By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
PEARL – In the end, as it did so many times this season, it came down to a Parker brother carrying the mail for Purvis.
Sophomore Jo Jo Parker hit a sacrifice fly that scored the winning run for the Tornadoes in the bottom of the 10th inning for a dramatic 3-2 victory over West Lauderdale in Game 2 of the MHSAA Class 4A Baseball State Championships at Trustmark Park.
Purvis (32-6) won its fourth state championship under longtime coach Tony Farlow with the victory. The Knights (28-9) were denied a chance to add to their state-best total of 15 state titles, losing in the state finals for the first time since 1988.
“We’ve had some pretty good teams the past couple of seasons,” said Farlow, now in his 26th season as coach of the Tornadoes. “We knew once we got into this season a little bit that we had a chance to be pretty good.
“But this bunch is a lot like the rest of them. They’re just scrappy kids who work hard and love the game of baseball.”
This was a game of tight pitching, tense defense and hits that were hard to come by, at least for Purvis.
The tense defense contributed to some infield mistakes by both teams that resulted in unearned runs galore.
“The first game, I wasn’t calm,” said Farlow said. “I was a nervous wreck. I said, when I came up here today, that I’ve just got to take a deep breath and relax. It is what it is. But I felt pretty good when we got the bases loaded with nobody out.
Parker, who threw 20 pitches against the Knights in the Tornadoes’ 3-1 victory in Game 1 on Wednesday, matched up with freshman Matthew Boswell for West Lauderdale in a nerve-wracking pitcher’s duel.
After both teams went down in order in the first inning, both teams scored unearned runs in the second.
With one out in the top of the inning, sophomore Kayden Peoples singled to rightfield and senior Jackson Parker reached on a bunt single. Sophomore Hunter Russell hit a double-play ball for one out, but the relay was wild, and Peoples raced home with the run.
The Tornadoes got the run right back in the bottom of the inning, in much the same way. With one out, junior Austin Lawler was hit by a pitch, was balked to second, took third on a fly ball to right and scored on an infield error.
“It’s like this team has a different hero every game,” said Farlow. “Today, it was the bottom of the lineup guys who got it done for us today.”
Parker ran into trouble in the top of the fourth, when West Lauderdale loaded the bases with one out, courtesy of another Purvis error.
Senior Brett Busbea and junior Carson Smith opened the inning with singles, then Parker got a strikeout. A potential double play ball was booted to load the bases, but Parker got back-to-back strikeouts to get out the jam.
“I was pumped up and the adrenalin was running,” said Parker. “I knew I could get the fastball by them, so I just threw it hard.”
The Tornadoes rewarded their pitcher by giving him a lead in the bottom of the fourth, coming after two were out.
Boswell got two quick groundouts, but sophomore Cannon Turner drew a walk, and he took third on a double down the leftfield line off the bat of freshman David Hudson Walker. The run scored on an error when the ball popped out of the first baseman’s glove on a ground ball.
However, the runner hesitated coming around third base and was caught in a rundown for the third out.
That proved costly, because the Knights tied the game on the fourth unearned run of the game, in the top of the sixth.
Busbea was hit by a pitch leading off, then the Tornadoes’ third error of the game put runners on the corners, and Peoples got the run home with a sacrifice fly.
That’s the way it stayed, as the Tornadoes had no luck figuring out West Lauderdale sophomore right-hander Carter Horton, who retired 15 of the first 16 batters he faced.
Parker pitched around a one-out double in the seventh, then gave way to his twin brother, as Jacob Parker came from leftfield to pitch after the Knights got a leadoff double and a sacrifice to open the eighth.
Jo Jo Parker scattered seven hits, he finished with eight strikeouts and just one intentional walk.
“I didn’t have a great game today, but my teammates picked me up,” said Jacob Parker. “I just tried to come in and do what I had to do to help the team win.”
Jacob Parker hit the first batter he faced, but threw out the runner at third trying to sneak a base. West Lauderdale subsequently got runners to second and third, but a fly ball ended the threat.
Farlow had planned on saving Turner, his third starter, for a potential third game, but he decided to send Turner out to start the ninth.
With one out, Busbea singled, but he was thrown out trying to steal second by sophomore catcher Ethan Walker.
“He’s been solid for us all year,” said Farlow. “He really shut down their running game. Ethan’s been catching for us since his eighth-grade year. He’s been throwing guys out, not just this year, but the last two years.”
Turner (3-0) pitched around a leadoff walk in the top of the 10th and the Tornadoes finally got to Horton in the bottom of the inning.
David Walker hit a sharp groundball off Horton’s glove, and he just did beat the throw from second following the carom. Junior Eli Lowe coaxed a walk and the Tornadoes loaded the bases when senior Desmond Bolar singled into leftfield.
Bolar was looking for a first-pitch fastball, and when he got one, he knew what to do with it.
“When Eli got on base, I told myself first pitch I was swinging, no matter what,” said Bolar, one of just two seniors on the Purvis roster. “I just knew a fastball was coming and I’m so happy I was able to capitalize on the pitch. I figured that was the best pitch I was going to get.”
Busbea, in relief of Horton (2-3) was given the almost impossible task of keeping the Tornadoes off the board, and Jo Jo Parker, the state’s Mr. Baseball for 4A, wasted no time ending the suspense, stroking a flyball to centerfield.
“It was in our scouting report that he was a fastball pitcher,” said Parker “I just wanted to put the ball in play and get the job done and we finally won in the 10th inning.”
Pinch runner Paxton Cooper, an eighth-grader, raced home just ahead of the throw from the outfield for the winning run.
The Tornadoes return the heart of their roster, and Farlow, 63, has no plans to retire.
“I don’t know about my legacy here,” said Farlow. “I know I was fortunate to get the job at Purvis. I have loved my career there. I’ve had a lot of great players, a lot of great coaches.
“Most years, we’ve got gritty, scrappy kids, and that’s what we try to instill in them, to work hard and to play hard-nosed baseball.”
Prep Baseball Linescore
Class 4A State Championship Series
Game 2
Friday at Pearl
Purvis 3, West Lauderdale 2, 10 innings
West Laud. 010 001 000 0 – 2 8 2
Purvis 010 100 000 1 – 3 4 3
WEST LAUDERDALE (28-9): Cannon Graham 2B; Brett Busbea 2 1B; Carson Smith 1B; Kayden Peoples 1B; Jackson Parker 2 1B; Hunter Russell 1B. LP – Carter Horton (2-3). Also pitching – Matthew Boswell (starter); Brett Busbea.
PURVIS (32-6): David Hudson Walker 2B, 1B; Desmond Bolar 2 1B. WP – Cannon Turner (3-0). Also pitching – Jo Jo Parker (starter) 8 Ks; Jacob Parker.
2023 Mississippi High School Baseball Playoffs
MHSAA
Championship Round
At Trustmark Park, Pearl
Best of three games
Game 1
Tuesday
Class 1A, Resurrection Catholic 8, West Union 7
Class 3A, St. Stanislaus 7, Amory 3
Class 6A, Lewisburg 2, Gulfport 1
Wednesday
Class 2A, East Union 14, Pisgah 0, 5 innings
Class 4A, Purvis 3, West Lauderdale 1, 8 innings
Class 5A, East Central 4, Saltillo 1.
Game 2
Thursday
Class 1A, Resurrection Catholic 10, West Union 1 (Resurrection wins championship)
Class 3A, Amory 8, St. Stanislaus 5 (Series tied 1-1)
Class 6A, Lewisburg 11, Gulfport 0 (Lewisburg wins championship)
Friday
Class 2A, East Union 9, Pisgah 2 (EU wins championship)
Class 4A, Purvis 3, West Lauderdale 2, 10 innings (Purvis wins championship)
Class 5A, Saltillo 2, East Central 1 (Series tied 1-1)
Game 3
Saturday
1 p.m. – Class 3A, Amory (31-5) vs. St. Stanislaus (22-13); 4 p.m. – Saltillo (28-7) vs. East Central (27-10).
Photos courtesy of Van Johnson Tyner
