Mississippi HS Team Preview: Center Hill Mustangs

January 31, 2025
Prep Baseball Mississippi Staff

The 2025 Mississippi high school baseball season is quickly approaching and, as usual, excitement is abound throughout the state. Players and coaches have been working in preparation for the upcoming season and, as is the case each year, there are some very talented players and teams across Mississippi.

Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons at Pearl’s Trustmark Park, in the State Tournament finals at the end of May, but there is plenty of work to be done before that becomes reality. We hope to familiarize our readers with many of the teams across the state as we preview individual teams across Mississippi. We will take you right up to first pitch this season with these team previews, eventually releasing our Preseason Power 25 rankings that’ll carry us into the opening week of action.

Please keep checking back throughout the season as we will be your one-stop shop for everything related to high school baseball across the state. Each week we will be releasing our Players of the Week and updating the Power 25 rankings.

Our 2025 preseason coverage continues today.

High School: Center Hill High School
Head Coach: Peyton Callahan
MHSAA Classification: MHSAA 6A
District Number: Region 1
2024 Record (Playoff Finish): 21-12 (Eliminated Third Round)

ROSTER PREVIEW

+ No. Returning Positional Starters: 4
+ No. Returning Pitchers: 2
+ Key Returners:

C Whit Key (2025, East Mississippi CC)
RHP/INF Cooper McCool (2025, East Mississippi CC)
LHP/OF Mac Atkins (2025, Northwest Mississippi CC)
INF JaMaryon Warren (2025)
OF/RHP Ryan Brunetz (2025)

More Names to Know

2025s:

P/UTL Malachi Howze (2025)

2026s:

OF De'Shann Hannah (2026)

TOP NEWCOMERS

+ Impact Underclassmen:

INF/RHP Rico Suber (2027)
C/UTL Grayson Doss (2028)
RHP/UTL Cohen Mathews (2028)
UTL JD Grissom (2028)

2025 OUTLOOK

+ Center Hill returns 4 positional starters and 2 pitchers from last year’s team that finished 21-12 after a 3rd loss in the 6A State Playoffs. Head Coach Peyton Callahan will rely on overall pitching and defense as keys to a successful season for his Mustangs.

Top returners for Center Hill seniors Whit Key (C, East MS CC recruit), Cooper McCool (RHP/INF, East MS CC recruit), Mac Atkins (LHP/OF, Northwest MS CC recruit), JaMaryon Warren (INF), and Ryan Brunetz (RHP/OF).

McCool is the top returning run producer after picking up 16 RBIs last season, while Warren led the Mustangs with 35 runs and 20 stolen bases. Atkins (5-3, 3.53 ERA) and McCool (2-0, 4.17 ERA) both return over 40 innings on the mound and will look to hold opposing offenses at bay.

Coach Callahan will also look for production from senior Malachi Howze (RHP/UT), junior De’Shann Hannah (OF), sophomore Rico Suber (INF), and freshmen Grayson Doss (C/UT), Cohen Mathews (RHP/UT), and JD Grissom (UT).

Center Hill will begin regular season play on February 11th versus Desoto Central,

Find more information on Center Hill’s 2025 season below:

+ Follow them on X: @TheHillBasebal1
+ Find more 2025 team previews on our MHSAA Season Preview page

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