By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

OCEAN SPRINGS — Ocean Springs ended up one step short of a trip to the first-ever Class 7A South State championship series under the direction of first-year head coach Ryne Long.

The Greyhounds finished 18-12 overall and went an impressive 12-3 in the first-ever Region 4-7A play and earned the top seed in the league.

After dispatching perennial state power Petal in the opening round of the South State playoffs, Brandon proved to be a much tougher task as the Bulldogs eliminated OSHS with a second-round sweep. Brandon beat home-standing 6-1 Friday night and ended the season for the Greyhounds with a 6-3 decision in Brandon Saturday night.

“I feel like we got a little bit better everyday,” Long, a member of the first family of prep baseball in Jackson County, said this week. “We started out 4-6 and won 14 of our last 20. That’s a testament to those seniors’ leadership and how hard our guys worked. We knew early on we were gonna take some shots on the chin early and hoped it would prepare us for district play and a playoff run. That group of seniors really laid a foundation for everybody else in our program, and to have any sustained success you have to have a solid foundation.”

The Greyhounds were a stacked senior class of around 10 players, eight of which were vital to the success of the Greyhounds in Long’s first season.

 That group was playing for its third head coach in three seasons, something that’s difficult for almost any player to do. 

“This group of seniors had been through the wringer facing that situation,” Long continued. “They had reason to make excuses and feel like the odds were stacked against them, and maybe they were. But they never wavered.”

Among those that will be sorely missed in a Greyhound uniform next season are Maddox Moreland, Chris Fox, Will Blevins and Simon Kruppa along with Griffin Frye, Michael Diaz, Grant Russell and Krsitian Dillard. “Sometime in mid October, we reached a crossroads,” Long explained. “It was time for them. It was really cool to see their growth from that point on. They took ownership in the program, trusted the process and really made an extra effort to lead. They took pride in the way they worked and did the little things right.” 

Next season, Ocean Springs will look for big seasons out of pitcher/infielder Jack Jordan both at the plate and on the mound as well as Cannon Hensarling, A.J. Arguello and A.J. Rossi plus Ryan Lamaire, Adam Clower and Lucas Sinoploi among others.

“Our young guys have a big challenge ahead to fill those guys shoes,” Long concluded. “But they left our program better than they found it, and I’m proud of them for that.”