Thirty years ago the Loyd Star Hornets were the kings of highschool baseball in Mississippi. They captured the Class B statechampionship, sweeping Hamilton two straight games.

Remarkably, every one of Loyd Star’s games was on the road. TheHornets’ home field was unplayable due to a huge mound of earth inthe outfield. As an alternative site, they played their home gamesat West Lincoln.

Loyd Star, coached then by Rickey Smith, is considered to be thefirst high school state championship baseball team in LincolnCounty. Brookhaven Academy captured a state title in 1984 and againin 2010. Brookhaven High won it all in 2004.

Lance Smith, Loyd Star’s Most Valuable Player and a 1980 graduate,was a skinny 6-foot, 165-pound right-hander with a powerful arm. Hepitched most of Loyd Star’s victories in a 14-2 campaign.

Smith said Loyd Star’s championship squad was special. “We had ateam. Someone always contributed for us to win. No matter if it wasthe ninth batter or the leadoff batter.”

Lance Smith recalled the Hornets’ field. “There was a big old hill,about 250 feet from home plate. Then there was a 20-foot dropoff.If a player was chasing a fly ball and ran behind the hill, youwouldn’t know if he caught it or dropped it.”

The next year, bulldozers cut the hill down and it slowly became arespectable playing field.

As a senior, Smith compiled a12-2 record for the Hornets. He threwmostly fastballs and curveballs, signing with the MississippiCollege Choctaws.

“The pro scouts had radar runs when we got to the playoffs,” Smithrecalled. “I got clocked at 90 and 91 (mph) one night.”

Smith had 132 strikeouts in 76 innings and an ERA of 0.73. Hestruck out 11 batters and scattered three hits in the 7-2 titlegame win over Hamilton.

“Dusty Case pitched a couple of games for us but he had some armtrouble,” said Smith. Case had pitched a South State victory overHickory in a best-of-three series.

The Hornets rallied from a first-game loss to beat Runnelstown twostraight in the opening round of the state playoffs.

Butch Keene was the catcher and he vividly remembers catchingSmith. He was at home recovering from neck surgery to repair tworuptured discs this weekend.

“I had to wear a sponge in my glove every game when I caughtLance,” said Keene. “He could throw an 87-mile per hour curveballand a 90 fastball. His curveball was so good it looked like it wascoming right at you. A lot of batters would step out of thebox.”

Keene said the Hornets loved baseball and had a great work ethic.”We played and practiced and we even practiced after practice tomake sure we were ready.”

He turned 19 in February of his senior year. “We had a lot ofleaders on the team. I was 19 when I graduated. “

The starting lineup for Loyd Star: Butch Keene at catcher. JoneyBritt at first base, Ronnie Keene at second base, Anthony Melanconat shortstop. Robbie Sartin at third base. Danny Smith in leftfield, Robbie Britt in center and Kenneth Carmical in right.Carmical, batting ninth in the order, provided some key RBI hits inthe title game.

“As sophomores and juniors we were competitive,” said Smith. “Wesplit with Cathedral our senior year and we had to beat them in aplayoff game (5-2) to reach the playoffs.”

He admired Loyd Star head coach Rickey Smith. “Rickey would let youplay ball. He didn’t yell or scream but he would make a point. Ifyou screwed up, he would say something but that was all ofit.”

Wendell Redd, a fiery girls basketball coach, served as Smith’sassistant coach.

Lance Smith vividly recalls the Hamilton field located in the ruralhills of north Mississippi. “It was a cow pasture with lights inthe middle of it.”

During pregame warm-ups, Smith said he was having control problems.”I remember my curveball was bouncing in front of the home plate. Itold Coach Smith something was wrong. They got a tape measure andit was 62 feet instead of 60 feet, six inches,” from the pitchingrubber to home plate.

“That made a difference,” Smith laughed. “The light poles wereabout 275 feet out in the outfield. If the ball hit the pole, itwas a live ball. There was no fence.”

The Hornets swept Hamilton in the best-of-three series. They won5-0 and 7-2. Smith won the first game and pitched the secondvictory on a few days rest. Sartin contributed several RBIs.

Since Lincoln County is dry, there was no champagne celebrationafter the game. Smith said, “I remember, I poured Coke on (RickeySmith) after the game.”

Coach Smith then read a proclamation penned by state representativeSteve Melancon, recognizing Loyd Star’s championship.

Shortstop Anthony Melancon was one of the talented seniors whosparkled on defense.

“It was an amazing feeling to win state,” said Melancon. “Wealready had a senior trip planned to Florida. We kept on winningand winning so we said ‘Let’s forget about the trip and winstate.'”

The rest is history.

“We had a strong senior team who had played together for severalyears,” said Melancon. “Coach Smith’s practice ethics wereimportant.”

The baseball season began about a month later than today. “Westarted out the season with high expectations,” said Melancon.”That was the year that (pitcher) Bo Jordan was playing forEnterprise and they were real strong.”

The Hornets possessed unique team chemistry.

“We had key players in the right positions,” said Melancon. “Thatmade us a good strong team. Lance Smith was phenomenal. Dusty Casewas a good pitcher.”

Melancon was selected the team’s best defensive player. He also wasa standout wide receiver on Loyd Star’s football team.

“The idea of knowing that we could be the first Loyd Star team towin state motivated us,” said Melancon.

Butch Keene agreed. “I think us winning state got Loyd Starbaseball headed in the right direction.”

Keene said they had the best coach, too. “Coach Smith treated usall like we were his kin. He spent a lot of time with us.”