One of the Mississippi Coast’s biggest sports rivalries gets the postseason treatment

The two schools sit about 20 minutes apart, separated by the winding Pascagoula River.

To the east sits East Central, home of 5A baseball’s reigning back-to-back state champion. To the west is Vancleave, a program hungry to bring home its first championship since 2018.

What brings the two together is an annual and palpable force: the intense desire for taking down the other on the diamond. Those feelings will be brought to the table for the second time this season when the two meet in the second round of the playoffs beginning Friday.

“If we played Vancleave in checkers, it would get crazy intense,” East Central coach Bo Long told the Sun Herald.

It’s a series that draws standing-room only crowds at both ballparks, and for good reason. The regionality and lifelong ties to each other both serve as the foundation for the heated rivalry.

Many of the kids on the rosters have known each other for years and have been playing with — and against — one another since they were young.

“I grew up in Vancleave so it’s kind of like playing with them again,” Hornets pitcher Anthony Tanner said. “Being on the same field as them is crazy.”

The fact both programs have enjoyed plenty of success and often stand in each other’s way at one point or another only intensifies the yearly meetings.

This weekend’s series will be the second time in three years the schools have found each other in a win-or-go-home standoff.

“Usually you play a tough series with them during the season and then you end up finding them again in the playoffs at some point and have to do it all over again,” Long said. “I hate it. Someone asked what it’s like playing them, well it’s terrible playing them. It’s already a big enough event playing them in a round of the playoffs and then when you add the whole rivalry thing to it, it makes it tough.”

“Vancleave and East Central, it’s something different than any rivalry that I’ve ever seen,” Vancleave coach Justin Edwards said. “There’s just so much between us, whether it be on the football field, basketball court, baseball field, it’s just two awesome communities that want to have that bragging right of that win.”

Changing tides

Like the river that divides them, the two experience their own ebbs and flows and both are keenly aware of where they are in this moment. East Central is reloading following its torrid two-year run with seven starters replaced this season.

Vancleave, on the other hand, has been enjoying the benefits of returning every starter from last season.

The Bulldogs have one blemish on their district record thanks to ECHS, but earned their first series win over the Hornets in six years around that loss. With the taste of victory still fresh, VHS is eager for more.

“This was our first year to beat East Central in a series,” Bulldog infielder Asher Henley said. “It just fires us up even more that we get to play them again and this time for playoffs.”

“It fires us up big time because they put us out years past,” VHS pitcher Levi Tapp added. “That’s over with. We’re going for them this year.”

On the other side, the Hornets are relishing the opportunity to play spoiler. East Central heads into the series playing a rare role: underdog.

Following a brutal March that saw ECHS go 2-8, the Hornets have rattled off eight straight wins and are feeling confident about the rematch.

“Not really a lot of people expected us to be this far coming off a big senior class last year,” Hornet infielder Nate Trochessett said. “We’re surprising a lot of people. I’m happy we’re going up against Vancleave. We ain’t got nothing to lose, they have a lot of pressure on them. We’ve been there twice and they haven’t.”

The matchups

Vancleave is one of the better-suited clubs in the state for the postseason thanks to its presence on the mound. Tyler West and Hunter Harper have been dominant as the team’s 1-2 starter combo.

Both have ERA’s under 1.30 and they’re accompanied by Tapp and his 1.35 ERA in 31 innings. But it’s been the improvements at the plate that have turned the Bulldogs into true contenders.

Vancleave’s team batting average has leaped from .268 a year to .312 this season. The team OPS has jumped from a paltry .712 to a blistering .859.

“Offensively, we’ve been able to score double-digit runs in an inning and just keep the offense rolling even with two outs,” Henley said. “There’s no stopping our offense when it gets hot.”

Visiting VHS Friday is a Hornets club that has struggled to find consistency on the mound, but is flexing its depth in the lineup. Tanner and Trochessett lead the way with .348 and .329 batting averages, respectively, but it’s been the play of myriad first-year starters that has carried ECHS to this point.

Jaxon Cripps leads the team with 31 runs scored and Payton McLean is second only to Trochessett in OBP. Christian McFall is hitting over .300 and Mason Prouty leads in walks.

“They’ve all answered the call in their own way,” Long said. “We have a bunch of young guys that have stepped up. We’re look out there at any given moment and have four sophomores on the field and they’ve done a great job... Everybody’s kind of pitching in.”

The outcome is never predetermined when the two meet on the field. One thing that will be certain: the communities will show out in force.

“Both communities, whether it’s East Central or Vancleave, they show up in droves for their kids,” Edwards said. “These guys have a ton of support, not just from their parents, but from all sorts of community members. It’s the same thing over there across the river.”

The series opens Friday at 7 p.m. at Vancleave. Game 2 will be Saturday at East Central at 1 p.m. and the if-necessary game will be at Vancleave at 7 p.m. Monday.

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