Gators’ big gun Price stymied foes with arm, bat

Vicksburg baseball coach Jamie Creel felt it was only fitting that Stanton Price be pictured for being named the 2008 Vicksburg Post Player of the Year in front of one of the biggest cannons in town.

Price was certainly the big gun for the Gators this season, leading Vicksburg to the Class 4A championship series and a 28-10 overall record. In the two weeks since the end of the season, the left-handed Price has collected two other impressive honors. He was named the Class 4A Co-player of the Year with East Central’s Phillip Byrd, and was tabbed for the All-State team.

Now, the awards for his outstanding senior season conclude with the Post’s Player of the Year. He joins a list of recent honorees like Mississippi State pitcher Michael Busby (2005 and 2007) and Ole Miss sophomore outfielder Jordan Henry.

“He’s more deserving than any player that’s played in this county,” Creel said. “His stats show how much he meant to us not only this year but over his four years. And he could’ve started for us in the eighth grade.”

Price’s eye-popping numbers read: .467 batting average, nine home runs, 14 doubles and 43 RBIs. As a pitcher, he was 11-2 with a 1.35 ERA with 101 strikeouts in 88 innings pitched. Six of his wins came in the playoffs, which included four complete games.

Two of those efforts came in a first round series against Neshoba Central where he pitched a tossed a seven inning shutout in Game 1 and then came back on one day rest to toss another seven innings to clinch the series.

“I loved every minute of it,” Price said of his season, which included playoffs wins at Oxford, at home against New Albany in round three and two more wins in the North State 4A finals against Tishomingo County.

“He (Price) is definitely a heckuva hitter. He hit our best pitcher in Matt Davis,” Tishomingo coach Jerry Long said.

“The thing with Stanton is that he is so competitive,” Creel said. “He will do what is best for the team.”

“It was definitely the a long season and it wore on my legs and my arm did get a little tired. But I was glad to pitch in those situations,” Price said.

Since the season ended, Price has used the off time to recover. His first game since the state finals was Saturday’s MAC All-Star game right back at Trustmark Park.

His future remains to be determined because he is one of the few of the All-State players that has yet to sign, but not for a lack of options.

Price’s academic strengths – a 25 on the American College test and a 3.9 grade point average – gives him plenty of options.

“I have enough academic aid to pay for the first two years to go Mississippi State and get in the engineering program,” said Price, who won the $1,500 YMCA Scholarship. He’s also been offered academic aid to Belhaven, Millsaps. He was offered a baseball scholarship to Samford University and Southern Miss has been calling.

“Southern Miss called me again this week.” Price said. “They said they want to see how the draft goes because they feel they are going to lose some of their signees. Then they’ll see what they come up with. Even though they don’t have an engineering school, I could end up in the polymer science program, which I’ve heard is really good.”

Easy-going Creel completes best season as VHS coach

With an ace in his hand, Vicksburg High baseball coach Jamie Creel felt he had the kind of squad that would make a deep playoff run.

They did.

The Gators battled all the way to the Class 4A championship series before falling to East Central in two games at Trustmark Park in Pearl.

The Gators finished 28-10 and the run to the state finals marked the first time in nine years at the Gator helm that Vicksburg had made it out of the second round of the playoffs. For the accomplishments, Creel is the 2008 Vicksburg Post Baseball Coach of the Year.

“I thought this group had more pitching depth and that would carry a big load for us. We also had some promising younger kids but the big thing was having that one ace pitcher. Stanton (Price) proved to be that pitcher. He brought everything to the table,” Creel said of his team and Price, who was named the Post’s 2008 Player of the Year.

The Gators, however, had to overcome a shaky start which saw them slump to 7-5 early in the season after three straight losses in the Ouachita (La.) Tournament. They also lost for much of the season, projected No. 2 starter Andrew Brown

There was some talk that this would be Creel’s last season as the VHS coach, but he has put off going into administration for another year. He will welcome back another strong team next year.

“We only have three players who are done, Stanton, Drew (Brown) and Delmon (Robinson). But we have back (Kurt) Cooksey, Bowen (Woodson), (Brian) Fitzgerald and (Trey) Prentiss. They all had great seasons.

“We also have a very talented eighth and ninth grade class coming up. We just can’t take any days off,” Creel said.

The Gators began its turnaround about five years ago, Creel said.

“I would say Justin Henry’s junior year we started getting better. Then we had both Steven and Stanton Price come up and that definitely improved our talent. Things like that go in cycles and we got into a good one,” Creel said.