6A Baseball State Championship Preview: Madison Central vs. Northwest Rankin

The stage is set for the 6A edition of the 2021 MHSAA State Baseball Championships as the Madison Central Jaguars face off against the Northwest Rankin Cougars.  

Madison Central comes into the series by way of sweeps over South Panola and North Half-opponent Tupelo with a three-game victory over Starkville.

Meanwhile, Northwest Rankin defeated Oak Grove in a series that went three games as well to punch their ticket to Pearl. They also claimed sweeps over West Harrison and D’Iberville.

In terms of overall records, Madison Central sits at 32-2 on the season. As for Northwest Rankin, they currently stand at 27-7.

The impact player to watch for the Jaguars is Braden Montgomery, Hunter Hines, and Ross Highfill. The three will have high expectations for the series as Division I commits heading to Stanford, Mississippi State, and Southern Mississippi, respectively.

As for the Cougars, Southern Miss-committed pitcher Nick Monistere will be where the eyes go. While he will have to make a massive impact, watch out also for Luke Lycette, Blake Summerlin, and Evan Rogers as three commits to Jones College who can play at an extremely high level.

Game one of the series is set to begin Wednesday with first pitch at 5 p.m.

Game two will take place on Friday with a 5 p.m. first pitch time also.

If needed, game three will be played on a day and time to be determined.