class 5A second-round playoff game.
Congrats to the North East Power
family members, a part of this
year’s team, and all of the
Chargers on your
State Championship!
Walker Abel • Jack McClure • CJ Terrell
Diamond Girls:
Alli Hayward • Ivy Abel • Lindsey Ann Hill
www.oxfordeagle.com
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
23
CLASS 5A QUARTERFINALS (GAME 1): OHS 5, GERMANTOWN 0
Oxford blanks Germantown behind Barber’s arm, bat for 30th win
Original date of publication: May 6, 2015
BY DAVIS POTTER
Sports Editor
DAVIS POTTER
Jason Barber pitches against Germantown
in the first game of the teams’ MHSAA Class 5A
quarterfinal playoff series in Madison on May 5.
MADISON — Oxford coach Chris
Baughman is running out of superlatives to describe what he sees from his
ace every week.
So are his players.
Jason Barber did what he normally
does on the mound and what he occasionally does at the plate to lead Oxford
to its latest win. The Chargers stayed
perfect at 30-0 with a 5-0 victory over
Germantown in the first game of the
teams’ MHSAA Class 5A quarterfinal
series at the GHS baseball field Tuesday
night.
Oxford can advance to the North Half
finals with a win over the Mavericks in
Game 2 Thursday in Oxford. A third
and final game would be played Friday
Congratulations Oxford Chargers!!
5A State Champions
Creating happy, healthy smiles one child at a time
Diplomat, American Board of Pediatric Dentistry
662-513-4188
2408 South Lamar Blvd Suite 1 • Oxford, MS 38655
HIGHLIGHTS
— Jason Barber throws two-hitter, belts solo homer to start scoring
— Jack McClure finishes 3-for-3
and drives in two runs
in Madison if needed.
Minutes after Barber put the finishing touches on yet another shutout with his third and final strikeout
of Germantown’s Hayden Grimes, all
Baughman could do was shrug his
shoulders in awe of his junior righthander.
“He’s good, man,” Baughman said.
“And he’s a junior. He’s special.”
All Germantown (25-4) mustered in
the hit column was Connor Cotton’s
leadoff single in the second inning and
an infield chopper Ryan Clay beat out
in the fifth. Barber struck out 11 and
walked just one to improve to 9-0, limiting the opposition to two hits or less
for the third straight start and running
his streak of innings without allowing
an earned run to 57 for the season.
“When I came up to bat the last
inning, the catcher said, ‘Man, I just
can’t hit Barber,’” third baseman Ben
Bianco said. “That’s how it is for a lot
of people.”
Said first baseman Drew Phillips, “It
really is just ridiculous.”
Barber supplied himself with all the
support he needed when he belted
an offering from Germantown starter
Chance Cotton over the fence in left for
his team-leading seventh home run in the
top of the second to break a scoreless tie.
See BLANKS on Page 30
24
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
www.oxfordeagle.com
CLASS 5A QUARTERFINALS (GAME 2): OHS 12, GERMANTOWN 2
Oxford cruises past Mavericks, into North Half championship
Original date of publication: May 8, 2015
BY DAVIS POTTER
Sports Editor
Germantown scored Thursday,
but the Mavericks didn’t do
much else to slow down Oxford’s
march through the postseason.
Oxford quickly erased an
unusual deficit and finished
off another playoff sweep with
a 12-2 win over the Mavericks
at Edwin Moak Field. The
Chargers (31-0) advanced to the
MHSAA Class 5A North Half
series where they’ll meet division
rival New Hope, the last team to
beat Oxford in the same round a
season ago.
The first game of that best-ofthree series will be Tuesday back
at Edwin Moak Field.
“Ultimately we just want to
win a state championship,”
Oxford senior infielder Jack
McClure said. “I’m not going to
say it doesn’t matter how we get
there, but that would be pretty
sweet after having that happen
to us last year.”
McClure ended Oxford’s latest win early when he launched
Zach James’ offering deep over
the right-field wall for a threerun, walk-off home run in the
bottom of the sixth, giving the
Chargers their 10th run-rule vic-
tory of the season.
“It was 3-2, and I was kind
of sitting on fastball,” said
McClure, who finished 2-for-3
with four RBIs. “I’d been seeing
the ball well tonight, and I just
threw my hands and did what I
could with it.”
Junior right-hander Houston
Roth went the distance to get the
win for Oxford, scattering three
hits and striking out seven while
walking just one. The hardest
ball hit against him came three
batters into the game when
Chance Cotton belted a two-run
homer to dead center to give
Germantown its first runs of
the series and put Oxford in a
position it’s rarely found itself in
this season.
“It was just a fastball down the
middle, and you can’t miss down
the middle to good hitters like
that,” Roth said.
Oxford’s offense patiently
waited to produce its runs as the
Mavericks got themselves in trouble. Four different Germantown
pitchers combined to issue nine
walks while the defense behind
them committed six errors leading to four unearned runs.
Germantown starter Connor
McGraw gave out free passes
to the first two batters he saw
before being pulled for Heath
HIGHLIGHTS
— Jack McClure’s threerun homer in sixth gives
Oxford its 10th run-rule win
— Oxford uses nine walks,
six Germantown errors to
plate 12 unanswered runs
— Houston Roth fires
three-hitter for eighth win
BRUCE NEWMAN
Drew Bianco is safe at third as Germantown third baseman
Zach James takes the throw during an MHSAA Class 5A quarterfinal playoff game at Edwin Moak Field on May 7.
Brundege, who walked a pair of
his own leading to one of the
Chargers’ two first-inning runs.
A pair of Maverick errors sand-
wiched around McClure’s sacrifice fly and RBI singles from Ben
Bianco and Drew Phillips in the
second gave Oxford a 6-2 lead.
“We’ve been behind a couple
times like that, but there’s never
any panic,” Oxford coach Chris
Baughman said. “There’s never
any oh-my-goodness feeling out
of this bunch. They just get in
that box and they swing, and
that’s what we did tonight. They
helped us early. They gave us
a bunch of baserunners early.
Their guys couldn’t find the
strike zone, and then when they
did, we barreled up the ball late.”
Roth allowed just one hit over
the next four frames and retired
10 in a row at one point to allow
the Chargers to pull away. The
Ole Miss commit improved to
8-0 and has strung together six
consecutive starts in which he’s
yielded two runs or fewer.
—[email protected]
Congratulations
Chargers!
L to R - Tim Tatum, Dave Tatum, Donna Lane, Pam Frierson, Gina McPhail,
Pat Tatum, Liz Dalton, and Derek Sinclair.
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403 N Lamar Blvd • 234-4411
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SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
25
CLASS 5A NORTH HALF (GAME 1): OHS 3, NEW HOPE 2 (8)
Bianco’s walk-off blast gives Oxford lead in North Half finals
Original date of publication: May 13, 2015
BY DAVIS POTTER
HIGHLIGHTS
Sports Editor
He thought about the miscues. He
thought about the error. Most personal of
all, he thought about last season.
He erased it all with one swing.
Oxford was an out away from having
the magic wear off its perfect season and
being another loss away from having it
end all together. Even when Josh Stillman
plunked Jack McClure with two outs
during the Chargers’ final at-bat, things
looked bleak.
“They just outplayed us,” Oxford coach
Chris Baughman admitted afterward.
Next up was Ben Bianco.
The Chargers’ cleanup hitter, then a
freshman, made the final out with a
couple of runners on against New Hope
nearly 365 days earlier in the Trojans’
series-clinching win in last year’s MHSAA
Class 5A North Half series at Edwin
Moak Field.
Bianco watched two balls from Stillman
on Tuesday night, giving him an opportunity to wait for his pitch. He didn’t miss
it this time.
Bianco sent Stillman’s next offering
over the left-field fence at Edwin Moak
Field to lift Oxford to a 3-2 walk-off win
in eight innings in the first game of the
teams’ North Half rematch. Oxford (320) has a chance to clinch its first trip to
the state championship series since 2005
Friday at New Hope.
— Ben Bianco’s two-run home run
in the bottom of the eighth keeps
Oxford undefeated
— The Chargers erase a pair of onerun deficits, the last coming on an error
in the top half of the eighth to give
New Hope a 2-1 lead
THOMAS GRANING
Oxford players swarm Ben Bianco (center) after his walk-off home run
against New Hope in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 5A North Half championship
series on May 12 at Edwin Moak Field.
“That’s been in my head ever since we
figured out we were playing New Hope in
North Half,” Bianco said. “I told our hitting coach, Coach (David) Webb before
the game, if I come up with two outs and
we’re losing in the seventh, I told him I
wasn’t going to fly out to right field. I was
going to make something happen.
“It’s definitely awesome. One of the
coolest baseball plays I’ve ever been a part
of.”
Half an inning earlier, Bianco’s brother,
Drew, had Sam Taylor’s routine grounder
go through his legs to allow New Hope
Congrats
Chargers!
(24-6) to plate the go-ahead run, highlighting a night where, for the first time
he could recall, Baughman sensed a tense
team.
“(The error) was in the back of my
mind,” Bianco said. “Stuff happens in
baseball. Bad hops, tough plays.”
But Bianco picked up his brother, pitcher Jason Barber and the rest of his teammates with his final hack of the night.
Charger fans roared with jubilation once
he made contact while the New Hope
faithful looked on in disbelief, but Bianco
had to make sure the ball cleared the
fence before getting off a few fist pumps
during his victory lap around the bases.
“A couple times earlier this year, I
thought I had hit a ball out, but it didn’t
go out,” Bianco said. “I was just running
until I saw it go over.”
Said New Hope coach Lee Boyd, “When
(left fielder) Aidan (Fletcher) got back to
the fence, I thought, ‘Well maybe he’s got
a chance here.’ But it just had too much.”
Barber was in line for the tough-luck
loss until Bianco’s blast.
“I don’t if it’s because of what’s across
the jersey over there or what it is, but I
felt like we played a little tighter than we
should’ve,” Baughman said.
Instead, the Ole Miss commit improved
to 10-0, scattering six hits and striking out
12 in the complete-game win. Stillman
relieved New Hope starter Brody Stokes
one batter into the seventh in the loss.
Drew Phillips’ RBI single to tie it in the
fifth was the only run Stokes surrendered
in six innings.
—[email protected]
For some, baseball is a game, but for you, it’s been your life.
Thanks for the memories.
Love, Your Mom, Dad, Elizabeth-Anne, GG & Pops, Meme & Papaw
Ney and Dana Williams
and Emma and Marshal
#BobbyWasSafe
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CLASS 5A NORTH HALF (GAME 2): NEW HOPE 1, OHS 0
Walk-off homer ends Oxford’s perfect season, forces Game 3
Original date of publication: May 15, 2015
Grae Kessinger tags out New Hope’s Tyler Smith
during Game 2 of the MHSAA Class 5A North Half
finals at Trojan Field on May 14.
nail again.”
Senior left-hander Dalton Markle is scheduled to get
the start for Oxford. The East Mississippi CC signee is
5-0 but has yet to pitch in the postseason.
“He threw to live hitters Friday, so we’re good,”
Baughman said.
Godfrey’s blast was a surprise in more ways than one.
Roth (8-1), who suffered his first loss of the season, had
10 of his 12 strikeouts through the first five innings and
retired eight in a row before Godfrey stepped in to lead
off the bottom of the seventh.
Godfrey, hitting sixth in the order, planned to bunt in
an attempt to break up Roth’s rhythm. New Hope coach
Lee Boyd instructed him to do as much.
“Look to bunt,” Boyd said matter-of-factly.
But Roth’s second offering was too good to pass up,
and Godfrey turned it around for his first career home
run, giving the nationally ranked Chargers their first
loss since the teams met in last year’s North Half finals.
be harsh to you,” Oxford coach Chris Baughman said.
“We’ll come back (tonight) and fight them tooth and
See HOMER on Page 31
By Davis Potter
Sports Editor
NEW HOPE — The only power Will Godfrey ever
displayed was in batting practice.
Until Thursday night.
The MHSAA Class 5A North Half championship
series took another unexpected turn when New Hope’s
junior catcher used every ounce of strength he had to
turn on Houston Roth’s final pitch of the night for a
walk-off home run, putting an end to Oxford’s perfect
season and lifting New Hope to a 1-0 victory at Trojan
field.
The homer, which tucked just inside the left-field foul
pole, came 48 hours after Oxford’s Ben Bianco delivered the same fate to the Trojans (25-6) to give Oxford
(32-1) the early series lead. The third and decisive game
between the rivals is tonight at 7 p.m. back at Edwin
Moak Field.
“The baseball gods can be great to you, and they can
DAVIS POTTER
Congratulations
Matthew
Finn #21
Congratulations
Chargers!
on an amazing
season.
- Mom, Dad, Mark,
Lisa, Madison, and
London-Grace
“Have I not commanded
you? Be strong and
courageous. Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged, for
the Lord your God will be
with you wherever you go.”
- Joshua 1:9
234-6152
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Oxford, MS
www.oxfordeagle.com
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
27
CLASS 5A NORTH HALF (GAME 3): OHS 10, NEW HOPE 3
Chargers pound New Hope, advance to state championship
Original date of publication: May 17, 2015
BY DAVIS POTTER
HIGHLIGHTS
Sports Editor
Oxford has its revenge. Now the
Chargers want it all.
The pair of losses in last year’s MHSAA
Class 5A North Half finals simmered in
the belly of Oxford players and coaches
for nearly 365 days. The division rivals
played all season to get back to the same
point, but it’ll be the Chargers playing for
a state championship this time.
Oxford finished off New Hope with
a 10-3 win Saturday at Edwin Moak
Field. The first two games of the series
could’ve gone either way with each team
winning on a walk-off homer, but there
wasn’t much drama in the finale once
the Chargers (33-1) opened up a four-run
lead and cruised the rest of the way to
— Oxford overcomes early 2-0 deficit to avenge only loss
— Jason Barber throws six scoreless innings of relief on three days rest
to get the win
— Senior Jack McClure hits threerun home run in fourth to extend
Chargers’ lead
knock out the two-time defending 5A
champion.
“These kids, they made a commitment from the time New Hope dog
piled on our field last year to right now.
And they’re not through,” Oxford coach
Chris Baughman said. “We’re happy,
we’re excited, we’re going to enjoy it, but
they’ve got two more (wins) hopefully in
them.”
Once Grae Kessinger got a strikeout
to end it, the Chargers broke into a celebratory dog pile as the home portion of
a sellout crowd sang along with Johnny
Cash’s “Jackson” played over the public-address system, a reference to the state
championship series Oxford will play
against George County starting Tuesday
in nearby Pearl.
“Everybody wanted to do it at their field,
but being able to do it in front of our fans
is just amazing,” said Oxford pitcher Jason
Barber, who pitched six shutout innings
of relief to improve to 11-0. “All the support here, there’s nothing else like it.”
See ADVANCE on Page 31
BRUCE NEWMAN
Jack McClure (14) celebrates with Ben
Bianco (13) after hitting a three-run
home run in Game 3 of the MHSAA Class
5A North Half finals against New Hope
at Edwin Moak Field on May 16.
Congratulations
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Congratulations!
Congratulations Chargers
on your State Championship!
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SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
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C L A S S 5A C H AM P I O N S H I P ( G AM E 1): O H S 4, G E O R G E CO. 0
Roth baffles Rebs, puts Chargers on brink of championship
Original date of publication: May 20, 2015
BY DAVIS POTTER
Sports Editor
DAVIS POTTER
Houston Roth hurled a one-hitter against George
County in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 5A championship series on May 19 at Trustmark Park in Pearl.
PEARL — Houston Roth missed his
spot with his final pitch in Game 2 of
the North Half finals last week against
New Hope. All Oxford’s right-hander
was missing Tuesday was George
County’s bats.
Roth fired a one-hitter in the opening
game of the MHSAA Class 5A championship series, leading the Chargers to
a 4-0 win to put them a win away from
their first state title in a decade.
Roth faced just three over the minimum against a George County squad
that came in hitting .314 collectively
and had a no-hitter going into the
sixth until Kyle Whittington led off the
frame with an infield single. The junior
HIGHLIGHTS
— Junior Hunter Roth throws
one-hitter to improve to 9-1
— Grae Kessinger, Matthew
Guyton and Ben Bianco drive in
three of Oxford’s four runs
fanned five in a row at one point for
half of his 10 strikeouts and retired the
first 16 Rebels (22-7) he faced.
“I’ve watched a bunch of games
down here and on this stage,” Oxford
coach Chris Baughman said. “That
performance right there ranks up there
with one of the best I’ve seen in 10
years, no doubt.”
He punched out four batters in the
second after the final strike to Russell
Fields got past catcher Jack McClure,
allowing Fields to reach with two outs.
The outing came four days after Roth
suffered his first loss on a walk-off
home run served up to the Trojans
in the bottom of the seventh, which
accounted for the only run in the
Chargers’ lone setback this season.
“Just throwing that great and they
win like that, I was just ready to come
out here, do it again and get back in the
win column.”
But George County never came
close to making solid contact against
the Ole Miss commit, who often
got Rebel hitters flailing at third
strikes with a fastball sitting in the
upper-80s in the early innings and
a biting slider to complement it.
See BRINK on Page 31
Congrats to
the 2015 Miss 5A
Baseball State
Champs....
Oxford
Chargers!!!!
Proud provider of
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Charger Athletics
www.oxfordeagle.com
OHS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
29
C L A S S 5A C H AM P I O N S H I P ( G AM E 2): O H S 9, G E O R G E CO. 0
Oxford routs Rebels to claim 5A state championship
Original date of publication: May 22, 2015
Chargers start fast to
claim second title in
program history
BY DAVIS POTTER
Sports Editor
PEARL — It was a fitting end to a dominant year for Oxford High’s baseball team.
Oxford punctuated one of the best seasons in school history with a 9-0 win over
George County Thursday at Trustmark
Park, finishing off a sweep in the title
series and claiming the MHSAA Class 5A
state championship.
The Chargers (35-1) started fast and
coasted to finish one victory shy of the
single-season school record set by the
2005 team, which won 36 when it claimed
the program’s first state title. Oxford
outscored the Rebels (22-8) 13-0 in two
games.
“I thought we won it the way we
should’ve won it,” said Oxford coach
Chris Baughman, who was an assistant on
that ‘05 team. “You couldn’t have written
a better ending for us the way we’ve played
all year. We’ve been dominant all year.”
Oxford started the season on a 32-game
win streak before suffering its only setback
to New Hope in the North Half finals
last week. But after the Trojans ended
Oxford’s season a step short of Pearl last
year, finishing that postseason run was
all that mattered for the Chargers, who
outscored their opponents 23-3 during
the three-game winning streak they’ll carry
into next season.
“It’s awesome,” Oxford senior outfielder Matthew Guyton said. “There’s nothing else I can say. It’s a perfect way for my
senior year to end. To go out like this, it’s
unbelievable.”
George County’s attempt to hit Oxford
ace Jason Barber was as futile as most
opposing lineups this season.
Barber got the ball on four days rest
after throwing 212 pitches over a five-day
span in the North Half finals, but it didn’t
show. He retired the first nine batters he
faced before his counterpart, Ian Goff,
BRUCE NEWMAN
Oxford players dog pile on the pitcher’s mound at Trustmark Park in Pearl after beating George County, 9-0, to win the
MHSAA Class 5A state championship on May 21. The title is the Chargers’ second overall and first since 2005.
served a single into center to lead off the
home half of the fourth.
The Ole Miss commit scattered just
two more hits and struck out seven in his
eighth complete game to improve to 12-0.
He finished the season without allowing
an earned run in 78 innings of work.
“Tuesday night, (Baughman) asked me,
‘Do you want the ball or do you want to
wait?’” Barber said. “I said, ‘No sir, I want
the ball.’ This game just means the world
to me to be able to be out there whenever
we win state and just continue to do what
we’ve done all year.
“I’ve felt better, but once I got warmed
up, I wanted it. I felt pretty good. I gave it
my all out there.”
Oxford’s offense gave Barber all the
support he needed with three runs in the
first, all coming with two outs. Houston
HIGHLIGHTS
— Jason Barber scatters three hits
in eighth complete-game shutout to
finish the season with a 0.00 ERA
— Led by senior catcher Jack
McClure’s 3-for-4 night, Oxford pounds
out 12 hits
— Oxford takes 3-0 lead in first
inning and piles on from there
Roth plated Guyton with a single, and
Barber gave himself a hand with a two-run
double to right-center.
The Chargers, who entered the game
hitting a collective .334, pounded out
10 of their 12 hits against Goff. The
senior southpaw allowed every run — eight
earned — in the loss before being chased
after Grae Kessinger’s two-run triple in
the fifth made it 8-0.
“You know you’ve got a big lead, and
you’ve got Jason on the mound,” senior
first baseman Drew Phillips said. “They’re
not going to score hardly anything, so we
felt like we were in a good situation after
the first inning. We just piled on as much
as we could.”
Said Baughman, “There was nobody
that was going to beat us tonight.”
Senior catcher Jack McClure went 3-for4 with an RBI in his final game. Roth had
two hits while Drew Bianco had an RBI
double in the fifth. Goff added a sixth-inning double to account for two of George
County’s hits.
—[email protected]
30
Sunday, June 7, 2015
OHS BaSeBall CHampiOnSHip
www.oxfordeagle.com
This nucleus of Chargers isn’t done winning big
D
id the Oxford High
baseball team just
complete the best
season in the history
of its program?
I don’t know, but head coach
Chris Baughman wasn’t nearly
as indecisive after the Chargers
got done disposing of George
County to capture the MHSAA
Class 5A state title late last
month.
“I do,” Baughman said without hesitation. “I’ll put them up
against anybody.”
This is the same coach that
witnessed Oxford’s only other
state championship up close
and personal. Baughman
watched the 2005 team win
36 of its 40 games to capture
the 4A title as an assistant on
head-coach-turned-superintendent Brian Harvey’s staff.
Yet he believes six years
after taking over for Bradley
Roberson that this team is the
best that’s ever laced them up.
He’s said and written as much.
Who am I to disagree?
This year’s version of the
Chargers lost just once. They
turned in the first unblemished
regular season in school history,
won 32 in a row and climbed as
high as No. x in the laundry list
of national rankings.
A team with five future college players played like a team
with five future college players
should. Oxford outscored its
opponents nearly 6-to-1 on the
season (296-49), which explains
why 10 of its 35 wins came by
way of a run rule.
The Chargers came within
a run of doing that again to
George County in the 9-0
title-clinching victory. George
County entered the series hitting .323 as a team, but that
average dropped 15 points
once Roth and
Barber got done
shutting them
out over 14
innings.
Scary good.
Wanna know
what’s even
Davis
more scary for
Oxford’s oppoPotter
nents on next
Sports Editor
year’s schedule?
More than half
of the Chargers’ regular lineup
returns.
The three Ole Miss commits
— Jason Barber, Houston Roth
and Grae Kessinger — were just
juniors and form what’s without a doubt the most talented
trio of players in the state. And
they’re on all the same team.
Can Barber go two straight
seasons without giving up an
earned run? The fact that I’m
even typing this sentence is
insane, but then again, I never
thought I’d see a high school
pitcher do it once.
Roth at least showed he was
human, but he didn’t show hitters much else. The tall, lanky
right-hander surrendered 11
earned runs in 61 innings with
only four of those coming in
four postseason starts.
So to recap, Barber and Roth
combined to produce this final
season line: 139 IP, 205 K, 60
H, 11 ER, 31 BB. And they’ll be
back to try to do it again.
Oxford is losing some good
players. Jack McClure will take
his team-best .446 average with
him to Northwest Mississippi
CC, Dalton Markle is headed
to East Mississippi CC, and
Matthew Guyton, Drew Phillips
and Wes Snellgrove have also
graduated.
But the Chargers’ offense
doesn’t need to scratch out
much with Barber and Roth on
the mound, and a lineup that
brings back Sage Mullins (.382),
Kessinger (.354), Barber (.337, 8
HR), Roth (.297), cleanup hitter
Ben Bianco (.356) and Drew
Bianco (.319) can give them the
support they need.
“They don’t graduate anybody,” New Hope coach Lee
Boyd said after Oxford bounced
his squad in the North Half
finals. “We graduate the house.”
It’s a scary proposition for
Oxford’s biggest rival, which
consistently gives the Chargers
the most fits and handed
Oxford its only loss but loses six
regulars in its lineup. It’s a scary
proposition for anybody standing in the way of the Chargers’
attempt at a repeat.
And I fully expect Oxford
to be back for another title in
2016.
—[email protected]
Blanks: ‘It was over’ after 4-run 2nd
Sneak: Bang-bang play goes Chargers’ way for first run
Continued from Page 23
Continued from Page 20
It jumpstarted the Chargers’
offense, which used four more
singles in the inning to plate
three more runs for a quick 4-0
lead.
Oxford added another run in
the fourth against Cotton (8-1),
who scattered nine hits and
struck out three in five innings
in his first loss.
“I thought Jason’s blast really
loosened us up over here, and
then we put the four-spot up on
them,” Baughman said. “It was
over with the way he was throwing and as efficient as he was.”
Catcher Jack McClure finished 3-for-3 with a double and
two RBIs. Phillips and Matthew
Guyton each had two hits while
shortstop Grae Kessinger drove
in a run, but Barber didn’t give
the Mavericks much hope of ever
making it a game.
Connor Cotton and Clay each
followed up their hits with a
stolen base to get into scoring
position, but Barber struck out
the side in the second and got
an inning-ending punchout of
Tucker Calhoun in the fifth to
quickly end the threats. The Ole
Miss commit has fanned 87 batters this season and allowed just
16 hits.
“I just try to beat my last performance,” Barber said. “I try to
be better every time I’m on the
mound. Every time, I try to critique the things I did wrong and
do those right the next time and
use every outing to my advantage
to get better and to learn from
the experiences.”
—[email protected]
A bases-loaded walk to Grae
Kessinger ended Hefflinger’s
night after 113 pitches.
“I was just thinking I better
run really fast,” Drew Bianco
said. “I knew I got jammed
and they were playing pretty
(far) back because they didn’t
want me to hit it through the
hole, so I was just making sure
I could run it out. I knew it was
going to be a tough play for the
shortstop.”
Said Baughman, “That’s the
way it goes in baseball sometimes. Sometimes you get those
calls, sometimes you don’t.”
Hefflinger went blow for
blow with Barber to keep the
Mustangs (14-13) close, scattering five hits and working
around six walks to fan seven in
5.2 innings. But Oxford’s righthander was his usual sparkling
self.
Barber retired the first 10
batters he faced and struck out
11 in a two-hitter to improve to
8-0. The 2016 Ole Miss commit
has thrown 50 innings this season and has still yet to allow an
earned run.
“I knew that I was going to
have to be the best that I could
be tonight,” Barber said.
He got some help along the
way.
Barber wiggled out of troubled in the fourth by punching
out Hayden Appleton to strand
runners at second and third,
but a walk to Haberstroh with
one out in the top of the sixth
got him in some more.
Haberstroh moved all the way
to third on a passed ball before
Ben McLarty hit a chopper to
third baseman Ben Bianco, who
threw to catcher Jack McClure
when Haberstroh broke for the
plate. McClure got Haberstroh
in a rundown and gave the ball
up to Kessinger, who laid out
to tag Haberstroh, turned and
whipped a throw to left fielder
Wes Snellgrove covering third
to nab McLarty for an unorthodox double play that sent
Oxford’s players and coaches
into a euphoric celebration.
“That changed the whole
ballgame,” Barber said.
Ben Bianco and Houston
Roth each had two hits with
Roth’s fourth-inning double
being the only one to go for
extra bases. C.J. Dunn and
Austin Genova had a single
apiece for Center Hill.
—[email protected]
www.oxfordeagle.com
Homer: NH
catcher deals
OHS only loss
Continued from Page 26
“He threw the curveball,
and I showed (the drag bunt),”
Godfrey said. “I knew they were
going to throw me another fastball because they figured I was
going to bunt again. He messed
up and threw it right down the
middle.
“I don’t even know what to
say about it because that’s never
happened to me. I couldn’t ask
for a better moment to do it.”
Right-hander Josh Stillman
got the win for New Hope,
showing no ill effects of the
20 pitches of relief he threw in
the series opener. The Northeast
Mississippi CC signee struck out
eight in a two-hitter.
Roth, a 2016 Ole Miss commit, allowed just three hits and
finished a strikeout shy of his
career-high, but it’s the last of his
92 pitches he wished he could
have back.
“It was probably the only
spot he missed all night long,”
Baughman said. “We just didn’t
get him enough runs.”
Both teams had chances early
despite the hits being hard to
come by.
Godfrey reached in the second
when Wes Snellgrove misplayed
his sinking liner to left and
moved to third on Tyler Jones’
single to put runners on the
corners with one out. But Roth
got Tyler Wyckoff swinging, and
Bianco gunned down Jones trying to steal to end the threat.
The Chargers put runners at
second and third in the third but
came up empty when Stillman
got Jack McClure looking. Roth
doubled with one out in the
fourth, but Stillman fanned
Jason Barber and got Drew
Phillips to fly out to leave him
there.
—[email protected]
Sunday, June 7, 2015
OHS BaSeBall CHampiOnSHip
Night: Roth on from start, offense catches up in win
Continued from Page 22
“It was a lot of friendly trash talk,” Kessinger
said. “I never really let if affect me. Just kind
of take it, laugh it off, keep playing and keep
focused.”
Said Oxford coach Chris Baughman, “It’s just
one of those moments in what’s going to be a
very long and successful career for him. He’s not
driven by hatred by no means, but he wanted to
perform well.”
Decisive blow
Oxford started the game with three straight
hits against Center Hill’s Hayden Appleton for a
quick 1-0 lead, but the Chargers mustered just two
hits between then and the time Kessinger stepped
to the plate with two on and one out in the top
of the fifth. Kessinger worked the count against
reliever Dalton Cohea before slapping the final
pitch of the at-bat deep to right and just over the
short fence.
“At that point, I was feeling really confident,”
Kessinger said.
It was more than enough support for righthander Houston Roth, who settled in after giving
up a solo shot to Ben McLarty in the bottom of
the third. The junior improved to 7-0, scattering
four hits and striking out 13 while walking just
one.
“(Roth) just made some outstanding pitches,”
Baughman said. “His slider was just falling off the
table. They were just swinging two feet over the
top of it.”
Roth mixed in that biting slider with a lively
fastball to record most of his punchouts and came
up with timely ones in the few instances Center
Hill managed to create pressure.
Austin Genova’s leadoff hit in the fourth turned
into a triple when the ball sunk under the glove of
a diving Matthew Guyton in center field, but Roth
fanned the next three batters to keep the game
knotted at 1. The Mustangs threatened to cut into
Oxford’s 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth when
Austin Pace singled, advanced to second on a bunt
and moved to third on a balk, but Roth punched
out Parker Habestroh and McLarty to leave Pace
there.
“It’s so much emotion that goes on during playoff games,” Roth said. “If they get the momentum,
who knows what then. I just had to bear down
and get those strikeouts.”
Guyton went 1-for-4 with an RBI while Roth
had a double. C.J. Dunn’s single in the first was
Center Hill’s only other hit.
Cohea was pegged with the loss after giving up
six runs on just two hits in 1.2 innings of work
after coming on for Appleton one batter into the
fifth.
—[email protected]
Advance: McClure’s homer gets offense rolling late
Continued from Page 27
Said senior catcher Jack
McClure, “I can’t even think
right now to be honest with
you. It’s so special.”
McClure went 2-for-2 and
provided the big blow for
Oxford with a three-run home
run off Payton Lane in the
fourth to make it 6-2. McClure,
who walked in his first two
at-bats on eight pitches, deposited the first strike he saw deep
into the gathering of students
seated behind the right-field
fence.
“I was sitting on fastball in
that count,” McClure said. “I
got one, and I did what I could
with it.”
Barber hit a solo shot in the
fifth for one of his two RBIs,
but McClure’s blast gave the
2016 Ole Miss commit all the
cushion he needed to do what
he does best.
Rubber arm
Barber, who threw 117 pitches in a complete game Tuesday
in the series opener, relieved
starter Dalton Markle with one
out in the first and threw 98
more before Kessinger took
over with one out in the seventh. The right-hander scattered four hits and struck out
three.
“Thursday night after (Game
2), I said, ‘Coach, I want the
ball,’” Barber said. “I wanted
to do everything I could for
this team to get us to Jackson
because that’s our goal. I
wasn’t as fresh as I should be,
but I felt pretty good and just
tried to do my job out there
tonight.”
“If he’s not the best pitcher
in the state of Mississippi,”
New Hope coach Lee Boyd
said, “I’d like to see somebody
who’s better.”
Lane allowed four runs on
five hits in four innings of
relief to take the loss. Houston
Roth had a pair of doubles
and two RBIs for Oxford while
Lane finished with two hits.
Both teams had to shake
off the nerves early as they
combined for three errors and
seven walks through the first
two frames.
—[email protected]
31
Brink: Roth
silences potent
Rebel offense
Continued from Page 28
“A lot of my guys said it just
looked like a fastball out of his
hand,” George County coach
Brandon Davis said. “I guess
that’s why Ole Miss signed him.
He’s a Division I baseball player.
That’s what they look like.”
Said Roth, “Just to have everything (working) like that today
in such a big game, it was just
great.”
Roth’s third complete game
in as many starts saved the
rest of Oxford’s arms, leaving
Baughman with a decision to
make as the Chargers try to win
it all for the first time since
2005: Go with Jason Barber
on Thursday or hold on to his
right-handed ace for a possible
winner-take-all game Saturday?
“Do I keep Jason for a Game
3? That’s the challenge for me,”
Baughman said. “As far as having
the kids being ready and focused
to win (Game 2), they’ll be ready.
This has been their dream since
365 days ago, and they know
they’re not done.”
Roth (9-1) was opposed by
George County junior southpaw Walker Robbins, but the
Mississippi State commit couldn’t
get through Oxford’s lineup the
second time unscathed.
Sage Mullins led off the home
half of the third with a single. Drew Bianco worked a walk
to put two on for Grae Kessinger,
who roped an RBI double down
the left-field line to break a scoreless tie. A sac fly from Matthew
Guyton and a wild pitch brought
home two more runs to give
Oxford (34-1) a 3-0 lead.
Robbins allowed three earned
runs on five hits, struck out three
and walked three in five innings
in just his third loss of the season.
—[email protected]
BRUCE NEWMAN