Lewisburg Patriots rolling on the diamond, rising in national polls
The season is still young, but defending MHSAA Class 6A Champion Lewisburg sure looks like the team to beat in Mississippi’s highest classification, the new 7A.
After sweeping a couple of games against Houston (Tenn.) and Oak Grove Saturday, the nationally ranked Patriots (12-3) will head off to Rome, Ga. next week to play for a championship in the Southeastern Baseball Classic.
Watching a couple of games, it’s not hard to see what makes coach Rusty Cagle’s 12th-ranked Patriots so tough to beat.
In the first of their two wins this past weekend, 2025 Vanderbilt commit Talon Haley picked up the dub on the mound in a 5-3 win over one of the best teams in Tennessee, the Houston Mustangs.
The left-handed Haley struggled a bit with his command and issued four walks, but he still scattered three hits over five innings and struck out 10 batters.
Lewisburg junior and Vanderbilt baseball commit Talon Haley struck out 10 batters over five innings of work in a victory over Houston (Tenn.) on Saturday, March 16 at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss.
Photo by Louie Sanders
Texas signee Sam Richardson provided the offense with four RBIs, including three on a bases-clearing, first-inning triple.
In the sixth, the Patriots turned the game over to Louisiana Lafayette signee Matt Osteen, who struck out three batters in two innings to pick up his second save of the year.
“We’ve got some great arms on this team,” Haley said. “I get a lot of attention, but when we can go to a guy like Matt out of the pen, it makes us really hard to beat. Our top-line talent is great, but we're also deep. Our guys that are going to play juco next year have Division-1 talent, and they’ll play at that level.”
In Saturday’s second game — a 10-6 win over Class 7A South heavyweight Oak Grove — the Patriots got two RBIs apiece out of Memphis signee Austin Hannigan, Air Force signee Gunner Gilmore and Northeast Miss. Community College signee Trae Cagle.
Baylor signee Cayden Baker got the start on the mound, but Mississippi Gulf Coast signee Matt Magee picked up the win in relief and Gilmore slammed the door.
The 2024 Lewisburg Patriots pose for a team photo after sweeping two games from Houston (Tenn.) and Oak Grove (Miss.) on Saturday, March 16 at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss.
Photo by Louie Sanders
In other games this year, the Patriots have benefitted from heroic performances from Ole Miss signee Stone McCaughey (pronounced like McKay), who is raking .346 over 26 at-bats.
They’ve also enjoyed contributions from Mississippi Delta Community College signees Caleb Staggs and Kody Gilmore, Meridian Community College signee Cooper Bennett and Northeast Mississippi Community College signee Easton Fesmire.
And that’s just the guys who have decided where they’ll play ball at the next level.
“The talent is great,” Cagle explained. “But that doesn’t win championships. You gotta have guys that want to play a role and do what’s best for the team. This group has decided to do that and play selfless, and that’s what I’m most proud of — we’re team-oriented.”
That mentality extends beyond the diamond as well. When the Patriots play on the road, they bring their own brooms and garbage bags and meticulously clean their dugout after the game.
With all that talent and character, you might ask how the Patriots ever lose. The answer is a combination of “that’s baseball” and a quick look at the schedule so far this year.
The two games Saturday wrapped up a whirlwind week for the Patriots, who also split games against SB Live’s No. 2-ranked Catholic (Baton Rouge) and SB Live’s No. 3-ranked Farragut (Knoxville, Tenn.) down in the South Walton Showdown in Florida.
It’s been a lot of travel and a lot of baseball, but it's paying off. The Patriots continue to watch their stock rise in the national polls and, more importantly, keeping their focus on winning second-straight MHSAA State Championship in 2024.
And it's no secret why the Patriots are seemingly going for broke this year — on top of the reality that they’ll lose a ton of the talent to the college ranks (and potentially the MLB Draft) in the off-season, Cagle plans to step down as the baseball coach at the end of the year to become the school’s football coach.
“I really want to watch my son Trae at the college level next year,” he said. “It’s hard to do that while you are coaching a team, and the chance to lead the football program is a new, exciting adventure for me.”
As Cagle explained, It’s folks like baseball operations director Matt Hammond, who has been with the program 16 years and handles the Patriots’ account on X (@TheBurgbball) and assistant coaches Tyler Scholl and Adam Sowell.
“This isn’t my program,” he said. “We have a tremendous support system that helps us check all the boxes you have to check to have a successful baseball program, from the administration to our assistant coaches to our parents and boosters. Lewisburg baseball is going to be just fine.”
