The Dixie Youth World Series is coming back to Brookhaven and Lincoln County in 2023. Lincoln Civic Center director Quinn Jordan and his team submitted the winning bid in a presentation this week in Laurel.

The LCC Baseball Complex previously hosted the DY World Series in 2019. That year there were brackets for 6U Coach-Pitch, 6U T-Ball, 7U Coach-Pitch, 9U and 11U O-Zone being played simultaneously on fields at both the LCC Complex and the adjoining Hansel King Sports Complex.

The 2023 World Series will be for AA teams in Division I and II. The AA class of Dixie Youth is also known at 8U baseball.

Laurel was the host site of this year’s 8U World Series and next year the tournament will be played in Dothan, Alabama.

In a Facebook post announcing the decision, Mississippi Dixie Youth State Director Tommy Rheams praised the presentation given to the national board by Jordan, Gerri Miller and Eric Ates.

Miller runs the Civic Center office alongside Jordan while Ates is the facilities manager.

“We went over Sunday to the tournament site in Laurel and did some lobbying with the board members that were there,” said Jordan. “Then we went in Monday morning and gave our presentation as did Anderson, South Carolina.”

A 24-14 voting margin gave the bid to Brookhaven and southwest Mississippi

The 2019 World Series was an invitational tournament. Teams could choose to play in it that may have missed out on qualifying at their state or regional level.

The 2023 event will be a true world series, the only way to get in is to win — or to be a team from the host league.

“It’ll be two brackets with one being for the bigger programs at the Division I level and another for the Division II teams,” said Jordan. “Each bracket will have 12 teams and Lincoln County gets to place a team in both divisions.”

The previous tournament had 48 teams compared to 24 in 2023, but Jordan says the pageantry and celebration is kicked up a notch when you’re hosting a world series like the one that’s coming.

“It’s kind of like the NIT (2019) and the NCAA basketball tournament (2023),” said Jordan. “In 2023 you’re going to see a lot more pomp and circumstance around the event.”

The opening ceremony will take place in Stone Stadium on the campus of Co-Lin in Wesson. Jordan said teams will eat in the school’s cafeteria before going across the street for the opening ceremonies on July 27, 2023.

Once there they’ll be featured on Co-Lin’s large video scoreboard during the ceremony and will see a firework display to cap the night off.

“Those are things we had to have worked out with Co-Lin ahead of time before we went to present before the board,” said Jordan. “It’s going to be a really great event that will bring people to our area and they’ll stay in hotels and eat in restaurants and spend money with our local businesses. It’s very exciting to receive this honor.”