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CLINTON — Cathedral Catholic School junior Tristan Fondren played on the Red team in the 2025 MAIS Class 4A/5A/6A Baseball Futures Game held last Monday at Mississippi College. It was the last of the All-Star and Futures Games that took place on a hot and humid day.

Cathedral assistant coach Wright Graning said Fondren played the majority of the game at third base and he even got in a couple of at-bats. Fondren walked once and ended up being stranded at second base and he struck out his other time at the plate.

“I’m pretty sure he had a good time,” Graning said. “It was good competition.” And, Fondren’s Red team won the game, 2-1.

Fondren said that the competition on the mound he faced when he was at the plate was quite different than what he saw during the season.

“I like to work on consistently hitting against higher-lever pitching,” Fondren said.

He noted that participating in this type of game helped him out in more ways than one. He added that playing at third base during the Futures Game was somewhat different than it is at his normal position at shortstop with the Green Wave.

“It was really fun. I got to learn a lot about who I was and competing in the higher level to make me a better player overall,” Fondren said. “It was a little different (playing at third base). I’m not used to it a whole lot. It was fun getting to watch the game from a different view.”

Fondren found out that he was going to be participating in the MAIS Baseball Futures Game at the end of April.

“I was excited knowing I would be meeting some awesome people, playing in a different environment and playing with higher-lever competition and having fun,” Fondren said.

The MAIS Baseball All-Star and Futures Games will be quite different for at least the next two years with there soon to be only four classifications, down from six the previous six years. And Cathedral will be in South District 4-4A with Jackson Preparatory School, Copiah Academy, Silliman Institute, and Oak Forest Academy for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.