As the Pike County 10-year-old American League Dixie Youth Baseball all-stars prepare for the World Series to begin Saturday in Laurel, the team reflected on finishing as the runner-up in the district tournament and going undefeated to win the state tournament in Kosciusko.
The American League will be called Team Mississippi in the World Series and opens against North Carolina at 8 p.m. Saturday at Metal Masters Field.
“They’ve just got a great temperament,” assistant coach Landee Lott said. “They don’t ever get flustered. I’ve yet to see them put their head down. ... Don’t get me wrong, we’re hard on them. Some of these practices are like junior college practices.”
Shortstop Trey Brumfield, 10, is going into fifth grade at Higgins Middle School and is a cousin of Kansas City Royals outfielder Jarrod Dyson, who is a McComb High School graduate and former Southwest Mississippi Community College baseball player.
“He helped me when I was 2, 3 or 4 with hitting, defense, and helped all my other cousins,” Brumfield said, adding Dyson taught him to swing and bunt, throw a baseball and catch.
Brumfield said Dyson came to one of his games in the subdistrict tournament at the Windsor Gay Youth Complex in Summit.
Now Brumfield is about to play in his first Dixie Youth Baseball World Series.
“It feels good, and I’m just ready to play baseball,” he said.
Brumfield said his best play of the state tournament came in the 15-5 win against Lincoln American to clinch the championship, as he started a double play in the field. He fielded a ground ball, stepped on second base for the force out and threw it to first to complete the play.
Second baseman Colin Doyle, 10, is going into fifth grade at Parklane Academy and has been an all-star every year, but this is his first World Series.
“I think it’s really cool,” he said. “My dad said he’s never seen a team go through state undefeated. I think it’s just because we’ve got our mindset with what we’re going to do in the World Series.”
Doyle said his best play in the state tournament came in a 17-2 win against Columbia when a ground ball slid up his arm on a muddy field, but he was able to dive for the ball and tag a runner out attempting to advance from first to second base.
He credited his father Sean Doyle and his uncle Joel Waters with getting him into baseball.
Right fielder and second baseman J.T. Paulk, 10, is going into fourth grade in the North Pike School District.
“My dad (Josh Bass), he was a big baseball person, and I just really liked the game,” Paulk said about getting his start in baseball. “I just really wanted to play it.”
Bass was an outfielder for North Pike High School and Southwest Mississippi Community College.
Looking back on his own experience in the state tournament, Paulk caught a ball behind his head that was hit to right field. He relayed it to third base to hold a runner at second in a 10-6 win against Lincoln American.
Outfielder Brock Moreno, 11, is going into fifth grade at Parklane Academy, and credited his dad, Bobby, with getting him into baseball.
Bobby is from North Carolina and played as a kid himself.
“It’s good. I’m glad we made it,” Brock said of being in his first World Series. “We worked hard.”
He said his favorite play was hitting a two-run single to right field in the first inning in the win against Columbia in the state tournament.
Lott said the kids are successful because they have wonderful parents, who support the coaches and teach the children to be well behaved.
“When kids have uncles, family, friends and parents that have played the game, it makes the kids more interested in it,” he said. “Believe it or not, kids, as much as they aggravate us and stuff, they want to make their parents proud.”
Lott noted head coach Keith Hughes also coached a 10-year-old all-star team that went to the World Series in 2008.
Hughes’ son, Brantley, who will be playing for Southwest Mississippi Community College next year, was on the team. Nine of the 12 athletes from the 2008 World Series team will be playing some type of college sport this year.
