By Curtis Rockwell/Sports Director

PASS CHRISTIAN — Pass Christian head baseball coach Ricky Smith and his Pirates will wrap up the second week of a new season Thursday night in Richton.
However, Smith’s tenure at the helm of the program is set to conclude for good at the end of this season also.
Smith confirmed to SouthMiss6 Sports recently that this season, his eighth leading the Pirates, will be his last in the dugout. He recently decided to step down at the end of the current campaign and remain on as just the PCHS Athletics Director.

“This was a decision I made with my family last Summer,” Smith said, in an exclusive interview with SouthMiss6 Sports Thursday afternoon. “Over the last few years our athletic department has really taken off. It has required more and more of my attention, and our baseball team deserves a coach that can fully invest in them. I also have three small children and need time to be the best father and husband I can be. Pass Christian baseball saved my professional life. I owe everything to the program and intend to find the best coach possible to take the program to the next level.”
Smith is a 2000 graduate of George County High School, and is in the process of wrapping up a quarter of a decade as a baseball coach in South Mississippi, including 14 as a head coach after he previously served six seasons in that capacity at Bay High.

He is 10 wins away from 100 wins at the school, and has guided the Pirates to the second round of the Class 4A South State playoffs five straight seaons, one of the most successful stretches in program history.
Smith was a standout baseball player in Lucedale during his prep days, and then went on to excel on the next level at both Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College as well as Mobile College.
Smith’s Pirates are off to a bit of a slow start this season, sitting at 1-3 so far as they head to Perry County Thursday night.
Pass Christian gained that first win over the weekend with a 9-2 decision over Gautier.

J.T. Taylor collected on a big two-run double and had three RBIs toatl in the win for PCHS. Both Cooper Lyrock and Emerson Myers added a pair of RBI’s apiece to the winning effort.

The Pirates followed that up with a 7-0 road loss to Presbyterian Christian Monday.