The Elite Sports Academy Jays, a United States Specialty Sports Association baseball team, 9-and-under age group team put together a 36-5 in class record the past two seasons.
The Jays finished the season with a runner-up finish in the USSSA state tournament at FNC Park in Oxford July 17-19. The Jays fell in the championship to Fusion 5-4. They beat the Slammers 10-5, Tupelo Rangers 11-1 and 8-6 and the Naturals 5-1 to get to the championship.
The Jays went 18-2 as an 8U AA team last year and finished with an 18-3 record this year versus in class teams.
The Jays started off the summer of 2016 playing AA competition. They were ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 6 in the nation and finished the season as the No. 3 team in the state after being bumped up to the AAA division and have never finished below second place in any tournaments in their classification.
“They’re a special group,” Jays head coach Craig Beard said. “McComb is loaded with talent at the 9- and 10-year-old age. We have several of those great players on our team as well as a couple of great players from surrounding areas. They mesh well and worked together as a team. We started off as AA this year and were undefeated.
“They bumped us up to AAA after the first two tournaments and we weren’t sure how we’d stack up against the competition but they stepped their game up and excelled.”
C.J. Wall finished the season for the Jays with a .296 batting average and .486 on base percentage; Coleman Carter had three doubles, 20 runs, a .513 batting average and .578 on base percentage; Collin Smith had a .324 batting average, .452 on base percentage and two triples; Gage Beard had a .395 average, .447 on base percentage and 20 RBIs; JaMarcus Pittman batted .355 and had a .487 on base percentage; James Max Fenn batted .310 and had a .459 on base percentage; Luke Loudenslager batted .375, had a .459 on base percentage, 22 runs and two triples; Ty Jones batted .244, had a .320 on base percentage, had two doubles and two triples; TyQuan Ginn had a .368 on base percentage; and Zac Macarthur had a .485 on base percentage and 12 walks.
A lot of the athletes on the Jays played together as 7-year-old McComb Dixie Youth all-stars and went on to win the district and state tournaments never losing a game.
“We will start off next spring in the 10U AAA division” adding he would like to see his team play in a World Series next summer.
The Jays other coaches are Stephen Smith, Roy Loudenslager and Brinson Wall.
