By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

(Editors Note: This is the fifth of a five part series on standout student/athletes in the “Southern Six” that recently completed their careers and graduated.)

VANCLEAVE — Coming into the season, second-year Vancleave head coach Zac Haarala was in need of an ace starting pitcher to fill the number one role on the mound for his Bulldogs.

It didn’t take long for Bulldog versatile senior standout Dane McElroy to step up and answer the call.

McElroy became one of the most dominant pitchers in South Mississippi this season to lead the Bulldogs. He departs VHS after being named Class 5A First Team All-State recently for his work in his final campaign.

“He’s meant a ton to the program,” Haarala said. “He had to play many roles throughout his four years and excelled in every one of them, especially the last two years. Every time he stepped foot on the mound, it didn’t matter who we were playing, we always knew he was going to do his part and give us a chance to win the game. At the end of the day, that’s all you can ask for.”

McElroy, who is also an infielder when not climbing the hill, showed folks that his head coach was correct in his assessment of his prized hurler right off the bat this season.

He started off the year with a solid win over St. Patrick. But then he really picked things up another notch as the month on March came rolling in.

To open Region 4-5A play, he hurled a complete game, four-hit shutout as the Bulldogs nipped home-standing Wayne County 1-0 in the opening league contest for both teams.

McElroy struck out 11 in the process and allowed only one War Eagle base runner to reach third base and that didn’t come until the bottom of the sixth stanza.

Then, in his next start, against perennial state power Purvis, McElroy turned in yet another complete game worksheet scattering just four singles by the normally mighty Tornaodes, who eventually went on to capture the Class 5A state championship. He struck out seven and walked just one in the dominating performance, which marked his second straight complete game shutout in league play.

Prior to that, McElroy also enjoyed a similar solid effort in a close loss to formidable Class 7A foe Tupleo at home in the 10th annual “Battle at the Beach”. McElroy twirled six innings of four-hit, shutout ball to place his squad in prime position to beat the Golden Wave, leaving the game in the top of the seventh with a 1-0 lead.

But Tupelo erased the deficit to take an exciting 2-1 win in its final at bat.

McElroy was unbeaten in March, as he began the month with a win over Pascagoula.

His final start was a 13 strike out effort in just five frames against Northeast Jones.

He finished up 4-2, with a miniscule 0.86 earned run average. He also allowed only 23 hits in 49 innings of work, and struck out 66 while giving up just six earned runs.

As a junior, McElroy was 6-4 for the Bulldogs.

He finished up 4-2, with a miniscule 0.86 earned run average.