The 2023 AHSAA state baseball season officially opens this weekend.

Teams from across the state of Alabama can begin play Thursday.

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Here’s a little primer as the season begins.

Headed back to the Northeast

The state tournament returns to Oxford and Jacksonville State this May for the second straight year.

The championships again will be held at Choccolocco Park in Oxford and Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium at Jacksonville State from May 15-19. The championship games will be decided at JSU.

The AHSAA signed a 5-year deal in December with Oxford and JSU to keep the best-of-three championships there for the foreseeable future. The softball championships are held at Choccolocco Park the same week. They’ve been there the past two years.

“We are excited to have our state championships in both sports locked in for the next five years and hopefully for many years to come,” AHSAA executive director Alvin Briggs said at the time. “Our experience with softball at Choccolocco Park and baseball last spring at Choccolocco Park and JSU was incredible. We had packed crowds for most of our games. Both sites provided real championship experiences and life-long memories for our teams, schools and communities that traveled to attend.”

Moseley is missing

Veteran Hoover baseball coach Adam Moseley will miss the season after the AHSAA’s Central Board denied a school appeal last month.

Moseley was one of the coaches on the USA Baseball Under 18 National Team in September. The roster for that team, which won the gold medal, included one of his Hoover players.

According to an AHSAA bylaw written and voted into the constitution by member schools, a coach in any sport cannot coach one of his players in competition outside of season during the school year. Since the games took place in September, a violation took place.

When this happens, according to the AHSAA rule book, it “renders that student or the offending coach ineligible in the sport in which the violation occurred for that school season.” Moseley plans to sit out this season so his student can play.

Hoover athletic director Andy Urban said assistant coach Chris Wilson will lead the Bucs in Moseley’s place. Moseley was entering his ninth season as Hoover’s coach.

Championship changes

A pair of state championship teams changed coaches in the offseason.

Chris Heaps stepped down after leading Russellville to a second straight Class 5A state title. He joined Steve Renfroe’s staff at Briarwood Christian. Russellville hired former assistant coach Jess Smith to replace Heaps. Smith coached Scottsboro from 2020-2022.

At Mobile Christian, Talley Haines also stepped down. He led the Leopards five state titles in 11 years at the school, including the last two 4A titles. Haines was AL.com’s Coastal Alabama Baseball Coach of the Year last spring after leading Mobile Christian to a 33-4 record. Longtime assistant Jason Smith was elevated to the head coaching position.

Bayshore Christian moves up

Two-time defending Class 1A state champion Bayshore Christian will have a new challenge this season.

The Eagles, led by coach Jeff Hauge, move up to 2A this season due to the AHSAA’s competitive balance factor.

They won’t have any trouble making the playoffs, competing in a rare two-team area with St. Luke’s. However, the statewide competition will now include perennial power G.W. Long.

Bayshore, a Classical Christian school in Fairhope, has won state championships in the only two seasons it was eligible to do so. Last year, the Eagles swept Lindsay Lane to win the title in Jacksonville.

Hauge again returns a veteran team that includes reigning 1A Player of the Year John Malone, title series MVP Streed Crooms and pitcher/infielder Mikael Bryant.

Returning stars

Three members of the Alabama Sports Writers Association 2022 Super All-State team return for their senior seasons in 2023.

Bayshore Christian’s John Malone, Piedmont’s Jack Hayes and Hartselle’s Coleman Mizell are back to lead their respective teams.

Mizell, an Alabama signee, hit .504 a year ago for the 6A champions with 10 homers, 18 doubles and 56 RBIs. He was named Class 6A Hitter of the Year.

Hayes, the Class 3A Player of the Year, led Piedmont to the state finals. He hit .472 with 64 RBIs in 123 at-bats. On the Mound, he was 8-0 with a 1.08 ERA. He signed with Snead State.

A Samford signee, Malone has led Bayshore Christian to the last two Class 1A state titles. He hit .495 in 2022 with 43 RBIs and 52 runs scored. On the mound, he was 10-1-1 with a 1.93 ERA and 79 strikeouts. He was the 1A Player of the Year.

Other top 2022 honorees returning this year are Central-Phenix City’s Jax Yoxthiemer (7A Hitter of the Year), Russellville’s Banks Langston (5A Pitcher of the Year), Phil Campbell’s Cam Habada (3A Pitcher of the Year) and Glenwood’s Jaxon Milam (AISA Hitter of the Year).

Moving across the Bay

Longtime Fairhope head baseball coach Stu Fuller is entering his first year as a Saraland assistant coach.

Fuller stepped down as the Pirates’ head coach last June after more than two decades there. He was later announced as an assistant on Brett Boutwell’s Spartan staff.

“It’s been outstanding,” Boutwell said recently. “He is extremely happy. It’s been good for coach (Evan) Braun and myself just to see different ways of doing things.

“Stu is working with our hitters, but he is also our mechanic guy. Coach Braun calls our game, but he and coach Fuller work with pitchers. Stu has been around a long time so he can help a guy with mechanics in a hurry.”

Fuller led Fairhope to 565 wins, 19 playoff trips, 12 area championships, 3 semifinal appearances and one championship series appearance.

Booth’s legacy

Longtime Hartselle coach William Booth collected his ninth state baseball title in 2022 when his Tigers knocked off Pelham in the championship series.

Booth’s teams also won titles in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2009 and 2013. The nine titles tie him with former Hokes Bluff coach Mike Estes and former Vestavia Hills coach Sammy Dunn for second on the all-time list. Those three trail former G.W. Long coach Earl Miller, who won 11 state titles – the last one coming in 2005.

Booth, who took over the Hartselle program in 1987, is the AHSAA’s career leader in baseball wins with 1,119, according to the AHSAA record book. That’s a winning percentage of .692.

The Dynasties

Only two AHSAA programs have won 10 or more state titles, but four others are knocking on the door.

G.W. Long is far and away the leader with 17 state titles from 1989-2022. Sweet Water is next with 10 from 1979-2018.

UMS-Wright, Vestavia Hills, Hokes Bluff and Hartselle each have nine titles. Tallassee and Trinity have seven each.

The record for consecutive state titles is held by Vestavia Hills. The Rebels won seven straight from 1994-2000. Hokes Bluff, Sidney Lanier and GW. Long have each won six straight.

Other records:

Most wins in a season: Hartselle, 50 in 2009

Most consecutive wins: Cottonwood, 54 spanning 1985-1988.

Key Dates

Here are the key dates for the 2023 season:

Feb. 16 – First games can be played

April 16 – Last day for Class 1A-6A area games

April 23 – Last day for Class 7A area games

April 21-22 – First round of playoffs for Classes 1A-6A

April 28-29 – First Round of playoffs for Class 7A

May 9-11 – AISA state tournament at Paterson Field, Montgomery

May 15-19 – AHSAA State finals in Jacksonville/Oxford

The reigning champs

Here are 2022 Alabama state high school champions:

AHSAA

Class 7A: Central-Phenix City

Class 6A: Hartselle

Class 5A: Russellville

Class 4A: Mobile Christian

Class 3A: Trinity

Class 2A: G.W. Long

Class 1A: Bayshore Christian

AISA

AAA: Pike Liberal Arts

AA: Macon-East

A: Abbeville

ASWA Mr. Baseball Winners

2022: Riley Quick, Hewitt-Trussville

2021: Maddux Bruns, UMS-Wright

2020: No winner (COVID-19 Pandemic)

2019: Gunnar Henderson, Morgan Academy

2018: Jeremiah Jackson, St. Luke’s

2017: Tanner Burns, Decatur

2016: Owen Lovell, Cullman

2015: Brax Garrett, Florence

2014: Cody Reed, Ardmore

2013: Keegan Thompson, Cullman

2012: Mikey White, Spain Park

2011: Daniel Koger, Huntsville

2010: Daryl Norris, Fairhope

2009: Luke Bole, Hartselle

2008: Tyler Stovall, Hokes Bluff

2007: John David Smelser, Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa

2006: Del Howell, American Christian

2005: Colby Rasmus, Russell County

2004: Pat White, Daphne

2003: Joe Doan, Baker

2002: Allen Ponder, Lee-Scott

2001: Eric West, Southside-Gadsden

2000: Wade Miller, G.W. Long

1999: Matthew Maniscalco, Oxford