ode to jucos

In the display case honoring Scott Berry at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, there is a green jersey emblazoned with EAGLES. It’s a nod to Meridian Community College and, by extension, to juco baseball in the state, which doesn’t seem to get the attention it deserves. Berry, who’ll be formally inducted into the state’s Hall of Fame on Saturday, is best known as the former coach at Southern Miss, where he is the all-time leader in victories, including numerous championships. But Berry also spent 10 years as a coach at MCC, the last four as head coach after succeeding the highly successful Corky Palmer. Berry’s legacy at MCC is powerful: Over his four seasons, the Eagles were a perennial Top 10 team in the NJCAA, per the MCC website. His teams went 185-58, twice reaching the Juco World Series. The 1997 team, his first, was ranked No. 1 all season before falling in the district round of the postseason. He won numerous coach of the year awards, including two national honors, and he was inducted into the MACCC Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. More than 25 players advanced from Meridian CC to Division I schools during Berry’s tenure. Among that group was Cliff Lee, who went on to Arkansas and then to the big leagues, where he was an All-Star and Cy Young Award winner. All told, MCC has produced seven MLB players, including Corey Dickerson, Tyler Moore and Jamie Brown. There’s an impressive list of state juco alums from other programs who’ve made it to the big leagues: Roy Oswalt (a recent Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame inductee), Jarrod Dyson, Matt Lawton, Tim Anderson, Marcus Thames, Greg Hibbard, Bill Selby, Fred Lewis and Wendell Magee. Among the decorated coaches in addition to Berry and Palmer who’ve served in the state juco ranks are Ken and Cooper Farris, Rick Clarke, George McQuitter, Donny Castle, Keith Case, Sam Temple, Chris Kirtland, Rick Collier, Neal Holliman and Marc Carson. Kirtland won a national title at Jones, and current Pearl River coach Michael Avalon won the national crown in 2022. Current USM coach Christian Ostrander previously coached at Jones. Every season, and throughout each season, several state jucos will appear in the NJCAA Division II national rankings. That green EAGLES jersey in the museum display case serves as a subtle reminder of the quality and rich history of juco ball in Mississippi.