SOUTH MISS 6 SPORTS

February 24, 2026

Prep Baseball: Earliest start to region play in five decades begins Tuesday night

Ocean Springs head coach Ryne Long and his Greyhounds are 5-0 as they start Region 4-7A play this week. (Photo by Bobby McDuffie)

By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director
OCEAN SPRINGS — In a first in at least 50 years, seven “Southern. Six” prep baseball teams will begin region play before Feb. 25th this week.
According to research, it marks the earliest such starting date, which is just two weeks into the regular season, in at least five decades.
Region 4-7A, which now consists of seven teams, will start league action Tuesday night with three games in the loop. Biloxi travels to Ocean Springs, Gulfport heads to Harrison Central and D’Iberville takes on West Harrison to get things rolling.

Ocean Springs base runner Peyton Meleady skips up on second as Pascagoula infielder Matt Dittsworth applies the tage Saturday. (Photo by Bobby McDuffie)

Ocean Springs infielder Peyton Meleady makes a throw to first base Saturday vs. Pascagoula. (Photo by Bobby McDuffie)

“It’s not ideal to say the least, especially from a health stand point.” OSHS head coach Ryne Long said Monday after practice. Long’s Greyhounds sit 5-0 after a win over Pascagoula Saturday.
“And naturally we get a cold front Saturday night leading into it week one of district play. We’ve played five games to this point, from a pitching standpoint our arms aren’t in shape enough for us to feel comfortable extending them out to the 85-90 pitch mark. It makes it tough figuring out line-ups, rotation, etc., but everybody is in the same boat. I’m really hoping moving forward we can extend the season out like they’ve done in other sports, and allow us to play 30-35 games instead of the 28 games.”
Biloxi is 1-4 so far this season, as the Indians head east Tuesday night.

Ocean Springs base runner Samuel Raymond heads toward first vs. Pascagoula Saturday. (Photo by Bobby McDuffie)

The main reason for region play starting so early is that just about all seven teams in the league will participate in the annual “Battle at the Beeach” coming up in a couple of weeks. The addition of West Harrison over last Summer to the loop expanded the region to seven teams for the first time.
So just about every team will take a two week break from league play to compete in various BATB games.
“Starting division play this early will certainly be an adjustment, which is why we tried to play as many good teams as possible at the beginning of the season to make sure our guys were battle tested.” Indian head coach Hawtin Buchanan said. “It’s now on us as coaches to come up with a plan to make sure we are prepared as we get ready to play a talented Ocean Springs team this week.”
St. Martin is the only team in the region that won’t get league play started this week. But the Yellow Jackets, who will play Stone Tuesday night, will join the fray in league play next week.