[06/10/02]JACKSON At the end of one of the longest days in the history of the MHSAA All-Star games, St. Aloysius’ Aaron George was called upon to do a little extra lifting.

He didn’t mind a bit.

The Meridian Community College signee went 2-for-5 with a double and pitched three innings, allowing two runs, to earn MVP honors for the South squad in the Class 1A/2A/3A All-Star game Saturday night at Smith-Wills Stadium.

He was one of only two players on either team to play the full nine innings, but his effort wasn’t enough to give his team a win. Led by a 3-for-4, four-RBI performance from Ripley’s Broderick Rodgers, the North claimed a 7-5 victory.

“It’s real nice. I just came out and had fun, and I guess it worked,” George said of winning his team’s MVP award.

Both George and St. Al’s other all-star, Blake Warnock, received another honor after the game as well. Both were selected to play in the inaugural MPSA/MHSAA All-Star game this weekend at Smith-Wills. They’ll lead the Class 1A/2A/3A all-stars against the Academy A and AA all-stars from the Mississippi Private Schools Association at 3 p.m. Saturday. Porters Chapel Academy shortstop T.J. Smith and Tallulah Academy pitcher Adam Thames will represent the MPSA.

The MHSAA Class 4A/5A all-star team, which will include Vicksburg High’s J.J. Brown and Warren Central’s John Morgan Mims and Brian Pettway, will take on the MPSA Academy AAA-AAAA all-stars at noon.

“It’s a good honor, I guess, because it’s the first time we’ve played them. It should be fun,” George said.

Despite making another all-star team, Warnock had a game he’d rather forget. He started and batted leadoff, but went 0-for-4 at the plate. He reached base once on a first-inning error, but didn’t hit a ball out of the infield and struck out in the ninth inning.

He did handle three fly ball chances from three straight batters before leaving the game in the top of the fourth inning. He returned in the seventh, but didn’t have another fly ball hit his way.

“I caught everything that came to me. I did everything I was supposed to do,” Warnock said.

George, meanwhile, did everything he was supposed to do and more.

He started the game as the designated hitter, batting for starting pitcher Zach Butler of Biloxi’s St. John, and blasted a double over the head of North center fielder Michael Cooper in the first inning. He came up again with a runner on in the third inning, and hit another deep fly to the same spot. Cooper was able to haul this one in, though. Both of George’s blasts reached the warning track and would have been home runs at most high school fields.

“He just missed a couple. On a high school park, they’re gone,” South coach David Brown of Morton said. “He can hit. We saw that from the get-go, and the kid that he DH’d for wanted to concentrate on his pitching, so we let him hit for (Butler).”

George took over on the mound in the bottom of the fourth. He allowed seven hits in three innings, but did collect three strikeouts, walked none and pitched out of a pair of jams. The North finally tagged him for two runs in the sixth, including one on an RBI single by Rodgers that made it 7-4, and the rally turned out to be the difference in the game.

“I haven’t pitched since the last game we played,” George said.

“I was surprised. I did better than I thought I would.”

After finishing his stint on the mound, George found himself in an unusual position left field. Brown said he didn’t want to strain George’s arm any further by putting him in at catcher, so he told George to play the outfield for the first time ever.

Only one ball was hit anywhere near George over the last three innings, an eighth-inning pop-up that was caught by South shortstop Austin Alexander of Forrest County AHS. George joked that he reluctantly gave way to Alexander on the play, although he was nearly 30 feet from the ball when it was caught.

“I was getting close to it, but the shortstop got it,” George said with a smile.

The start of the 1A/2A/3A game was delayed nearly two hours by the Class 4A/5A All-Star game, which went 17 innings, featured a one-hour rain delay, and lasted more than six hours. Both St. Al all-stars simply shook their heads when asked about waiting through the first game.

“That was horrible,” Warnock said. “That wasn’t even right. They should have let us play on the little field next door.”