POPLARVILLE — Lance Hendrix has been named the head baseball coach at Poplarville High School.

Hendrix, who served as the interim head coach this past season, was approved for the job full time at a specially called meeting of the Poplarville School Board Friday morning.

“I am very happy, and very thankful for the opportunity,” Hendrix said. “I had been an assistant coach for 12 years, and it’s always been a goal of mine to become a head coach.”

Hendrix led the Hornets to a 17-10 overall mark and a second place finish in Region 8-4A this year, after taking over for J.J. Fortune just before the season started. Hendrix had been an assistant at Poplarville for six years, after coming over from Forrest County AHS.

The Hornets swept Magee in the opening round of the Class 4A South State playoffs, before falling in heart before in heart-breaking fashion in three games to Columbia in the quarterfinal round. Columbia is currently facing Purvis for the Class 4A South State title.

“Considering the circumstances, I thought we had a pretty good season,” Hendrix added. “But when I got the job on an interim basis, I went into it like it was a full-time job. I look forward now to running the program year round.”

The Hornets lost just four seniors, but all were key contributors in Blake Ladner, Chandler Ray, Justin Oliver and Chance Seal.

“We’ve got replace some really good players, but I feel like we have a pretty good nucleus coming back,” Hendrix concluded. “I am very optimistic about our future.”