By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

OCEAN SPRINGS — James Brune, who helped guide Ocean Springs High School to its first-ever state baseball championship, died unexpectedly Monday morning. He was 59.
Brune, known by many as “J.B.”, was the junior catcher for the Greyhounds in 1982 when under the direction of legendary head coach Steve Tomaszewski Ocean Springs captured the Class AA state title with an exciting comeback win over Meridian at Frierson Field on the campus of Mississippi College in Clinton.
Brune passed away just over a week after the 42nd anniversary of that historic contest.

“He was a heckuva a ball player and without a doubt one of the best catchers I ever coached,” Tomaszewski said, Tuesday afternoon. “He was a very talented baseball player with a lot of ability, and he was a great teammate.”
Brune not only started for several seasons at Ocean Springs High but went on to contribute to several baseball squads on the next level including Delta State, Faulkner State and Old Dominion.
After seeing significant time at Delta State he left to pursue other options and ended up in junior college in Alabama. He hit .361 at Faulkner to catch the eye of several Division I teams including the Monarchs in Virginia. While finishing up his collegiate career at ODU, Brune garnered All Sun Belt Conference recognition. At one point in his final season with the Monarchs in 1987, he was hitting .371.
Once his collegiate career came to an end, he signed a contract with the Cincinnati Reds organization and at one time was seen as one of the rising stars in that organization in Rookie Ball and low Class A after bursting upon the scene with both the Sarasota Reds in the Gulf Coast League in Florida as well as the Billings Mustangs in the Pioneer League in Montana.

Tomaszewski stayed in touch with Brune throughout the past four decades.
“As good of a ball player as he was, he was a great person as well that everybody who knew him just loved him so much,” Tomaszewski added, even choking up a bit when remembering his former player. “He’s received so many accolades on social media over just the past day or so, and it speaks a lot about what kind of a person he was. His loss will leave a hole in the Ocean Springs community. He was just a great guy.”
In the state championship series win over Meridian, Brune was coming off of an arm injury and was relegated to the designated hitter role for the Greyhounds. All he did was deliver a key play in that 17-12 come-from-behind win when his pop fly into right field resulted in a pair of Wildcat outfielders colliding and two runs scored for OSHS.
He was one of four junior starters along with pitcher Lynn Carroll in that championship season for OSHS that also featured senior standouts Stuart Weidie and Scott Worsham.
Brune returned for his senior season overcoming that arm issue and developed into arguably the best high school catcher in the state of Mississippi, earning a reputation of possessing a strong arm and stellar defensive capabilities behind the plate and he also hit .350 offensively.

In addition to earning First Team All-State honors, he was named the overall Most Valuable Player in the prestigious Crossroads Diamond Club All-Star game to cap his prep career as he collected three hits and drove in three runs. He was also named the best Offensive Player for his performance.
“He’d do anything you’d ask of him, on the field or off.” Tomaszewski said. “As a player, he wanted to do anything he could for the team to be successful. In life, he had a big heart and he’d help anybody at any time and wouldn’t expect a dime in return.”
Brune was described in one social media post as “as Ocean Springs through and through”.

Brune returned to Ocean Springs and made his home there and also produced a pair of sons that followed in his footsteps to play baseball for the Greyhounds in Cooper and Brady over the past two decades.
” He was a blue-collar kid, a tough kid and such a hard worker that came from a great family and then he got to watch his two sons play for the Greyhounds as well,” Tomaszewski concluded. “He meant a lot to me and my family over all these years. He is the kind of player that as a coach it makes you proud that he was a part of what you did. He will be missed greatly.”