By Brad Greer

With temperatures in the lower 40s and a steady rain falling, a few brave and hearty souls in attendance watched a pitchers’ duel between North Delta’s Ethan Taylor and Tunica’s Jarred Brown. That all changed with one swing of the bat.

With the game tied 3-3 in the bottom the  seventh, Taylor blasted a 0-1 offering from Brown over the left-centerfield fence for a walk-off grand slam homerun to give the Green Wave a 7-3 win over the Blue Devils Friday afternoon in a District 1-1A baseball clash.

“In these conditions, bunts, steals and stuff like that are a key factor. The field is wet and you make the other team have to make plays and it’s tough in weather like this. We gutted it out. Ethan pitched a great game and we found a way to win,“ said North Delta head coach Stoney Stone.

Along with his heroics at the plate, Taylor was not too shabby on the mound either as the sophomore struck out 12 over six innings of work on 151 pitches while giving up six hits and five walks. Jim Tom Copeland pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief to register the win. Brown meanwhile went the distance for Tunica while suffering the loss.

Brown helped his own cause in the top of the sixth as he slapped a two-out, two-run single into left to give the Blue Devils a 3-2 lead. North Delta responded in the bottom half of the frame as Bateman Greenlee reached after getting hit by a pitch.

Britt Lawrence followed with a sacrifice bunt that advanced Greenlee to second. Following an Austin Gant strikeout, John Cody Dalrymple hit a smash off the third baseman’s glove that allowed Greenlee to score the tying run.

North Delta (3-3; 2-0) picked up an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth to take a 2-0 lead. Geri Lamm reached on a one-out error then scored later on a RBI single by Copeland.

Tunica (2-2; 0-1) had numerous chances to score early in the game, but left six runners in scoring position through the first four innings.

The Green Wave took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Michael Magee drew a one-out walk then scored two batters later on Taylor’s RBI single. Tunica out-hit North Delta 6-4 in the game but committed four errors that led to three unearned runs. Bailey Guckert recorded North Delta’s other hit with a third inning single.

North Delta returns to action Monday at Delta to start a three game road trip. The Wave’s next home game will be on April 2 against Desoto, (Ark.).