East Central wins the 5A state baseball title with sweep of Neshoba Central
The East Central Hornets are coming home champions.
East Central clubbed Neshoba Central 7-3 on Thursday to take home the 5A baseball state title in a two-game sweep.
It’s the school’s third state championship and first since 2008.
Carson Ryder and Southern Miss commit TJ Dunsford each picked up RBI singles in the first inning to give the Hornets an early 2-0 lead. Mississippi State commit Hollis Porter hammered a triple into right field that scored another pair in the fourth.
Logan Terry put game away with a two-run single in sixth, leaving the game in starter Andrew Marble’s hands to finish.
Marble allowed just one run, earning his 10th and biggest win of the season.
Porter earned MVP for his efforts, which included a diving catch in the fifth inning to steal a hit from the Rockets.
East Central ends the 2022 season with a 28-6 record, including an 8-1 mark in the playoffs.
Head coach Bo Long’s team took game one on Tuesday in extra innings, 3-2. Marble and Portis each recorded three hits while Dunsford fanned eight Rockets from the mound.
The Hornets will be on the hunt for a repeat next year with both starting pitchers, Dunsford and Marble, returning. Eight players are coming back from the lineup with only Porter leaving to begin his career as a Bulldog.
East Central and Resurrection Catholic, which won the 1A state title earlier on Thursday, are the first South Mississippi baseball teams to win a state championship since Vancleave in 2018.
