MONTICELLO – Lawrence County senior shortstop David Gilbert,North Pike senior pitcher Dusty Davis and Wesson shortstop RyanWilliams were key ingredients in the success of their respectiveteams during the 2003 baseball campaign.

Gilbert batted .309 at the plate and held a .970 percentfielding percentage that helped Lawrence County to the finals ofSouth State 6-4A tournament before falling to defending state champPicayune. He has signed a baseball scholarship with BelhavenCollege.

For his accomplishments, Gilbert has been All-Area Most ValuablePlayer on the Daily Leader’s 2003 All-Area BaseballTeam.

North Pike’s Davis is the All-Area Defensive Player of the Yearfor the second year in a row and Williams has been named theOffensive Player of the Year.

The dream team is composed of players outside of Lincoln County.The players are selected by members of the Daily Leadersports staff with input from college coaches.

Joining Gilbert on the infield are Ryan Williams of Wesson,Patrick Williams of Copiah Academy and Russell Robinson ofWesson.

Also on the pitching staff are Rusty Rayborn of McComb Parklane,Case Williams of Lawrence County, Kyle Smith of Wesson and ColbyBeach of Franklin County.

In the outfield are Klein Harbour of Lawrence County, JarrodDyson of McComb and Reg Ott of McComb Parklane.

Working behind the plate as catchers are Chris Peets of Wessonand Tyler Travis of North Pike.

Pat Barnes of McComb and Joseph Langham of Wesson are thedesignated hitters. Jasper O’Quinn is the utility player.

Gilbert batted . 309 and was named to the All-District 6-4Ateam. He played second base his junior year with a .1,000 fieldingpercentage and a .300 batting average. Two years ago, Gilberttransferred from Petal to Lawrence County.

“I am real excited,” said Gilbert about signing with Belhaven.”Their program is going in the right direction. I am lookingforward to it.

“It has been a thrill,” said Gilbert of the 2003 season atLCHS.”I’d like to thank my coaches, my mother and my brother, myteammates and God.”

Gilbert will be playing summer league ball under LCHS head coachChris Clark and assistant coach Cory Keyes.

“David was our catalyst,” said Clark. “You could tell the moodof our baseball team by him. He got our team running.

“He made the transition,” continued Clark. “He played well witha .970 fielding percentage. “He is a real go-getter, hard-nosed. Heis just a great kid. He is going to be missed here. I am proud ofhim. He will be a real contributor at Belhaven.”

Dusty Davis signed a baseball scholarship withMeridian Community College. Davis finished his senior year at NorthPike with an 8-1 record with 2 saves. The Jaguars were 15-10overall and 10-0 in Division 6-3A play under head coach GeorgeLott.

Davis struck out 283 batters in 167 innings and has a careerrecord of 19-6 with 5 saves. In the final 2 seasons, opponents hit.120 against him. This season in 49.2 innings, he fanned 91 battersand walked 16 with an 1.55 ERA.

North Pike fell to Philadelphia in the first round of the stateplayoffs.

“It’s an honor to be selected,” said Davis. “I thank God forhelping me along the way. All the glory and honor is him.”

He attends New Hope Baptist Church. His father, Rev. Floyd Davisis pastor.

North Pike coach George Lott taught Davis about baseball. “Hetaught me about baseball,” said Davis. “What I needed to do. Hehelped me.”

Davis recently pitched in the Class 1A-2A-3A North vs. SouthAll-Star game and struck out Jeffrey Ray from Nettleton, who hadnot struck out during the 2003 season.

“He (Ray) was good,” said Davis who described the sequence ofpitches to get the strikeout. “Fastball, curve ball and fastball, Icaught him looking on the third strike.”

According to Davis, the fast ball and the curve ball are his twostrongest pitches. “One helps out the other,” explained Davis.

We had a good season,” said Davis.

“He finished hitting .295 as a batter,” said Lott. “He is agreat kid. He is good Christian young man. He was a good leader, asoft-spoken leader. When he was on in the upper 80’s not many highschool kids in this area could hit him.

“He was an exceptional student,” continued Lott. ” I am hopinghe does well. Hopefully, he will get a lot stronger. They(Meridian) made a good choice.”

Davis plans to major coaching and teaching at Meridian.

“They (Meridian) went to the World Series this year,” addedDavis. “It will be a good experience for me to work on myfundamentals. I’ll get more playing time.”

Davis had an older brother, Zac, who played football at NorthPike before he was killed in an accident.

Ryan Williams (6-1, 152) is a repeater fromlast year’s team. Williams, who signed a baseball scholarship withCo-Lin, batted .314 for the Cobras with 3 home runs, 2 triples and7 doubles. On the mound, he was 2-0 with a 3.05 ERA. Williams alsoplayed in the Class 1A-2A-3A All-Star game.

“I feel real good about it,” smiled Williams. “I worked hard forit.”

Williams appreciated playing under Coach Phillip Knight whoretired at the end of the season. Knight had replaced Jerry Smithwho resigned at the end of the 2002 baseball season.

“I’d like to thank Coach (Phillip) Knight,” said Williams. “Hecame in and helped us a lot. I’d like to thank him a lot forhelping the team.”

Patrick Williams of Copiah Academy also signeda baseball scholarship with the Co-Lin Wolves. Williams, playedboth shortstop and pitcher with a 3-4 record on the mound. Hispitching ERA was 3.47. The slider is his best pitch. Williamsthrows about 85 mph.

Williams’ batting average was .493. He hit 5 homers, drove in 16runs, scored 38 runs and collected 35 hits. Williams belted 11doubles and 2 triples. He struck out 7 times and walked 25 times.On base percentage was .708 and was slugging .915.

Russell Robinson played third base for Wessonhis senior year. Robinson batted .352 with 1 homer and 5 doubles asthe Cobras enjoyed their best season ever.

Rusty Rayborn of McComb Parklane (22-10) hassigned a baseball scholarship with Delta State University. Playingunder veteran head coach Ken Jackson, Rayborn’s helped the Pioneersto the finals of the Class AAAA baseball playoffs. He was 7-3 onthe season with ERA of 0.79. Rayborn threw 62 innings with 78strikeouts. He was named the Most Valuable Player in the MPSAAll-Star Game.

Casey Williams finished 9-3 on the mound forLawrence County his junior year. He had a 4.41 ERA. Williams struckout 63 batters in 60.1 innings. His opponents batted .209.

Kyle Smith of Wesson finished his senior seasonas pitcher and shortstop. On the mound, Smith was 5-2 with a 1.8ERA. At the plate, he held a .286 average with 3 doubles and atriple.

Colby Beach, another Co-Lin signee, was 5-4 onthe mound with a 2.11 ERA as the senior pitcher for Coach EdZumbro, Jr.’s 16-12 Franklin County Bulldogs. Beach pitchedno-hitter against Crystal Springs this season. Beach batted .412with 2 home runs and 28 RBI. He Stole 10 bases.

Klein Harbour of Lawrence County was a juniorright-hander for Lawrence and finished the season with 4-3worksheet. Harbour had a 4.4 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 47.3innings. Opponents batted .209. Opponents batted .168.

Harbour, a repeated from last year’s team, held a .366 battingaverage and finished with 29 RBI.

Jarrod Dyson played in the outfield his junioryear with the 13-14 McComb Tigers. Dyson was .396 at the plate.

Reg Ott of McComb Parklane played left fieldhis senior season. Ott finished the year with a .333 battingaverage including 3 home runs, 2 triples and 9 doubles. Ott was theleadoff batter with on base percentage of .500.

Chris Peets finished his senior season atWesson as catcher. Peets batted .280 with 4 home runs, 4 triplesand 5 doubles.

Tyler Travis of North Pike worked behind theplate for the other Jaguar pitchers. A junior, Travis held a .358batting average including 2 home runs, 2 triples and 2 doubles.

Pat Barnes played both pitcher and outfielderfor the McComb Tigers his junior year. Barnes was one of the tophitters for McComb with a .489 batting average. He was named AllDivision 6-4A and to the 1st Team All-State.

Joseph Langham of Wesson batted .413 and playedfor the Cobras including one home run, 3 triples and 4 doubles.Langham played both centerfield and pitched. On the mound, he was6-2 with 2.77 ERA

Jasper O’Quinn was a sophomore centerfielderfor Franklin County. O’Quinn held a .300 batting average. He stole40 bases to tie for the lead in state with Antonio Anderson ofGreene County. He led the state in stolen base for a majority ofthe season.

O’Quinn runs the 40 yard dash in 4.48 seconds! He holds theFranklin County High School career record in stolen bases with 77,which he’s accomplished in two varsity years with the Dawgs.O’Quinn broke his own single season record of 37 stolen bases in2002 with 40 this year.

Honorable Mention with Distinction

Amite School Center – Jeremy Perkins, RobertYoung.

Copiah Academy – Reese Berry, Jed Stevens.

Franklin County – Will Buckles, Catlyn Wactor,Tyler Cummins, Dewayne Mitchell.

Lawrence County – Luke Watts, Marlon Stanfield,Corey Rogers, Michael Thompson.

North Pike – John Paul Nunnery, Jeff West,Craig Dickerson.

Parklane Academy – Brett Hicks.

South Pike – Kelly Martin.

Wesson – Nick Gunter, Peyton Warren, JustinSmith.