Area players set to play Howie All-Star Games
Rewards for great high school careers continue this weekend for talented area baseball players.
Four players from three area schools have a chance to compete with some of the best in the state of Mississippi as the 44th annual D.M. Howie All-Star Baseball Games take place in Pearl this Saturday at Trustmark Park.
East Webster's Miller Hancock and Carson Gilliland and Eupora's Claude Herard will take part in the Class A/2A game at 11 a.m. All three Webster County products will compete for the North team.
Hancock is a Hinds Community College signee, who was selected first-team All-State by the Mississippi Association of Coaches. He had an incredibly productive high school career with the Wolverines that included 103 games, two trips to the North State Championship series and a 2A State title.
In his final season in Cumberland, Hancock batted .418 with 33 hits in the leadoff spot. His glove at shortstop made him one of the best in the classification the last several years.
Teammate Gilliland also plays his final high school game on Saturday but will continue his career at East Central Community College. The crafty pitcher went 6-2 in his final year with a 1.62 earned run average.
Herard helped Eupora to win over 10 more games than it did a year ago and got the Eagles into the third round of the playoffs. He was a utility player that worked all over the field including at catcher late in the season and finished with a .425
average, 34 hits, 35 runs batted in, eight doubles and a home run.
Herard's coach Clayton Dodd said that he's still talking to schools about where he will end up next season. This weekend is another opportunity for him to earn a chance somewhere.
“He's very, very excited,” Dodd said of Herard. “He just wants to go out there and give it his best like he's always done. He knows that people are
going to be watching and that's what he's feeding on right now. He'll play like he has nothing to lose.”
In addition to the three Webster County representatives, Choctaw County's Wood Vowell will take part in the Class 3A/4A game at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Vowell was an All-Star in football as well after a solid senior year on
the gridiron and had an All-Area worthy season this year on the diamond.
Vowell did it both at the plate and on the mound as he produced a .313 average for the Chargers leading them to a district championship and was 6-2 as a pitcher with 32 strikeouts in 32.2 innings.
The games are sponsored by the Crossroads Diamond Club and are in their second year as a three-game split between classifications. For area fans wanting to attend the game at Trustmark on Saturday, tickets are $10 per person.