By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

A trio of “Southern Six” prep baseball standouts that led their respective prep baseball teams to state championship appearances are on the move on the senior college level.

Pascagoula’s Sean Smith and the Gulfport duo of Ethan Suroweic and Jacob Palazzo have all made moves recently. However, at this point, it looks as if only Palazzo knows his next destination.

Palazzo, who along with Suroweic led the Admirals to the Class 6A state championship round in 2023, just wrapped up a solid career at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. He is headed to Delta State.

This past season, in his sophomore year, he saw action in 53 games for the Bulldogs of head coach Zach Allen and batted .299 with 11 doubles, two home runs and 16 RBIS.

Palazzo also excelled in the outfield, playing almost flawless defense with 51 putouts and registering a .1,000 fielding percentage.

He was named to the Mississippi Association of Coaches Class 6A All-State First Team his senior year at GHS. He was also a standout on the football field as the Admirals’ starting quarterback.

Meanwhile, his former GHS teammate Suroweic just completed his freshman season at Ole Miss. He was a last minute addition to the transfer portal earlier this week, according to multiple outlets that cover the Rebels.

Suroweic, a corner infielder who can also play outfield, played in only 11 games with three starts as a true freshman at Ole Miss but some expected him to be a valuable piece of next years team. He hit .375 in 16 at-bats with two home runs, two walks and three hit by pitches. He struck out seven times.

According to reports, Suroweic impressed in fall and spring practices but never found a role during the season. He is currently having a tremendous summer in the Northwoods Wood Bat League. He’s hitting a league-best .438 with a 1.357 OPS in 89 at-bats. He also leads the league in slugging and OPS and is second in RBIs.

And, Smith is looking for another spot as a grad transfer after just wrapping up a solid season at Georgia Southern. He earned second team All Sun Belt Conference honors this season, and was second on the Eagles squad in both batting average (.352) and slugging percentage (.599), while being both third and fifth in those categories in the Sun Belt, respectively.

He played in 48 games for the Eagles this season, starting in 45 of them at both left field and as the designated hitter. He also had the second most hits with 57, drove in 36 runs and hit .352 with nine doubles and nine home runs.

Smith also had a 19-game hit streak during the season, with eleven of those contests becoming multi-hit contests. He spent the past two season at GSU, hitting at a .321 clip as a junior last year in 35 games played.

After leading Pascagoula to the Class 5A state championship round in 2021, he spent two seasons at Mississippi Gulf Coast.