Magnolia Heights eyeing another title

Southern Sports & Travel

In 2008 the MAIS discontinued the Overall Championship series that decided the best overall baseball team in the association and since then debate routinely ensues each season as to who has the best squad. The debate is worthwhile due to the parity that exists amongst all three MAIS baseball classes.

This season a handful of teams have impressed baseball enthusiasts who have an eye for talented squads but one particular group has been heads above the field with post season play approaching rapidly.

The Magnolia Heights Chiefs won the 2012 Class AAA Division II Championship and are on pace to repeat and claim the school’s fifth state title in baseball this season.

The 2013 version looks more impressive than the group that captured the crown with an impressive two game series win over Starkville last May and if the manner in which they have posted a 20-0 record thus far is any indication of what’s to come when the playoffs get underway opposing teams may struggle to get base runners in scoring position.

Those opposing teams will face the best group of pitchers assembled in the MAIS led by Jacob Billingsley, a Mississippi State signee, who has posted a 5-0 record and an impressive 0.46 ERA. Billingsley (photo below) has yielded just 8 hits and 2 runs on the season and has collected 49 strikeouts.

In last season’s 6-1 win over Starkville to clinch the state title Billingsley tossed a complete game 3 hitter to cap a 2-0 series win in which Magnolia Heights limited Starkville to just 1 run and 5 hits in 14 innings of play.

Complimenting Billingsley is senior Colin Liles who also posts a 5-0 season mark and a paltry 0.75 ERA and 37 strikeouts.

Add to the mix unbeaten senior southpaw Jackson Pitts, who hurled a 2 hit, 1-0 shutout win over Starkville in last season’s game one of the championship series. Pitts has a 1.45 ERA and with the southpaw’s experience one could understand the enormous task facing opponents.

Magnolia Height’s success isn’t limited to the mound.

Delta State signee Dalton Skelton leads the Chiefs in hitting with a .458 average and an on base average of .522 and junior Jamell Newson is hitting at a .397 clip and leads the squad with 15 stolen bases.

The Chief’s power hitter is senior Luke Latham, a Northwest Mississippi Community College signee, who has gone yard 5 times and is hitting .370 with a slugging percentage of .759 through 20 games.

Magnolia Height’s head coach Chris McMinn, who is in his eighth season, has obviously kept his squad focused and the results are there to back that up.

Magnolia Heights is 52-5 dating back to the start of last season and the Chiefs have won 24 straight and 29 of their last 30 games dating back to last season and have recorded an impressive 8 shutouts this season. Only two times has an opposing team scored more than 3 runs in the Chief’s 20 wins during the 2013 campaign.

The Class AAA Division II State Championship Tournament gets underway on April 29^th and it will take a gargantuan effort for a team to pull an upset against one of the best teams in recent years.

Magnolia Heights will be shooting for their fifth state championship in baseball in school history and third in the past five seasons but the big question that some may ask prior to the April 29^th start of the playoffs might be can a team score enough runs against such an overpowering defending champion?

It’s a 290 mile drive from Bogalusa to Senatobia but Southern Sports & Travel will be there.
The Chiefs host Washington in double-header action on Thursday.