The East Central Hornets are chasing baseball history. ‘The job’s not finished.’
The cowbells aren’t done ringing yet.
East Central downed West Jones at home Tuesday, 10-3, to win South State and earn its second trip to the 5A championship series in as many years.
The Hornets used a six-run third inning and the first home run of Nate Trochessett’s career in the fourth to push past the visiting Mustangs in the winner-take-all matchup.
Trochessett and Anthony Tanner each had three hits and three RBIs, while 5A Mr. Baseball award winner TJ Dunsford reached base four times and scored on three occasions in front of overflowing crowd in Hurley.
The effort gave the Hornets their second South State title in a row and long-awaited revenge over a rival.
“For me, this was a little more sentimental,” Dunsford said. “This was my last game playing on this field. We’ve had a longtime rivalry with West Jones ever since we’ve been in 5A. I remember they put us out in my sophomore year... We were all starting at that time, so were like ‘alright, we got to get them back.’ We owed them one.”
Junior baseball players MS Coast moment
The junior infielder was over 270 at-bats into his high school career when he walked into the box in the fourth inning. Noted by teammates as having plenty of pop in his bat, Trochessett had yet to manage a single home run in his career.
The spell was nearly reversed earlier in the season at Pearl River Central, but the ball sailed over the foul pole and the umpires ruled it a foul ball.
Trochessett didn’t leave any doubt Tuesday. He launched a fastball deep over the center field wall to extend his team’s lead and the celebration began.
“It was the third or fourth inning and I said, ‘Nate ain’t hit a bomb all year, he’s so due for one,’” Dunsford said. “And about that time, he hits a moonshot over center field. He knew it, we all knew it.”
While the crowd roared behind the plate, Trochessett pointed at the stars rising above the outfield walls as he made his first four-base journey around the diamond.
“It was amazing,” Trochessett said. “I didn’t feel it off the bat. To be honest, I didn’t know where it was.”
It was gone.
East Central baseball overcomes challenges
The Hornets were favorites to return to Jackson ever since last season’s final out thanks to so many returning names in the lineup.
But injuries hounded Long’s squad from the jump this time around, forcing ECHS into some on-the-fly adjustments throughout the season, including placing its top pitcher in Andrew Marble at first base full time.
Despite the setbacks, the Hornets have marched on unfazed.
“I think we just believed in ourselves,” Dunsford said. “We knew our guys would come back strong. Me and Nate, being two leaders that weren’t out, we had to kind of slow the team down... We know who we are, we know we’re EC.”
East Central has been able to put together a run at the right time with many players returning to form just over midway through the season.
Since April began, the Hornets are 15-2 and even took an 11-game win streak into the South State semifinal against Picayune.
“This is a great group of guys,” head coach Bo Long said. “They pick each other up. It’s cool to watch them because, one through nine, they know they’re all capable of producing something good for us.”
The Hornets have more winning to do if they want to the final bow on an unconventional season.
East Central went to back-to-back state finals in 2008 and 2009, but were unable to get the job done in the latter appearance. Long says his program sees frequent visits from former players, including those from the last back-to-back trip, and his current players are out to prove to them they’re the best group to come through Hurley.
“The job’s not finished,” Long said. “We hoped, we planned to be going back. We returned that many starters off of a state championship team last year and, I don’t want to get hung up comparing the two, we got a lot of the same faces that know what it takes.”
East Central will begin its title defense against Saltillo next Wednesday at 7 p.m.
