Josh McBride is batting .333 with 15 RBIs from the No. 9 spot for playoff-bound Vicksburg High. (The Vicksburg Post/MARK THORNTON)

[04/18/01] Josh McBride has heard the taunts and seen the skeptical looks when he steps up to the plate. The 5-foot-3, 115-pounder doesn’t respond with anything other than his 32-ounce bat. And he’s done plenty of talking with it this season.

“I just try to beat ’em in baseball,” the soft-spoken Vicksburg High sophomore said of all the times he’s been heckled or questioned because of his size. “When you get a hit, it makes you feel good. You look over at them, and they just kind of put their head down.”

McBride originally earned the starting job at second base because of his sure hands and small strike zone.

“He’ll be a tough out,” VHS coach Jamie Creel said just before the season.

He was right. McBride leads the team with a .652 on-base percentage.

But McBride has surprised even himself by hitting .333 out of the No. 9 spot.

“I thought I’d bat about .290,” McBride said.

But, like his team, he has overachieved this season.

The Gators, who lost eight starters to graduation last year, went 23-6 in the regular season to earn a spot in The Clarion-Ledger’s poll at No. 15 this week.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t have thought we’d win this many,” first baseman Paul Gorney admitted. “I probably would have guessed 17 or 18. Our goal was 23.”

VHS has won nine of its last 10, the only loss being by one run to powerful Northwest Rankin in extra innings.

The strong finish has the Gators feeling confident going into their best-of-3 playoff series, which starts Thursday at No. 5 Tupelo.

“Coach Creel told us we can be the best team in the state,” Gorney said.

Only now, after the regular-season results, they believe it.

“We’re playing with a lot of intensity now,” Gorney said. “We all have a lot of confidence.”

And Creel and the rest of the players have just as much confidence in McBride as any other starter maybe more.

He has made only one error all year, and that was a bad throw on a double-play attempt after the lead runner made a hard slide into second.

“I just focus real hard on ground balls,” said McBride, who has worked with a throw-back net in his back yard for about 20 minutes per day the last four years.

“His defense is just phenomenal,” Creel said. “When he put on the glove, I knew he could play for me.”

His fielding ability earned him the nickname “The Vacuum” when he was just 12, going to the Babe Ruth World Series along with VHS shortstop Justin Henry.

But it isn’t just his ability to catch the ball. His willingness to hang in there on double plays, especially with so many gunning for the little guy, has turned some heads.

“He’s fearless,” Creel said of McBride, who has stolen 13 bases on 15 attempts.

“That’s just the whole mentality of his game,” he added, noting that McBride leads the team in being hit by pitches.

“I’ve been spiked a couple of times, and four or five have come at me pretty hard,” McBride said. “They’re probably harder on me than most people.”

Henry, the other half of VHS’ double-play combination, said he knew McBride would be the starter this year despite not playing at all last season after suffering appendicitis early.

“He can turn it quick and get out of there,” Henry said. “But he will stay in there. There have been times when a big guy came in and did a kill-job on him, and I’ll ask if he’s OK and he’ll just say, Yeh, man.’ ”

That’s nothing new to Henry, who has played on teams with McBride since they were 10.

But “the hitting has even surprised me,” Henry said.

Not necessarily his average, but the way he’s been hitting.

“He’s been taking it to pitchers,” Henry said.

His ability isn’t really a secret anymore, though, Creel said.

“In the first half of the season, teams would come in on the grass when he came up,” Creel said.

Not anymore.

“He’s developed warning-track power,” Creel said. “He’s hit some that would have been out of other parks.”

He’s also had some big hits, especially against Natchez, when he drove in the game-winner to the wall in the seventh inning. He also had the Gators’ only hit off then-No. 1 Warren Central’s Taylor Tankersley, an Alabama signee, in two games.

It’s no surprise that McBride dreams of playing at a small college that has had big-time success.

“I would love to play at Delta State,” said McBride, who carries just below a 4.00 grade-point average.

He said his goal is to get to about 160 pounds by his senior year to help his chances.

“You show me a guy who won’t take a chance on him, and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t want to win,” Creel said.

“He’s one of the smartest players on the team and he does everything I ask, and some extra, with no questions.”