The East Central High School baseball team will play for their fourth state championship in the past 15 years beginning next week.
But the Hornet team that won it all, those 15 years ago in 2008, may always be looked upon as the team that changed the course on the diamond for the now perennial state power program.
The 2008 squad brought home just the second state baseball title in school history, but it was also the first in 27 years, since the inaugural title in 1981. The 2008 team set the tone for the success still enjoyed today by the Hornets now 15 years in the making.
“I guess that team was the one that kind of set the precedent so to speak and this team today and really the teams since then have continued that success,” ECHS Athletic Director Gary Long, who was in his 12th season as the Hornets head coach in that 2008 season, said in an exclusive interview with 228Sports.com Thursday. “These players today all know about that team and what we did, they’ve heard plenty of talk about it over the years and it gave them something to live up to I think.”
And make no mistake about it, that 2008 ECHS team was one of the most dominant in the history of the program. Especially in the state playoffs.
After finishing the regular season at 10-2 in league play and winning the Region 7-4A title by two full games over arch-rival Vancleave, Long’s crew was really seriously challenged only in one round of the Class 4A state playoffs and that was in the opening round by Picayune.
The Hornets took game one on the road in Pearl River County in a 10-8 Saturday afternoon slugfest, before returning home to Hurley for a doubleheader to decide the series two days later.
The visiting Maroon Tide escaped elimination with a 5-4 win in game two behind standout pitcher T.J. House, but the home-standing Hornets quickly took command of the third and deciding game striking for nine runs on just four hits along with six walks and two Tide errors in the bottom of the second inning to go up 9-0.
But the game was far from over, as Picayune rallied and eventually took an 11-10 lead in the top of the seventh scoring four runs in the frame.
East Central All-State standout Phillip Byrd, who picked up the win in both games in the series on the mound, then came through at the plate as well as his one-out RBI-single was the game-winner for the Hornets.
“They had us on the ropes for sure,” Long added. “By far the toughest match-up we had all season. But we found a way to pull it out and move on, and after that we were pretty dominant.”
So much so, in fact, that the Hornets ran roughshod the rest of the way and went on to win eight straight games from that point to capture the Class 4A state championship, and of the eight wins six came by 10 or more runs as the “Mercy Rule” was in effect.
East Central swept through Lawrence County and Long Beach to reach the South State finals, where they quickly bounced West Jones 10-0 and 13-4 in fine fashion.
But the Hornets had saved their best for the state championship round, as they hammered Vicksburg in two straight games in convincing fashion 16-6 and 13-3 to take the title.
East Central collected 25 hits in the two wins over the Gators to finish the season at 30-9, after beginning the campaign at 1-4.
“It was just our time, and things rolled right for us after that Picayune series,” Long concluded. “The players believed in themselves and weren’t going to be stopped. It is certainly something I’ll never forget and neither will most everyone involved with it.”
The senior Byrd was the standout for the Hornets that season, going an impressive 14-0 on the hill with a sparkling 0.87 earned run average and 165 strikeouts. He also filled the clean-up role in the batting order for ECHS, and hit .390 for the season. He went on to a stellar career at the University of South Alabama as a pitcher as well.
Senior outfielder Caleb Dickerson, along with Byrd, was named First Team All-State by The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson as well. He led the Hornets at the plate with a .392 batting average. He also went 4-for-4 in game one of the state finals with four RBIs including a three-run triple.
Junior Trey Porter, who went on to play at Mississippi State, went 5-for-5 in the final game of the state championship and drove in two runs. He also drove in four runs in game one of the state finals.
Andrew Evans, the third senior of the trio of upperclassmen on that ECHS team, also made some key contributions that year as well. And in addition to Dickerson, other juniors on that squad that were key performers for the Hornets over that season included Taylor Bonafacio, Jared Howell and Matt Linton among others along the way.
Current ECHS head coach Bo Long was one of his uncle Gary’s assistant coaches on that team, and he eventually took over the top spot four years later.
Also, another assistant for the Hornets Steve Rudolph, was also an assistant coach for the state champs in 1981 when Gary Long was one of the standout players for the Hornets as well that season. Rocky Long, Gary Long’s first cousin, was the R=ECHS head coach that year.
