By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

The 2024 prep baseball season in the “Southern Six” could be considered the “Year of the Pitcher”.
After all, a pair of hurlers helped their respective squads to achieve the ultimate team goal in bringing home a state championship.
For their efforts, George County junior Canyon Reeves and Vancleave senior Tyler West have been named co “Baseball Players of the Year” by the staff here at SouthMiss6 Sports.
Canyon Reeves

George County pitcher Reeves factored in the decision in almost half of the Rebels school record 30 wins this season as they captured the Class 6A state title.
He went 7-0 on the mound with seven saves this season, including saving the second game in the state title series and winning game one in relief as GCHS swept Warren Central for the state crown.
And despite his impressive 7-0 mark, the side-winding junior hurler never started a game this year with all 25 of his appearances coming out of the bullpen.

“I’ve never coached anyone who did that,” Veteran George County head coach Brandon Davis said. 
Davis is in his 13th season leading his alma mater and has served as a head coach in South Mississippi for the past two decades, so he’s seen his fair share of pitchers and pitching styles.
“He is a competitor for sure,” Davis added. “He doesn’t want anyone to touch first base and he believes he can prevent that. He throws mid 80’s from the side arm slot a lot. He’s been extremely effective for us this season.”
Reeves saw action in seven of George County’s 10 playoff games and picked up four saves and one win in the eight Rebel wins. He closed the regular season with three wins and three saves as George County won its final 10 games in Region 4-6A play to secure the top seed in the league.
“I knew he had the make-up and stuff to be a backend guy coming in to the season,” Davis said. “I didn’t know we were going to score late as much as we did and come up with clutch hits like we have this season, so he’s certainly benefitted from that. But he’s been clutch for us in a number of roles.”

Although he is an actual reliever, Reeves led the Rebels in innings pitched with almost 57 and as well as appearances with 25. His 64 total strike outs are third on the team, and his miniscule 0.63 earned run average led the Rebel staff.
He came on in key situations numerous times and given Davis multi-inning outings. He worked five frames in relief in a 5-0 11 inning win in Region 4-6A action on the road over Pascagoula earlier this season, and also worked five innings in a similar situation against Hancock in league play in a 4-2 win in nine stanzas.
“Our pitching is always one our strongest points, but he’s given us a different dimension,” Davis, whose team went 30-5 ths season, concluded. “We’ll be counting on him to continue to do what he has been for us next week.”
Reeves also also turned himself into a reliable player offensively as well, which comes in handy when you’ve been in as many games as he has. He drove in seven runs and scored eight times with two doubles and a triple at the plate.
Reeves was also selected first team Class 6A All-State for his efforts this season.

Tyler West
West was just as important to Vancleave as the Bulldogs won the Class 5A state championship.
He led the “Southern Six” in total wins with 11 and ended the season with 10 straight wins and an 11-2 mark in leading Vancleave to a 29-7 record.
West came up with a pair of huge game two outings in the playoffs with his team facing elimination on both occasions.
“He was very vital to our success this season,” Vancleave head coach Justin Edwards said. “Our starting pitching was the backbone for us all season, especially throughout this playoff run, and Tyler was a huge part of that.”
In the best of three state finals series against Lafayette, after his team dropped an 8-7 decision in 12 innings in game one, West won his 10th straight game and fourth consecutive in the state playoffs as he twirled a complete game gem at Trustmark Park as Vancleave slipped past Lafayette 2-1 to even up the affair.

“Tyler was unbelivable tonight, a fantastic outing,” Edwards said, after the game.
“Their guy was great. It was that simple, he was very good,” said Lafayette head coach John Walker said, of West’s performance . “We didn’t put together any great at-bats tonight, we had some good hits so give him credit.”
In addition to bringing home the Class 5A state championship trophy, Vancleave dominated the First Team Class 5A All-State squad as well with five selections.
Also, the Bulldogs captured the highest individual honor as West was selected as Player of the Year in Class 5A.
West also faced an important outing on the mound in the Class 5A South State semifinals against arch-rival East Central.
Facing the two-time and back-to-back Class 5A state champions on their home field with his teams season on the brink of elimination, West went the distance in a masterful performance picking up the win in a 3-0 shutout decision striking out six and scattering five hits and walking just one in the dominant outing.
“Tyler has just continued to go out and give us quality starts and that one he pretty much put us on his back and he carried us,” Edwards added. 

In a two game sweep of South Jones in the Class 5A South State finals, West produced his second consecutive Saturday shutout performance as he dominated the Braves from start to finish in picking up the win on the hill in that 3-0 win.
He scattered just two hits and struck out seven in blanking the Braves. It marked just the third time this season that South Jones suffered a shutout.
West’s last loss came in late February against Class 6A state champ George County, and he not only finished with a record of 11-2 and four wins in the state playoffs but he ended up with an earned run average of less than one at 0.90. He led the Bulldogs in innings pitched with 70 and strike outs with 87.
And his fine work wasn’t all done on the mound. At the plate, West hit .302 with two home runs, with 23 RBIs, nine doubles and three triples. He mostly manned first base when he wasn’t pitching.