By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

A trio of former prep baseball standouts in the “Southern Six” have bounced back to the JuCo level after signing scholarships with Southeastern Conference and Sun Belt programs last year.
Pascagoula’s Keilon Parnell, Gautier’s Kaden Irving and East Central’s T.J. Dunsford all left their chosen four-year programs recently and set their sights on new destinations in which to begin their collegiate careers.
Parnell and Irving have both landed at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Perkinston, while Dunsford has enrolled at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College in Andalusia, Ala.

After each had stellar senior seasons on the prep levels, Parnell signed with Mississippi State and Irvig signed with Ole Miss while Dunsford inked a deal with Southern Mississippi.
The athletic and versatile Parnell was a four-year starter for the Panthers in both baseball and football. As a senior, Parnell hit over .400 and cracked a career-high five home runs.
He helped guide Pascagoula to the 2021 Class 5A baseball state championship round as well as helping lead the Pascagoula football team to the Class 5A South State championship game in 2020.
Dunsford, who has selected a the Class 5A “Mr. Baseball”, lead he Hornets in batting average (.417), RBIs (27) and home runs (4) over the course of the 2023 season. Dunsford enjoyed plenty of success on the mound, posting a 10-1 record along with a stingy 1.30 ERA over 14 appearances with 116 strikeouts in 82 innings.

He helped guide East Central to back-to-back Class 5A state championships as a junior and a senior. Last year, in addition to his “Mr Baseball” award in Class 5A, he was also named Player of the Year in that classification while earning First Team All-State status. He was also selected as Dandy Dozen by The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson going into his senior season.
Irving, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound stalwart, made just as big of an impact in baseball as he did in football. He was named Class 5A First Team All-State in both sports.
Also a three year starter in baseball and football, on the diamond last year he was also selected as Dandy Dozen by The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson going into his senior season. He recorded a .315 batting average with five home runs and six doubles and he drove in 22 runs.

As a junior, he hit .481 in 23 games for the Gators. He scored 15 runs on 26 hits, smashed eight home runs and batted in 16 runners. As a sophomore, Irving had similar numbers for his school. Irving batted .462 and scored 25 runs on 36 hits, hit eight home runs and knocked in 21 runs.
He also saw plenty of time on the mound for the Gators as one of their top starting pitchers.
Irving was a part of the Ole Miss baseball team in the fall as it wrapped up its fall season with the annual tradition of the Pizza Bowl at Swayze Field. Irving had two hits with two runs scored and an RBI.