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: Lafayette High School
Head Coach: John Walker
MHSAA Classification: MHSAA 5A
District Number: 1
2024 Record (Playoff Finish): 27-9 (State Runner-Up)

 

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ROSTER PREVIEW

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

• C/RHP Tanner Harris (2026)
• LHP/OF Levi Hamm (2026)
• UTL/RHP Caleb Guest (2026)

More Names to Know

2026s:

• SS Collin Waldrip (2026)
• RHP/C/INF Easton Thompson (2026)
• OF Lawson Fortner (2026)

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TOP NEWCOMERS

+ Impact Underclassmen:

• RHP/INF Jake McMinn (2027)
• INF John Hunter McDougal (2028)

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2025 OUTLOOK

+ Lafayette enters the 2025 season with high expectations following last year’s impressive 27-9 campaign, which saw the Commodores finish as the 5A State runner-up to Vancleave. With only two positional starters and two pitchers returning, Head Coach John Walker will lean heavily on his pitching staff to guide the team on another deep postseason run.

Leading the charge are juniors Tanner Harris (C/RHP), Levi Hamm (LHP/OF), and Caleb Guest (OF/INF/RHP), all of whom will play crucial roles in both the lineup and on the mound.

Several new faces will look to make an immediate impact, including juniors Collin Waldrip (SS), Easton Thompson (RHP/C/INF), and Lawson Fortner (OF), as well as sophomore Jake McMinn (RHP/INF) and freshman John Hunter McDougal (INF).

Lafayette kicks off its season on February 11th against South Panola, aiming to reload and make another run at the 5A crown.

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Find more information on Lafayette’s 2025 season below:

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

FOLLOW US THROUGHOUT THE SPRING

+ Prep Baseball Mississippi on X
+ Prep Baseball Mississippi on Instagram
+ Prep Baseball Mississippi on Facebook

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