By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GULFPORT — Gulfport was in search of a second consecutive trip to the state baseball championship round this season.

But powerful Northwest Rankin dashed those hopes on the shores of the Mississippi Gulf Coast over the weekend.

The Cougars swept the Admirals in two straight games in their Class 7A South State semifinals, ending Gulfport’s season Saturday night at Herbert Wilson Field with an 8-3 decision.

That came on the heels of a 7-2 NWR win in Brandon on Friday night. Gulfport ends its season at 18-12 overall.

“We didn’t play our best against Brandon,” veteran Gulfport head coach Jamie McMahon, who just finished his 14th year at the helm of the Admirals, said. “The Oak Grove series (in the opening round) took a lot out of us with three straight one run games. But give Northwest credit, they played well and put us in bad spots.”

Gulfport loses quite a bit of its starting line-up, as eight seniors depart as well as 10 seniors total. 

Included in that group is shortstop Ethan Surowiec who signed with Ole Miss, as well as Ethan Garner and Nico Williams who signed with Pearl River Community College. Williams originally signed as a quarterback on the football field at Southeastern Louisiana University but changed gears and will head to Poplarville instead.

Joel Smith is headed to Meridian Community College and both Darrelle Brown and Elijia Barney are going to Miles College.

Gulfport fell to Saltillo in the Class 6A state finals last year, but its quest to play in the first ever Class 7A title tilt was derailed by Northwest Rankin who will meet arch-rival Brandon later this week in the Class 7A South State championship series.

The Admirals were edged out by Ocean Springs for the top seed in the new Region 4-7A race in the final week of the regular season and Gulfport finished as the second seed in the league. McMahon’s troops then went on to slip by perennial state power Oak Grove in the opening round of the first-ever Class 7A South State playoffs before running aground against the Cougars.

“I thought the season went pretty well,” McMahon concluded. “Of course, our expectations are to be playing for at least the South State each year. It is hard to make it to the end as all teams become better the further you go.”