A partial tear of his UCL last year forced Neshoba Central starting pitcher Reid Hall to have surgery, putting his senior season on the mound into question.

So he picked a good time to have a breakout 2022 on offense, hitting .510 on the season with a .597 on-base percentage, a .948 slugging percentage, 13 doubles, four triples, seven home runs, 31 RBIs and 12 stolen bases.

Fortunately for Hall, he was eventually able to make it back on the mound as a closer for the Rockets, helping them to a 29-7 record, an MHSAA Region 3-5A championship, a Class 5A North State championship and a berth in the Class 5A state title series.

Because of his efforts, Hall has been named the 2022 Premier Preps Baseball Player of the Year.

“It feels good — why wouldn’t it?” Hall said with a chuckle.

He also credited Neshoba Central baseball coach Jonathan Jones for his and the team’s success, as Jones helped guide the Rockets to an historic season.

“He believed in every one of us and had faith in us,” Hall said. “He taught us well and taught us never to give up, and that’s what we did.”

With such a strong season, Jones was named the 2022 Premier Preps Baseball Coach of the Year.

“To be honest, it’s very humbling,” Jones said. “This is my 24th year of doing this, and this was my most successful year. We have a lot of great players. Every year is a different year, but I appreciate all of my players for buying into the system and giving us a chance to play for a state title this year.”

Jones said the Rockets graduated five key seniors in 2021, so he wasn’t sure what the upside of the 2022 team would be at first, especially since Hall wasn’t going to be able to pitch as the team’s No. 1 starter so soon after surgery. 

“I thought we might hit a little bit but it was a bunch of young guys who hadn’t played a lot, so we weren’t sure at first,” Jones said. “We ended up hitting a lot better than we thought.”

Hall was a big part of that, Jones added.

“He hit the weights hard, and the ball started jumping off his bat left and right,” Jones said. “He was hitting a lot of doubles and triples. Any time we needed a clutch hit, I was hoping he would come up, and a lot of times he did. When he would get that leadoff single in the first inning, it was like we were ready to go.”

The level of offensive success he had wasn’t something Hall anticipated.

“It was a big surprise to me, too, honestly,” Hall said. “I practiced hard during the offseason to see what I could do. It feels great (to be able to contribute like that). You rarely hear of someone hitting .500 for a whole season.”

A pair of wins against Ridgeland in late March opened Jones’ eyes about the potential of this year’s team.

“Probably the first Ridgeland game was when I knew we might have something special,” Jones recalled. “We were down 4-1 going into the top of the seventh (on the road), and we hit back-to-back-to-back home runs to take the lead and ended up winning it. That was one where we were like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty crazy.’ We solidified our district title by beating them at the end of that week, so that was the first stepping stone, and the kids started believing at that point.”

As the wins piled up, Hall said he and his teammates became more convinced they could make a deep run in the postseason.

“We busted out of the gates and went all the way,” Hall said.

Talent, especially offensively, played a big part in their success, but Jones said the lack of egos was also key for the Rockets.

“I think we had a bunch of guys who didn’t worry about who got the notoriety or any of that kind of stuff,” Jones said. “It was a different guy every night, so (our opponents) couldn’t focus on just one guy. We had a number of guys who were hot at different times, so that really helped a lot.”

The season didn’t end the way the Rockets wanted, with losses of 3-2 and 7-3 to East Central in late May’s Class 5A state title series, but Hall said the sour ending doesn’t diminish what he and his teammates were able to accomplish.

“It was a good season, the best one we’ve ever had, with our first North State championship,” Hall said. “It was just great, and it’s going to be hard to have another season like that again.”