By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

BILOXI — Just a little over 35 years ago, Mercy Cross High was wrapping up a second straight Class 1A state baseball championship.
The Crusaders wasted no time in following up capturing its first ever state won on the diamond in 1989 by grabbing its second crown the next season. Mercy Cross swept Ingomar in two straight games to secure the title.
The Crusaders beat the Falcons in two straight games as well in 1989.
Although it marked the first two state baseball championships for Mercy Cross High, Notre Dame won three state titles in 1960, 1961 and 1980. Notre Dame High became Mercy Cross, and Mercy Cross and St. John merged some years later to form the current St. Patrick High

.In 1990, the Crusaders and veteran head coach Sonny Pisarich followed the same sort of formula of success as they did the year before thanks to returning standouts Howard Battle and Jeff Pickich.
In game one against Ingomar in the state title match-up, Battle scattered three hits and struck out 12 Falcon batters in leading MCHS to a 4-1 win at home in Biloxi.
Battle also helped himself at the plate with two hits, including an RBI-double in the game. Pickich, who also served as the Crusaders’ lead-off hitter, also had two hits and drove in a run and Michal Kuluz drove in a run and also scored on a wild pitch.
The win was the final one for Battle on the mound at MCHS, as he finished his senior season at 12-3. He also ended his final two campaigns at MCHS with a 28-3 mark on hill, signing a pro contract with the Toronto Blue Jays a week after the state finals were over. He turned down a football scholarship to Tulane in the process, and eventually went on to spend several seasons in Major League Baseball.

“Battle was too much for us,” Ingomar head coach Norris Ashley told reporters after the game.
“He overpowered them,” Pisarich, who was a star player at Notre Dame High in the 1960’s, added.
It was Pickich’s turn in game two, as the teams reconvened just outside of Tupelo two days later.
Pickich came within a strike of tossing a complete game no-hitter, as the Crusaders thumped the Falcons 10-0 to seal the series.
Lennie Tarrant’s three-run double in the top of the first put MCHS up 3-0 with a lead it would never relinquish. Pickich and Battle both collected a game-high four hits apiece in the winning effort, while Tarrant, Matt Dellenger and Bobby Trosclair each added two hits apiece.
“This title was very satisfying,” Pisarch said, at the end of the two year run. “Everybody was gunning for us from the beginning. Our kids stayed focused and got the job done.”

Pickich struck out 15 and allowed just two balls to leave the infield in hurling the one-hitter, that was broken up in the bottom of the seventh. He went on to sign with Southern Miss.
The Crusaders stormed through the Class 1A playoffs at 8-0, sweeping Bogue Chito, Nanih Waiya, Stringer and Ingomar, to finish at 25-11.
Mercy Cross did so, though, after losing seven of its first 10 games of the season. The Crusaders wound up winning 22 of their final 26 games, however.
Ingomar ended the season at 25-9.
Battle finished his senior season with a 446. batting average, 12 home runs and 53 RBIs as well as 23 stolen bases. Pickich hit .374 with 13 doubles, two triples and three home runs.
That season, Battle struck out 176 batters and Pickich was right behind him at 162.