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Former Panther Dies In Work Accident
Former Panther Gervarius Dickey died on June 28th in an accident on his job. Dickey was a member of the 2001 team that finished second in the Division race and lost to Oak Grove in the playoffs. He was a pitcher and an outfielder. He was also the cousin of present BHS slugger Garion Crockett. Coach Spring had this to say, "Gervarius only played one year for us but he brought a lot to the team. He was a good athlete and a quiet respectful young man. He was well liked by his classmates and his teammates. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family, especially Garion."
Panther Sophmore Jacob Dunn Dies In Crash
August 27, 2005
A little before 10:00 on Saturday night, Panther outfielder Jacob Dunn and fellow classmate Hunter Rester were killed in a one car accident on New Sight Road just outside Brookhaven. Dunn started the majority of the BHS games in rightfield in 05 and batted .319. He was expected to be one of the team's top hitters this year and was expected to see a lot of time on the mound.
Coach Spring said the loss will be hard to deal with in many ways."Of course he will be missed on the field. He had great natural ability. He was pushing 6-2 and weighed about 180 pounds. He had that God given ability to put the bat on the ball. He was beginning to develop some power. Jacob also had a great arm. I believe he would have been an upper 80's guy before he finished. But more important than that, he was developing into a fine young man. I remember this Summer after he had umpired a Little League game, he went over and was playing ball with a bunch of little kids, two of which were mine. Also, during one of our Junior High games, he came to watch. My wife was shorthanded in the concession stand. So Jacob stayed back there the whole night grilling burgers to help her out. Those are two things he did not have to do. But by doing them he showed the kind of heart he had."
The Panthers ask that you please keep them in your prayers as they deal with the loss of their teammate. But more importantly, please remember the Dunn and the Rester family as they go through this painful time.
Former Players (99-05)
BASEBALL
99 - Kendall Poole- Co-Lin (02-03)
00 - Arlandus Brown - Co-Lin (01-02)
01 - Miguel Banks - Co-Lin (02)
Matt Fitsimmons - Co-Lin (03)
Aaron Oberschmidt-Co-Lin(02-03)
Fred Perkins-Co-Lin(02)
Cayce Wallace-Co-Lin(03), Mississippi College(04-05)
02 - Ben Goza- Co-Lin(03)
03 - Justin Sykes- Co-Lin(04-05)
04 - Adam Ogden - Co-Lin (05)
Xavier Qualls - Co-Lin (05-06), Southeastern LA (07-08)
Scotty Smith - Co-Lin (05)
06 - Brandt Hinton - Co-Lin (Present)
07 - Josh Coone - Co-Lin (Present)
Cole Newell - Southwest (Present)
Mitch Pappas - Co-Lin (08)
Elliott Warren - Mississippi College (08)
08 - Paxton King - Universtiy of Southern Mississippi
PANTHERS IN THE MAJOR LEAGUE DRAFT
02 - Fred Perkins - 40th Round by Montreal Expos
02 - Arlandus Brown - 22nd Round by Montreal Expos(from Co-Lin)
OTHER SPORTS
99 - Mario Smith - Football - Army(99-02)
01 - Fred Perkins-Football-Co-Lin(02), Southern Univ.(03)
02 - Kern Hoff-Football-Mississippi Coll.(Redshirt 02, 03-06)
04 - Adam Ogden-Football - Co-Lin (04)
04 - WT King-Soccer - Co-Lin (04)
05 - Grant McDonnieal-Golf - Co-Lin (06-07)
Delta St. (Present)
05 - Darius Perkins- Football - Northwestern LA (Present)
06 - Marlon Dixon - Football - Co-Lin (06-07)
06 - TJ Qualls - Football - Southwest CC (06)
Jacob Dunn Remembered
August 27, 2005 was a dark day for the Brookhaven Panther Baseball program. A little before 10:00 PM on that night, sophmore Jacob Dunn and classmate Hunter Rester lost their lives in a one car accident on New Sight Road just outside of Brookhaven. Hunter Rester was also a sophmore. He was a member of the BHS Soccer team and Golf team and had also played on the 9th Grade Football team. The BHS Baseball team offers its deep condolences to the Rester family. our thoughts and prayers will always be with you.
The loss of Jacob was and will continue to be hard for the Panthers to deal with. On the night of the accident most of the players made their way to Moyer Field. After a while they were joined by Coach Spring, BHS Athletic Director Tucker Peavey, and Brookhaven First Baptist Youth Minister Mike Brister. This action was initiated by the players and will probably go a long way in helping the team unify to deal with this tragedy. The team cannot thank Coach Peavey and Brother Mike enough for taking the time to come and be with the players. The words they offered were of great comfort.
Words cannot describe how much Jacob will be missed. He was enthusiastic and energetic and faced each day with tremendous exitement. Watching how much he had grown and matured in his three plus years in the program was something that was noticed by coaches, teammates, and supporters alike. When a player has been in a program for awhile the coaches begin to look at them like one of their own and the players begin to see them as a brother. So in Jacob, not only was a player and teammate lost, but a family member.
As a player, his potential was unlimited. Jacob was developing the size (6-2, 183 lbs.) and the skill to be a big time player. Last season, as a freshman, he started the majority of the Panthers' games in rightfield. In 75 official at bats he hit .319 with one homerun and 22 RBI's. Against Jefferson County at Libery Park in Natchez, Jacob fell one hit short of hitting for the cycle. In that game he collected a double, triple, and homerun. In the last regular game he ever played, he once again showed the tremendous promise he had by collecting two hits versus Terry in the championship game of the first round playoff tournament.
Over the Summer, while he continued to improve as a hitter, he also began to show his promise as a pitcher. He had developed a fastball in the low to mid 80's and was developing more consistency with his breaking ball. There is no doubt he would have thrown in the upper 80's and pushed the 90 MPH mark by the time he finished at BHS.
The memorials at his visitation and his funeral were fitting as they showed his love for the game of baseballs. Much of his baseball memorabalia was on display. Items included pictures, homerun balls, and many other materials from his baseball career.
Jacob's BHS teammates served as the pallbearers at the funeral. Cody Ratcliff, Cole Newell, Mitch Pappas, Brandt Hinton, RJ Jenkins, and Josh Coone were selected to carry the casket. The players and coaches were dressed in their red jerseys and all white pants. Jacob was buried in this uniform as well. The Baseball Team also presented Jacob's parents with his blue jersey and his gray pinstripe jersey in a frame. This was also on display at the visitation. It is also worthy of being noted that no one will wear Jacob's number 5 until after his class, the Class of 2008 graduates. The team will also honor his memory in other ways throughout the upcoming season.
These words here do little justice in honoring someone who has passed on. We just wanted those who visit this site to know how much we cared about and will miss Jacob. Again, we wish the best for his family as they have so much to deal with. We hope that everything we do will honor his memory in an apprpriate way.
Monday, November 19
Panthers Win 20 For Fourth Time in Five Seasons
It was a tale of 3 seasons for the Panthers in 2007, but despite injuries and other adversity BHS fought their way to their 4th 20 win season in the last 5. Brookhaven raced out to a 12-3 record, then suffered a 5 game losing streak, before finishing the regular season with a 6-1 run. The Panthers then went 2-2 in the District Tournament before losing 2 tough one run games in the opening round of the playoffs.
The biggest blow to the Panther season came in the 10th game of the season against Lawrence County. Josh Coone was injured swinging at a pitch in his first at bat. The injury was a broken bone in his hand that, in essence kept him out for the rest of the swason. Coach Spring commented on the loss of Coone, "No doubt it was a huge loss. Josh was our leading returning homerun and our number 2 pitcher. Losing him caused our lineup to take a huge hit and it took us a couple of weeks to get our pitching staff back in order. There is no doubt that his loss was felt in many of the close losses we had throughout the year."
Despite the loss of Coone and the transfer of senior infielder/pitcher Zach Watson the Panthers enjoyed another successful season. As mentioned earlier it was the fouurth 20 win season in the last 5 years. BHS made the playoffs for the 12th time in 13 seasons. The Panthers also defeated arch rivals Lawrence County 3 times in 4 meetings. Coach Spring reflected on the ups and downs of the 2007, "This was a season that I had looked forward to for several years. At the end of the 2005 season, when these seniors were sophmores, I really thought this year would be one where we could make a run at another championship. In hte time since then we lost 3 key players. Jacob Dunn was killed before the 2005 season. I think he was on the road to becoming one of the best players ever at BHS. Zach Watson transferred before this school year and then Josh Coone was hurt in the 10th game of the year. Losing 3 players of that caliber definitely impacts your program. I think it speaks well of our team that despite not having these 3 kids around, we still had a very successful year."
The 2007 version of the Panthers put up some superlative numbers. They maintained their tradition of outstanding pitching. The staff had an ERA of 2.13, gave up just 159 hits, walked just 75, and struck out 212 in 190.0 innings pitched. Paxton King was 7-4 record with a 1.01 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 62.2 innings pitched. Cole Newell turned in another fine season finishing with a tough luck 3-4 record. He had an ERA of 2.10 in 43.1 innings. Bud Britt finished extremely well going 4-0 with a 1.65 ERA. Nick Helmstetter and Brandon Foster had some bright moments as well in their first year of action.
Offensively, the Panthers set the school record by smashing 24 homeruns. Taylor Newman set the pace in that category by hammering 9 round trippers. Cody Ratcliff hit 5 homeruns and Cole Newell and pounded 4. Bud Britt exploded on the scene with a great offensive year. He lead the team with a .422 batting average and 38 hits. Including Britt, the Panthers had 8 hitters with a .300 average or better.
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