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Serving Columbus & Starkville, Mississippi        (https://cdispatch.com/) Home  » (https://cdispatch.com/news/) News  » Community Profile: ‘Wise beyond his age’ coach leads CCA baseball at 21   (https://cdispatch.com/news/columbus-lowndes-county/) Columbus & Lowndes County   Community Profile: ‘Wise beyond his age’ coach leads CCA baseball at 21 Baylee Price started at school as full-time sub, then took over baseball program By (https://cdispatch.com/author/jconerlycdispatch-com/) Jared Conerly  • September 8, 2026  5 mins to read  (Community Profile: ‘Wise beyond his age’ coach leads CCA baseball at 21)   Columbus Christian head baseball coach Baylee Price walks the field during a baseball game last year. Price, a 21-year-old Gordo, Alabama, native, is already living out his dream as the leader of a high school baseball team. Courtesy photo  Sometimes, Baylee Price has to take a step back and really just appreciate how crazy it all is. Just three years ago he was graduating high school at Gordo in Alabama, and now at the age of 21, he’s in his second year at Columbus Christian Academy – just right around the corner from his second campaign as the school’s head baseball coach. Baseball has always been his passion from a young age and getting the opportunity to lead a high school team so early in his coaching career is a feat he never saw coming. “Not this early,” Price said. “I am grateful for it and thankful for it. … This is something I’ve always wanted to do since I was probably, I’d say 14 or 15 years old.” In 2025, his first year as CCA’s head baseball coach, Price flipped the Rams’ struggling baseball program into a winning one and guided the team to a 17-9 overall record – a school record for wins in a season. The Rams made the postseason in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools North 1A playoffs and defeated Lee Academy, but their quest ended in the North semifinals in two losses to Tunica Academy. It was a run the Rams and Price wouldn’t have made had some circumstances not lined up perfectly. Price had a family friend that used to work at CCA and let him know there was a job opening there for a long-term substitute teacher. Price landed that job and also managed to get on staff with the baseball team as an assistant coach. Soon after, an elementary physical education position became available and he “just kind of fell into that and took over the baseball program.” Success wasn’t immediate for the Rams’ baseball squad with Price on staff. During his first year at CCA as an assistant coach, Price remembers the team losing its first game of the season by “eight or nine runs.” It was a wake up call for Price, and when he took over the program last year, he used what he learned as an assistant coach to help lay the foundation for that winning season. “It was a lot of long days, but I think the big thing was the commitment and getting the players to buy in to the longer practices, the longer days, longer hours and kind of changing the culture a little bit,” Price said. He also drew coaching inspiration from his former high school coach Jonathan Pate – a four-time state champion. Under Pate, Price played as a first baseman and pitcher and helped the Gordo Green Wave make a state championship appearance his senior year. “I think the big thing, playing under him, he builds a lot of mental toughness,” Price explained. “You have to have mental toughness, and just the way he goes about having good energy at practice and just the intensity and the way you practice.” Price, who also serves as an assistant football coach under Marcus Davidson, also has taken what he learned from Davidson to the baseball diamond. “That’s been a great experience,” he said. “If you’re going to learn from anybody in the MAIS, he would be a great guy to learn under. I’ve learned a lot through him, not just from a sports standpoint but in the classroom, how to control things, how to go about things in everyday life. It’s been a great experience getting to work under him and with him.” Davidson said the Rams’ baseball team is in good hands with Price. “To be honest with you, (Price) is well, well wise beyond his age,” Davidson said. “He does a phenomenal job of demanding the kids’ attention while only being four or five years older than some of them. But with that being said, he’s very organized. He helps me some with football too, but baseball, for his youth he knows as much as anybody I’ve ever seen at his age. He demands their attention and does a good job of orchestrating practice and keeping all of their attention to detail.” The whirlwind Price is in at the moment doesn’t just include what he’s got going on at CCA. Price, who is a fan of golfing, Alabama football and the Philadelphia Eagles, is also in school himself at The W. He’s in the midst of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in physical education. The end goal for Price is to remain a head baseball coach for the foreseeable future and maybe one day move into athletic administration as an athletic director. But for now, he still can’t believe he’s on track to achieve those goals so early. “It’s been busy,” he said. “A lot of hours and a lot of long days, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love it.” (https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/copy_link?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcdispatch.com%2Fnews%2Fcommunity-profile-wise-beyond-his-age-coach-leads-cca-baseball-at-21%2F&linkname=Community%20Profile%3A%20%E2%80%98Wise%20beyond%20his%20age%E2%80%99%20coach%20leads%20CCA%20baseball%20at%2021) (Copy Link)  (https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcdispatch.com%2Fnews%2Fcommunity-profile-wise-beyond-his-age-coach-leads-cca-baseball-at-21%2F&linkname=Community%20Profile%3A%20%E2%80%98Wise%20beyond%20his%20age%E2%80%99%20coach%20leads%20CCA%20baseball%20at%2021) (Email)  (https://www.addtoany.com/share)      You can help your community Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. 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