Haston helps team to title

Former Pioneer baseball standout Joey Haston pitched his collegiate teammates to a conference championship last week, as Delta State University’s Statesmen defeated Montevallo 7-5 to win the Gulf South Conference title.

Haston, who graduated from WCHS in 2004 and came to DSU from Vol State Community College, worked 6 1/3 innings in the title game, giving up three runs on five hits with two strikeouts. With the victory, he improved to 8-0 on the year, while his club upped its record to 45-9.

The championship was the 11th conference title for the Statesmen, and their first since 2004, the year the Cleveland, Miss.-based school went to the National Championship.

The Statesmen went on to earn the right to host the 2008 NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament at Dave ‘Boo’ Ferriss Field, May 15-18. They will begin their pursuit of the national title Thursday night with a game against Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Local fans can follow Haston and his team’s progress by logging on to www.gostatesmen.com.