While Mississippi State was off winning its first College World Series Title in 2021, Hunter Hines and Ross Highfill were off winning their own national championship.

Hines, a sophomore 1B/DH, and Highfill, a freshman catcher, were dominating Mississippi high school baseball at Madison Central and were tabbed the national champions by Baseball America. Now, the former teammates are reunited in the Maroon & White, and they played a vital role in Mississippi State's sweep of Lipscomb over the weekend, combining for five home runs.

Hines burst onto the scene as a freshman All-American last season, batting .300 with 16 home runs, but had a slow start to the season and entered the weekend batting .224 and behind Highfill in the lineup for the first time ever. Hines crushed a homer out of the ballpark on Friday night, and the two swapped places on Saturday.

"It's awesome," Hines said of playing with Highfill. "It feels weird because he never hit in front of me in high school."

"When I got to hit in front of him, it was pretty cool," Highfill said. "I gave him a hard time about it, and then he's hitting in front of me today (Saturday) so then he's giving me a hard time about it. I think it's good because we both are really competitive and I think it brings out the best in both of us."

Hines sent another out of the yard on Saturday, and a big weekend that featured two doubles, two home runs, and six RBI was a product of a minor fix in his swing.

"I tried to get it in my legs more so I can stay down and through it," Hines said. "Early I was kind of crossing my front foot up which caused me to make ground balls. It's just a minor fix, but it does so much more."

After Hines went deep in the sixth inning Saturday night, Highfill put one in the Left Field Lounge the next at-bat. The two had gone back-to-back before while at Madison Central, but to do it at the college level was a cool moment for the longtime teammates.

"It's happened in high school before," Highfill said. "It was a pretty cool moment. We were smiling a good bit in the dugout."

Highfill's back-to-back bombs with Hines were just a small part of a historic night for the freshman. Highfill had homered earlier in the second inning on a line drive over the left-field wall, and put an exclamation point on his unforgettable night on a high flying homer that just made it's way over the left fielder's glove in the 8th as the Bulldogs defeated Lipscomb 12-4.

The first-year catcher had done what no Mississippi State freshman had done before. He had hit three home runs in a single game. Not even legends like Rafael Palmeiro or Will Clark had done it in their first collegiate seasons, but it only took Highfill less than a month to cement his place in the Mississippi State record book.

"He's very talented. He's had some big hits," Head Coach Chris Lemonis said. "I was really pleased with the way he caught tonight. He's getting better behind the dish. He's got special tools back there."

As much fun as it is to see your backstop go yard three times, it's the defense that keeps your catcher on the field. Highfill has split time behind the plate with 5th-year senior Luke Hancock, and he's relied on the Team Captain for advise.

“I pick his brain a good bit because he’s been here a while and he knows this program in-and-out,” Highfill said. “Any questions I can have he’s always there for me.”