Back to Back - 2016 MHSAA Class 5A Baseball Champions

BACK to BACK

Oxford Chargers

2016 MHSAA CLASS 5A BASEBALL CHAMPIONS S P E C I A L CO M M E M O R AT I V E E D I T I O N

TABLE OF CONTENTS A special keepsake — for now and always

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Chargers in the polls

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A word from head coach Chris Baughman

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Schedule/results

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Talent overload puts Oxford among nation’s elite

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Early tests prepare Chargers for second-half push

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Late losses ‘opened their eyes’ ahead of title run

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Team photo

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Oxford sweeps into finals after first-round clincher

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STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: Oxford walks off with 2nd straight title

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That feeling when you’re the first senior class to repeat

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‘Amazing’ to deliver on greatest expectations

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Diamond Girls

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Photos on pages 6-7, 16-19, 24-26, 28-30 and front and back covers by Bruce Newman, Davis Potter, Bill Barksdale and Chris Knox.

Congratulations Oxford Chargers!!

5A State Champions

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A special keepsake — for now and always

H

ere it is.

Ever since Oxford won its second straight state title in baseball on May 19, I hounded head coach Chris Baughman about photo shoots and the column he wrote that you can read on the next page about being the one to lead the Chargers to history. I’m sure some of you have been hounded by our advertising staff over the last month about the ad — or ads — that you ended up buying to express your pride for this team’s successes while helping us pay for all of this.

And by all of this, I mean this 32-page final product you’re holding right now that we hope made all the badgering and pestering worth it. I don’t know if I should neces-

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sarily call it that because a lot of you were willing to do whatever you could to help us make DAVIS POTTER this magazine possible, but a lot of time and effort was put into commemorating something that’s never been done until now.

I want to briefly explain our thought process behind what you’re going to see as you flip the pages.

Because this year’s team is the first in Oxford baseball’s history to ever pull off backto-back state championships, the objective wasn’t so much to create a magazine as it was to produce a keepsake. Maybe Oxford repeats again one day,

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but there’s only one first time.

Hopefully all of you who have either taken part in this two-year run or been there for support every step of the way will wipe the dust off this magazine 20 years from now and flip through it while reminiscing about the first time.

Which is why our staff agreed from the first time we met about putting this thing together that it should be lighter on words and heavier on pictures.

These pages obviously contain stories about the season as well as perspective from coaches and players, but when you’re knocking off that dust decades from now to look back, it won’t be to pore over the stuff we’ve written. It’s the moments you’ll remember,

and this magazine is chock-full of glossy photos of the biggest ones and the people who helped make them happen.

From the appearance to the content, we set out to put together the kind of product that was far from ordinary since the feat we’re commemorating was also anything but.

It took a lot of work and was frankly stressful at times as we tried to make sure everything was just right up until the last minute to produce something memorable.

I hope you enjoy what you see now — and always.

DAVIS POTTER is the sports editor of the EAGLE. You can contact him at davis.potter@ oxfordeagle.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DPotterOE.

CHARGERS IN THE POLLS National rankings as of June 17

USA Today Sports Top 25

Perfect Game

Baseball America

1. Buchanan (Clovis, Calif.)

2. Archbishop McCarthy (SW Ranches, Fla.) 3. Canterbury School (Fort Myers, Fla.) 4. Walton (Marietta, Ga.) 5. Stoneman Douglas (Parkland, Fla.) 6. Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.)

7. Barbe (Lake Charles, La.) 8. Hanover (Mechanicsville, Va.) 9. Teurlings Catholic (Lafayette, La.) 10. Steinbrenner (Lutz, Fla.) 11. Bryant (Bryant, Ark.) 12. Basic (Henderson, Nev.) 13. Archbishop Spalding (Severn, Md.) 14. OXFORD 15. De La Salle (Concord, Calif.)

16. Hillcrest (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) 17. Shawnee Mission East (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) 18. Creighton Prep (Omaha, Neb.) 19. Plum Senior (Pittsburgh) 20. Dallas Jesuit (Dallas)

1. Douglas (Parkland, Fla.) 2. Walton (Marietta, Ga.) 3. Coppell (Coppell, Texas) 4. Archbishop McCarthy (SW Ranches, Fla.) 5. Barbe (Lake Charles, La.) 6. Buchanan (Clovis, Calif.)

7. JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)

8. Deer Park (Deer Park, Texas) 9. Canterbury School (Fort Myers, Fla.) 10. Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.)

11. Dallas Jesuit (Dallas) 12. Teurlings Catholic (Lafayette, La.) 13. Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.)

14. OXFORD 15. Providence (Charlotte, N.C.) 16. North Davidson (Lexington, N.C.) 17. Buford (Buford, Ga.) 18. Jackson (Massillon, Ohio) 19. Farragut (Farragut, Tenn.)

20. Lake Travis (Austin, Texas)

1. Douglas (Parkland, Fla.) 2. Buchanan (Clovis, Calif.)

3. Archbishop McCarthy (SW Ranches, Fla.) 4. Walton (Marietta, Ga.) 5. Basic (Henderson, Nev.) 6. Bryant (Bryant, Ark.) 7. Canterbury (Fort Myers, Fla.) 8. Verdigris (Claremore, Okla.)

9. De La Salle (Concord, Calif.)

10. Barbe (Lake Charles, La.) 11. North Davidson (Lexington, N.C.) 12. Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.)

13. Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.)

14. Christian Heritage (Del City, Okla.)

15. Houston County (Warner Robins, Ga.) 16. Steinbrenner (Lutz, Fla.) 17. Dallas Jesuit (Dallas) 18. Jefferson (Shenandoah Junction, W. Va.) 19. OXFORD 20. Gaither (Tampa, Fla.)

Congrats to the 2016 Miss 5A Baseball State Champs....

Oxford Chargers!!!!

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A word from head coach

CHRIS

BAUGHMAN 6

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he passing of the late great Muhammad Ali has provided today’s generation with some insight into the struggles both within his professional career as well as the obstacles he overcame in his personal life. As I sat watching the great champion’s funeral on television on June 10, I could not help but draw some comparisons from his boxing career to the young men on this year’s back-toback Oxford Charger baseball team.

Just over a year ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to watch a group of determined young men make school history by winning their first 32 baseball games en route to the school’s first 5A baseball state championship.

One of the moments I will never forget is putting the gold medal around one of the player’s neck as he looked me in the eye and said, “Coach, make plans to do this again next year.”

That statement remained with me not only on the bus ride home as we began the process of repeating as champions but also throughout the next 365 or so days.

I have had coaches tell me that the hard part of winning championships is getting that first one under your belt. With seven starters returning and a handful of Division I athletes on a roster that any coach would be lucky to have once in their career, everyone knew the talent would be present to once again rewrite school history and repeat as

5A state champions.

However, much like the late Cassius Clay, there were plenty of struggles along the way.

Over the course of the 2016 season, I felt at times as though this team was in a constant heavyweight boxing match. Every day it seemed as though we were facing the George Foremans or the Sonny Listons or even the Joe Fraziers of this baseball season. Every time this group took the field, they faced the other team’s best pitchers. Looking back, I cannot remember a day where these young men did not take another team’s best punch. Sure, eight times over the course of the year we fell, but each and every time they got right back up.

As a result, they hoisted the 5A state championship trophy for a second consecutive time.

As their coach, I am without a doubt proud to be a part of that historical moment.

However, I am much more proud knowing that these young men now have the mental toughness to overcome adversity they will face in their futures. No one will doubt the talent this group had. However, the 2016 baseball team illustrated that it takes much more than talent to be successful. To the 2016 Oxford Charger baseball team, thank you for allowing me to be your coach, and thank you for reminding me that no matter how many punches you take in life, it’s how you get back up and respond that defines you.

ROAD TO A REPEAT 2/26 Southaven* W, 8-0 2/27 Olive Branch* W, 12-1 3/2 Mooreville W, 7-0 3/4 Warren Central^ W, 3-2 3/5 Hillcrest (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)^ L, 9-8 3/5 Brandon^ W, 7-3 3/8 @ Lafayette W, 9-4 3/10 McEachern (Powder Springs, Ga.)# W, 4-1 3/11 Gulliver Prep (Miami)# L, 3-2 3/12 Buford (Ga.)# L, 1-0 3/12 Hillgrove (Powder Springs, Ga.)# W, 4-2 3/16 South Panola% L, 5-3 3/17 Lafayette% W, 11-2 3/19 Cabot (Ark.)% W, 4-0 3/22 New Hope$ W, 8-2 3/25 @ Houston L, 6-5 3/26 @ New Hope$ W, 7-0 3/29 Saltillo$ W, 10-1 4/1 @ Saltillo$ W, 11-1 4/2 Houston W, 3-2 4/5 @ West Point$ W, 9-1 4/8 West Point $ W, 9-1 4/12 New Hope$ W, 2-1 4/16 @ Saltillo$ W, 11-2 4/18 Briarcrest Christian (Memphis) L, 2-1 4/19 @ West Point$ W, 14-0 4/21 Madison Central L, 2-1 MHSAA Class 5A playoffs 4/28 Center Hill W, 11-2 5/3 @ Center Hill L, 7-5 5/4 Center Hill W, 10-0 5/5 Ridgeland W, 5-1 5/6 @ Ridgeland W, 14-1 5/11 Grenada W, 2-1 5/13 @ Grenada W, 6-3 5/17 Hattiesburg W, 5-3 5/19 Hattiesburg W, 10-0 *New Albany Classic ^Mid-Mississippi Classic #Perfect Game High School Showdown %Oxford Spring Break tournament $Division 2-5A game

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PRESEASON

BRUCE NEWMAN

Led by Ole Miss signees Jason Barber (7), Thomas Dillard (23), Grae Kessinger (15) and Houston Roth (19), Oxford began the season as the overwhelming favorite to repeat as Mississippi’s Class 5A champ — and with a No. 1 national ranking from MaxPreps.

Talent overload puts Oxford among nation’s elite All it took was one number to let Oxford’s players and coaches know exactly how big the target would be on the Chargers’ collective back before the season began.

Not that anyone inside the program was oblivious to its talent level.

Coming off the school’s first state title in a decade with a trio of Ole Miss signees and skilled underclassmen back for another go-around, Oxford went from the hunter to the hunted in Mississippi. But the addition of a fourth future Rebel and another MLB draft prospect sent expectations to a level never seen in the history of Oxford

baseball.

The Chargers were once again among the nation’s top teams once the preseason polls came out, but one publication put them alone at the top. MaxPreps dubbed Oxford as the No. 1 high school team in the land in its preseason rankings.

It’s a position on the pedestal Oxford embraced.

Oxford returned more than half of its starters from the 2015 team that went 35-1 and outscored George County 13-0 in a MHSAA Class 5A championship series sweep, including headliners Jason Barber,

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Houston Roth and Grae Kessinger. The Chargers added to an already stacked roster with the summer transfer of Thomas Dillard, one of the nation’s top prep catchers who could add thump in the middle of the lineup.

“I kind of like having a target on my back because you get the other team’s best every time,” Dillard said. “Being ranked No. 1 in the nation is an honor, and you’ve got to live up to it. With great power comes great responsibility. We’ve got to play our game and do our best every day when we come to the field.”

PRESEASON The Chargers were set with arguably the state’s top pitching tandem in Barber (0.00 ERA in 2015) and Roth, and the return of Kessinger, junior infielder Ben Bianco, sophomore second baseman Drew Bianco and senior outfielder Sage Mullins meant Oxford had five .300 hitters from the everyday lineup back as well. First base and center field were the biggest unknowns with Preston Perkins, Duncan Graeber, Tag Gatlin and Korbin Harmon options at those spots.

With an additional influx of talent came a step up in competition as the Chargers aimed to test themselves against teams more their own size. Oxford scheduled a trip to the Mid-Mississippi Classic in early March followed by a trip to Atlanta to compete in the fourth annual Perfect Game High School Showdown where matchups against some of the nation’s other top teams, including defending national champion Parkview (Georgia), could possibly await.

“I want to see us deal with some

pressure, and I want to see how we respond when maybe the outcome doesn’t go our way,” Oxford coach Chris Baughman said. “Because we didn’t have to do that a lot last year.”

The beefed-up slate made going undefeated a tougher task after Oxford came within a pitch of pulling off the feat a season ago, but that’s not something anybody worried too much about.

There’s only one thing the Chargers expected of themselves entering the season.

“Honestly — and every one of those kids can tell you this — we just want to finish No. 1 in 5A in the state at the end of the year,” Baughman said. “It’s all nice, it’s all exciting, but our ultimate goal is to raise that gold glove again at the end of the year.”

Said Barber, “Honestly if we settle for anything less than state, then I feel like it’s been a failure of a season. We brought so many guys back, we added people and I feel like this team as a whole is going to be better than last year.”

Congratulations to our Oxford Charger patients!

BRUCE NEWMAN

Oxford had plenty of experience to go with its top-end talent with seven starters back from 2015, including sophomore second baseman Drew Bianco (1).

Congratulations on back to back State Championships!

R. Todd Gililland, D.M.D. | Shawn P. O’Bannon, D.M.D. Jessica L. Pongetti, D.M.D., M.S.

Carson Stinnett Parker Stinnett Blake Parham Sage Mullins Giles Lamar Duncan Graeber Chase Kessinger Grae Kessinger Houston Roth Avery Kimbrell Preston Perkins Thomas Dillard Clay Ivy

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REGULAR SEASON - FIRST HALF

EARNEST BOWKER

Grae Kessinger steals third as Warren Central’s Logan Stewart scrambles to collect the throw in the first inning of a game in the Mid-Mississippi Classic on March 4 in Pearl. Oxford won 3-2 and went 2-1 in the tournament before heading to the Perfect Game High School Showdown.

Early tests prepare Chargers for second-half push

BRUCE NEWMAN

Carson Stinnett pitches against Cabot (Arkansas) on March 19. Oxford won 4-0.

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When Oxford coach Chris Baughman set out the schedule for the 2016 season, he knew the prospects of making it through undefeated as the Chargers did during their 2015 regular season were bleak.

Taking a few body blows was not what he wanted to have happen, but it was also not the worst outcome in his mind if the Chargers wanted to repeat as state champions.

Oxford went from being the hunter to having the bullseye painted on its collective back and being the hunted for its MHSAA Class 5A title defense.

“There’s nobody that wants to win more than I do, but I knew making the schedule a little more difficult, primarily the Atlanta trip, we’d face some adversity,” Baughman said. “I think it was a very good thing. … I think it put some of our inexperienced guys

that had never been in those situations in some pressure situations that wasn’t a playoff game where your season’s on the line.”

The Atlanta trip was a four-game trip to the Perfect Game High School Showdown in March where the Chargers went 2-2. Wins over McEachern (Powder Springs, Georgia) and Hillgrove (Powder Springs, Georgia) were sandwiched around losses to Gulliver Prep (Miami) and Buford (Georgia).

Before the trip to Georgia, Oxford competed in the Mid-Mississippi Classic where the Chargers defeated Warren Central and Brandon but fell to Hillcrest (Tuscaloosa, Alabama).

After a month into the regular season, Oxford was staring at an 11-5 record heading into division play after the Chargers lost only one game the entire season before.

“Playing those higher-caliber teams that

STORY BY JAKE THOMPSON

REGULAR SEASON - FIRST HALF we saw (in Atlanta) prepared us for the playoffs,” outfielder Sage Mullins said. “Facing that kind of pitching and that kind of talent really helped us grow and get us ready for the postseason.”

Oxford showed it could play with any team in any classification in Mississippi, including 6A, with wins over Southaven and Olive Branch to begin the year in the New Albany Classic. The Chargers also took a game against Class 3A power Mooreville, which fell to eventual state champion Kossuth in the North Half finals.

A season sweep over crosstown rival Lafayette along with a win against Cabot (Arkansas), which came to Oxford after the Chargers visited Arkansas last year for spring break, capped off the majority of the Chargers’ non-division slate before starting defense of their Division 2-5A title.

The only other early season setback happened during Oxford’s spring break tournament with a 5-3 loss to South Panola.

“I think in setting up the schedule, it served its purpose,” Baughman said. “It served a purpose of what we wanted it to serve. That is, by the end of the year, we could draw back on some of the experiences and situations that we were put in (in Atlanta) and the Mid-Mississippi Classic. Use those experiences to face the situations we were in during the playoffs.”

BRUCE NEWMAN

Drew Bianco pitches against Lafayette in the season’s first meeting between the teams March 8 at W.V. Brewer Field. Oxford won 9-4 before beating the Commodores again 11-2 on March 17.

Congratulations Chargers!

Congratulations Sage Mullins #8 on another great year!

Can’t wait to watch you in a “dirtbags” uniform next year. #chargers #back2back #holmesccbaseball

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REGULAR SEASON - SECOND HALF

BRUCE NEWMAN

Giles Lamar scores against Madison Central in the sixth inning of the regular-season finale April 21 at Edwin Moak Field. It was Oxford’s lone run in a 2-1 loss, the Chargers’ second in three games to end the regular season.

Late losses ‘opened their eyes’ ahead of title run After facing a few setbacks in the first half of the season, Oxford was ready to dive into its Region 2-5A schedule and begin its march toward a postseason berth.

For the second straight year, the Chargers went undefeated in Division 2-5A play, posting a 9-0 record. Nearly every game was a rout or a run-rule finish with the BRUCE NEWMAN

Preston Perkins bats against New Hope in Oxford on March 22. Oxford won 8-2.

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closest score being a 2-1 win against New Hope on April 12.

In their final 13 games of the regular season, the Chargers suffered three losses and headed to the postseason with a 20-7 record and a division title under their belt. Those losses were to eventual MHSAA Class 4A champion Houston on March 25, Briarcrest Christian

School (Memphis) on April 18 and a 2-1 defeat at the hands of another future champion, Class 6A’s Madison Central, to close out the regular season.

Houston pushed the Chargers to the limit again in a rematch at Edwin Moak Field on April 2, but a wild pitch helped Oxford eek out a 3-2 win in 10 innings.

STORY BY JAKE THOMPSON

REGULAR SEASON - SECOND HALF Madison Central is coached by former Lafayette coach Patrick Robey, and with both teams having clinched their divisions, each had earned a bye into the second round of the playoffs in their respective classifications.

Instead of taking an extended time off with some practices mixed in to stay fresh, Robey and Oxford coach Chris Baughman decided to schedule one final game against each other. It may have proved beneficial for both teams as the atmosphere at Edwin Moak Field had the feeling the postseason had already arrived in Oxford.

“We didn’t play very well offensively at all,” Baughman said of his team’s performance in the game.

“I think it kind of opened their eyes and woke them up to where they’re like, ‘Alright, it’s playoff time.’ But it was a quality opponent. They obviously wound up winning the 6A state championship. I think that got us out of regular-season mode and all of a sudden kind of helped us flipped the switch to playoff mode.”

The adversity and gut-checking was not completely over for Oxford after the Madison Central loss as the Chargers faced elimination after stumbling in their second playoff game at Center Hill.

“I think they all woke up and realized, ‘Hey, this could end with one more loss,’” Baughman said. “The Center Hill loss for sure made them realize it could, and they wanted to accomplish what we set out to accomplish.”

DAVIS POTTER

Jason Barber throws out Saltillo’s Ben Smith during a Division 2-5A game March 29 at Edwin Moak Field. Oxford won 10-1 for one of its nine division wins as the Chargers went unbeaten against division foes for the second straight season.

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2016 Charger Baseball Team!

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Congratulations

on being State Champions!

You made senior year so fun!

We are so proud of you & your team's accomplishments!

Love Dad, Mama, Rachel, Andrew, Katie, Ben, Mary Elliott, Papaw, Mamaw, and Wissy

The Journey Continues...

CONGRATULATIONS! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU.

DAD, MOM, HUNTER & HAYS

We love this team.

Thanks for a great season!

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Diamond Girl Captains:

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Back to Back State Champs!

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ROSTER 1 Drew Bianco 2 Carson Stinnett 3 Jack Clemons 4 Blake Parham

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5 Reed Markle 7 Jason Barber 8 Sage Mullins 9 Giles Lamar T O

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10 Duncan Graeber 11 Chase Kessinger 12 Parker Stinnett 13 Ben Bianco

14 Quentin Wilfawn 15 Grae Kessinger 16 Korbin Harmon 17 Tyler Smith

18 Matthew Finn 19 Houston Roth 20 John Harvey 21 Avery Kimbrell

22 Preston Perkins 23 Thomas Dillard 24 Clay Ivy 25 Jack Burkes

28 Bo Gatlin 29 CJ Terrell 30 Jacob Melendez 31 Tag Gatlin O X F O R D

Coaches: Chris Baughman (head), Chase Goolsby, Daniel Parrish, David Webb, Logan Dodson, Nathaniel Rios Managers: Davis McCool, Anna Abel

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TWICE THE CHARGE Scenes from a repeat

MHSAA CLASS 5A PLAYOFFS

BRUCE NEWMAN

Pinch-runner Giles Lamar scores the winning run in the eighth inning against Grenada in the first game of the MHSAA Class 5A North Half finals May 11 at Edwin Moak Field. Oxford won 2-1 for its fourth straight win after a Game 2 loss to Center Hill in its opening playoff series.

Oxford sweeps into finals after first-round clincher Oxford officially started its MHSAA Class 5A title defense against Center Hill after its division championship earned the Chargers a first-round playoff bye.

The Mustangs pushed the Chargers to the brink.

Oxford powered past Center Hill in the first game of the best-of-three series behind home runs from Drew Bianco, Grae Kessinger and Thomas Dillard and six strong innings from Jason Barber, but the Mustangs forced a deciding Game 3 after getting to Oxford’s Carson Stinnett for

all of their runs in less than four innings in a 7-5 win in the second game.

“We had to fight a little bit of adversity,” senior pitcher Houston Roth said.

But Roth and the Chargers’ bats ended any idea of a second-round upset.

Roth struck out nine in a three-hitter and was backed by more long balls, specifically those off the bat of Thomas Dillard, as Oxford run-ruled its way to the next round with a 10-0 win in Game 3. Dillard belted three homers and finished with six RBIs, running

his home run total to 14 to set a new single-season school record.

The Chargers’ run to Pearl for its second straight state finals appearance didn’t get much resistance after that.

Oxford swept Ridgeland in the quarterfinals, getting a strong outing from spot starter Reed Markle in the clincher, before doing the same to Grenada in the North Half finals. After a 5-1 win in the opener against Ridgeland, the offense exploded to provide plenty of support for Markle in Game 2.

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ROAD TO STATE Second round* Oxford 11, Center Hill 2 Center Hill 7, Oxford 5 Oxford 10, Center Hill 0 (6) Quarterfinals Oxford 5, Ridgeland 1 Oxford 14, Ridgeland 1 (5) North Half finals Oxford 2, Grenada 1, (8) Oxford 6, Grenada 3 *Oxford had first-round bye

MHSAA CLASS 5A PLAYOFFS Markle dazzled in just his fourth start of the season, striking out nine in a twohitter. Oxford showed no signs of fatigue playing its fourth game in as many days with inclement weather delaying its previous series, putting constant pressure on the Titans with 11 hits and taking advantage of five Ridgeland errors in a 14-1 run-rule victory.

“Just throw a lot of strikes and (make them) put the ball in play,” Markle said.

“Not trying to strike just everyone out, but just come out, throw strikes and get the win for my team. It wasn’t a me thing. It was more of an us thing.”

Bianco and Jason Barber combined for three RBIs while Dillard and Tag Gatlin each knocked in a pair as Oxford led 9-1 after four innings. Markle, a junior righthander, retired five of the last six batters he faced to send the Chargers to the North Half finals for the third straight year.

“He pounds the zone and keeps people off balance with three pitches, and his fastball is good enough to get by you if you start sitting on off-speed,” Oxford coach Chris Baughman said of Markle’s outing.

“He did a wonderful job tonight. You couldn’t ask for any more out of him.”

Grenada gave Oxford a scare in the

DAVIS POTTER

The team dogpiles on Charger Field in Grenada after winning the Class 5A North Half championship with a 6-3 win over Grenada on May 13.

North Half opener, but an infield error in the eighth inning allowed pinch runner Giles Lamar to scamper home with the winning run in a 2-1 nailbiter, making a winner of Barber, who went the distance while scattering four hits and fanning 10.

The Chargers quickly took control in the second game with four runs through the first two innings, giving Roth all the cushion he needed. Roth gave up his first pair

of earned runs in more than a month but kept Grenada at a distance, allowing five hits and striking out six in a 6-3 completegame victory that officially gave Oxford its chance to repeat. “(Repeating) has been our end goal since Day 1 of practice,” senior outfielder Sage Mullins said. “We just took it one step at a time. We’ve reached our goal. Now we’ve just got to finish it off.”

Congratulations to all of our

OXFORD

CHARGERS

on an amazing season and for being

State Champions!

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Congrats to the Chargers on your back to back State Championships!

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MHSAA CLASS 5A CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Oxford vs. Hattiesburg May 17-19 • Trustmark Park • Pearl

Thomas Dillard celebrates after hitting a walk-off home run off Hattiesburg’s Noah Thornton (7) in the sixth inning of Game 2 of the MHSAA Class 5A championship series May 19. Oxford won 10-0 to capture its second straight state title.

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Oxford walks off with 2nd straight title In the second inning of Game 1 of this year’s MHSAA Class 5A championship series, Jason Barber walked a batter, hit two more, failed to get an out at third on a bunt and capped the miscues by throwing a tapper back to him to the backstop to allow two runs to score.

It was about the only thing that went wrong for Oxford against Hattiesburg.

The Chargers went on to win that game 5-3 and didn’t have to sweat nearly as hard in Game 2, rolling to a 10-0 win two days later punctuated by catcher Thomas Dillard’s walk-off home run to give Oxford its second straight state title in run-rule fashion.

Oxford has outscored its opponents 28-3 in its last four games in the state finals.

“Fitting, wasn’t it?” Oxford coach Chris Baughman said.

BRUCE NEWMAN Barber got back on track in the middle innings of his start, and The team is presented with the championship trophy by Oxford School District Supertintendent Brian Harvey after its title-clinching win. the Chargers never looked back.

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STORY BY DAVIS POTTER | OPPOSITE PAGE PHOTO BY BRUCE NEWMAN

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THAT FEELING WHEN YOU’RE THE “I knew coming in last year and this year that we were going to have good teams and if we all played up to our potential, it would work out good for us in the end. Just the way these two years went, you couldn’t ask for anything more. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

“It felt good to be the first baseball team to go back to back, making your mark in Oxford baseball history. It felt good.”

Jack Clemons

Grae Kessinger

outfielder

shortstop

“It was awesome. It was just really crazy seeing the people come in and seeing how much better we got from our freshman year to senior year.”

“It’s special. It’s a blessing to be able to play with these guys.”

“We really just kind of set the bar for Oxford baseball, and the following classes are going to try to live up to the expectations that we kind of left behind.

It’s real special to be able to look back and be like, ‘Look, we kind of set those.’

We came through, and we made history coming through. It’s going to be real cool to be able to look back on later on down the road.”

Blake Parham

Houston Roth

Jason Barber

outfielder/pitcher

outfielder

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third base/pitcher

FIRST SENIOR CLASS TO REPEAT...

“It’s awesome to be a part of it. This team that we had, especially the seniors, we’ve been playing together for so long. It was just awesome to end our season with a win like that.”

“I really enjoyed it. It’s weird because being your senior season, it’s such a big difference. This one meant so much more to me being my last year than last year’s. It was just great.”

Korbin Harmon infielder

Tag Gatlin

infielder/DH

“It’s very special to know we’re the only team to go back to back. It’s a great feeling. I knew since middle school the team we had was going to be very good, but never did I think we’d be going back to back.”

“I think we played how we were supposed to and ended up winning another state championship, so I think we ended up accomplishing what we were gunning for. I definitely think we were one of the better teams in the nation. It was special to be a part of it.”

Sage Mullins

Thomas Dillard

outfielder

catcher

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COMING

THROUGH

‘Amazing’ to deliver on greatest expectations In case his squad had forgotten it wasn’t just another baseball team, Oxford coach Chris Baughman vividly remembers the night he gave his group a reminder.

Baughman had watched opponent after opponent take aim at the Chargers, who already had five losses and narrowly escaped a sixth at home against another heavyweight, eventual Class 4A champion Houston, in a 3-2, extra-innings win on April 2. It was another close call for the defending 5A champ with four Southeastern Conference signees on its roster and the target squarely on its back.

“It’s almost like a boxing fight or an MMA fight where you’ve got this guy that’s supposed to win, and all of a sudden, he’s taking punches and jabs and punches and jabs,” Baughman said.

So Baughman told his uber-talented team with all the national rankings beside its name to do something about it.

“I said, ‘You’ve got two choices. You can lay down and get beat or you can

“I think going into that state championship, we really

set the tone and showed everybody that, you know what, we really are the team that we were made out to be before the season.”

Jason Barber

senior pitcher/infielder

come up swinging,’” Baughman said.

“And this group came up swinging day in and day out.”

Oxford won 14 of its last 17 games on its way to its second straight 5A crown, delivering on the greatest expectations in program history. The Chargers found their groove at the right time with an 8-1 record in the playoffs, sweeping Hattiesburg by a combined score of 15-3 for their latest title, but getting there wasn’t easy.

Much was expected of a team with

more than half its starters returning headlined by Ole Miss signees Jason Barber, Houston Roth and Grae Kessinger. A fourth joined the fold when one of the nation’s top prep catchers, Thomas Dillard, transferred in last summer, which made the Chargers not only an overwhelming favorite in Mississippi but a fast riser on the national landscape capped by a No. 1 preseason ranking from MaxPreps.

Yet Oxford ended up losing eight games and was involved in 10 one-run contests. The Chargers’ first setback came after blowing an 8-0 lead against Hillcrest (Tuscaloosa, Alabama) in the Mid-Mississippi Classic, but other losses came against teams their own size.

“Once we dropped a few games like that and we dropped six or seven games at the beginning, a lot of people started to doubt us and say, ‘Are they the team that everybody tried to talk them up as at the beginning of the year?’” Barber said.

STORY BY DAVIS POTTER | PHOTO BY BRUCE NEWMAN 26

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Oxford lost 3-2 to Gulliver Prep (Miami, Florida) and 1-0 to Buford (Georgia) in the Perfect Game High School Showdown in early March while suffering a 6-5 loss in its first matchup with Houston as well as a 2-1 loss in the regular-season finale to Madison Central, Mississippi’s 6A champion. Losses to South Panola and Briarcrest Christian (Memphis, Tennessee) were mixed in, but circumstances didn’t shake players’ belief in their ability to do what everyone expected them to do.

“A lot of the times, it was a one-run ballgame or something that we lost, and it just happened like that because a ball would bounce back one way or take a bad hop,” Barber said. “That happened in a few games, but for the most part, the starting nine, 10 or 11 guys that were out there, we were all pretty confident and thought that we were going to be able to (win state) again.”

JAKE THOMPSON

Behind the reliable pitching of Jason Barber, pictured, and Houston Roth, Oxford lost back-to-back games just once all season.

The Chargers left little doubt after blanking Center Hill 10-0 in the third and deciding game of their first playoff series. Oxford out-

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scored its opponents 27-6 in its next two series to create a wave of momentum heading into the state finals.

“I think going into that state

championship, we really set the tone and showed everybody that, you know what, we really are the team that we were made out to be before the season,” Barber said.

Hattiesburg couldn’t do much to slow it down as Oxford overwhelmed the Tigers for the better part of 14 innings the teams were on the field together. A 10-0 runrule capper served as validation for a team that constantly absorbed everybody else’s best shot.

“Everybody was expecting us to be the No. 1 team in the nation, and honestly, on any given day, I think this team could be that,” Roth said following the championship series. “How we played here, I don’t think anybody here would disagree with us. We played great baseball all the way around. Now that it’s all said and done, it’s amazing.”

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BRUCE NEWMAN

Grae Kessinger avoids the tag from Hattiesburg catcher Devin Lang (28) to score during Game 2.

TITLE FROM PAGE 23

Only one of Hattiesburg’s runs in the series opener was earned as Barber blanked the Tigers over the final five innings and took a no-hitter into the sixth despite the score being knotted at 3 through three frames.

The Ole Miss signee struck out six and scattered five hits, three of those coming in the sixth. But a pair of outfield assists in the inning from Houston Roth prevented Hattiesburg from threatening the two-run lead which Barber helped create with his bat with three hits and four RBIs. Barber delivered a tying RBI single in the third before knocking in an insurance run in the fifth after Dillard plated the go-ahead run with a triple.

“After that (second inning), I just had to try to get the lead back for myself because I put myself in that situation. I gave up all those runs,” Barber said.

“At the plate, I just had to go up

BRUCE NEWMAN

Drew Bianco fields the ball before throwing out Hattiesburg’s Chris Cooley at the plate in Game 2.

there and try to deliver. It came through tonight.”

Dillard, another Ole Miss signee, stayed hot in Game 2, hitting his first of two solo shots on the day in the first inning off Hattiesburg’s Joe Gray to start a wave of momentum that quickly engulfed the Tigers. Oxford, which had 17 hits in the series,

added three more runs in the first, four in the second and another in the fourth for a 9-0 lead.

“That (4-0 lead) was awesome,” said Roth, who drove in one of Oxford’s runs to help himself on the mound. “I knew we were going to come out swinging it. The scouting report

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we had on their guy was he’s going to try to beat you with fastballs. So we got up there and we were geared up for the fastball, and that’s what we hit well.”

Roth, who’s also headed to Ole Miss next season, put up zero after zero in the final outing of his high school career to set up Dillard’s late-game theatrics. The right-hander fired a three-hitter, working around four walks and striking out six to finish the season 10-0.

Hattiesburg’s only real threat came in the second when Chris Cooley tried to score on an infield single knocked down by Drew Bianco deep in the fourhole, but Bianco threw Cooley out at the plate. Once Dillard deposited Noah Thornton’s two-strike offering deep into the bullpen in right in the sixth, the historic celebration was on.

“I wasn’t trying to end my high school career with a single or anything like that,” Dillard said. “Ending it like that is just a blessing.”

Said Baughman, “You can’t write that. You can’t draw that up any better.”

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