Former Chicago Cubs outfielder and Vicksburg native Roosevelt Brown saw plenty of talented young players in the Vicksburg and Jackson metro area and wanted to provide them an opportunity to play a quality schedule which would bring them needed exposure from college recruiters.

Brown’s Mississippi Titans have been able to accomplish many of those goals in four short weeks. They’ve played in three high profile tournaments at Hinds Community College, Memphis and LSU-Eunice, finishing second twice and compiling an overall 10-6 record.

Tuesday evening at Viking Field, the Titans will host the Jackson 96ers — Central Mississippi’s premier select team — in a doubleheader.

While Brown feels the 96ers may be out to avenge a 2-1 loss to the upstart Titans in the Hinds Invitational, he will use the twinbill to prepare his team for a weekend tournament in Hattiesburg.

“We have a big tournament at Southern Miss on the weekend. We’ve got some people coming in to look at our guys, including a pro scout with the White Sox. That’s why my front line guys won’t pitch much Tuesday. Montana (McDaniel) will likely go just two innings. Same with Cody (Waddell),” Brown said.

Former Porters Chapel Academy coach Randy Wright, who is assisting Brown this summer, said the 96ers will come in with a grudge.

“They’ll probably throw everybody at us. We beat L.J. Hollins the last time and I hope we get to see Red (Stephen Evans),” Wright said.

Hollins, who played at Madison Central, is a Southern Miss signee. Evans signed with Hinds after leading St. Aloysius to back-to-back Class 1A championships.

If McDaniel and the 96ers’ Evans were to start it would be the first on-the-field meeting of the 2009 co-Vicksburg Post players of the year. McDaniel led PCA to the 2009 MAIS Class A title and shared player of the year honors with Evans.

The 96ers also have another St. Al alum in infielder Pierson Waring.

Waddell is a senior at Vicksburg High and the Titans’ third primary pitcher is Blake Jobe of Warren Central. Rounding out the staff are Jamie Monroe of Clinton and Ryan Ellis of Columbia.

“Those are my main five guys and all of them have thrown well,” Brown said.

The Titans also feature Carlos Gonzalez and Clayton Ashley of Warren Central, and Vicksburg High’s Lamar Anthony, Jonathan Clay and Taylor Brocato.

“We’ve got the eight kids from Vicksburg, one from Tallulah Academy, three from Jackson, one from Columbia and two from Clinton,” Brown said. “I am also glad to have Randy Wright and Chris Busby coaching with us. Randy knows how to manage a team with what he did at Porters Chapel.”

Wright led PCA to three MAIS titles in 2003, 2006 and 2009. Busby is the new coach at Tallulah Academy after spending two seasons as an assistant at St. Aloysius under Clint Wilkerson. Busby was also an assistant to Wright at PCA for nearly a decade.