Derek Beach

Baseball player Derek Beach, center, a stand-out at Heidelberg Academy in Jasper County, has accepted a scholarship to play in the fall for East Mississippi Community College in Scooba. He is shown on signing day with his parents, seated, Barry and Karen Beach. Standing, from left, are Tony Montgomery, EMCC head baseball coach; Josh Snider, EMCC assistant baseball coach; and Jim Fries, baseball and football coach at Heidelberg Academy. Beach will be a member of the first EMCC baseball team to play on a renovated Gerald Poole field. Construction on the project is under way this summer. While at EMCC, Beach will work toward a degree in education; he plans a career as a teacher and coach. For more information about sports at EMCC, call Mickey Stokes, vice president for athletics, at (662) 476-5068.