By Brad Greer

Courtesy runner Zac Horne scored on a two-out wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning to give South Panola a 4-3 victory over Desoto Central in the final game of the “ Wes Smythe“ Jamboree Saturday afternoon at Tiger Park.

South Panola broke out the big sticks in their first game of the day by pounding out 14 hits in a  17-4 thumping of Lake Cormorant.

Sophomore Chris Townsend drew a leadoff walk to start the fourth inning rally against Desoto Central. Leadoff hitter Mitchel Babb followed with a perfectly  executed  hit-and-run  to put runners on first and third with no outs. After Jaguar reliever Casey Greene   fanned the next two batters, Horne, who was running for Townsend, sprinted home as Greene uncorked a wild pitch on the first pitch to cleanup hitter Matt Hendrix.

Desoto Central tied the game at three in the top half of the frame on a single, a walk and two hit batsmen. The potential  game-winning run was thrown out at home as Dexter Ingram  tried to score from third on a wild pitch to end the inning.

South Panola took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning  on a two-out triple by Luke Latham that plated Lee Self and Townsend. The Jaguars cut the lead in half in the top of the second as J.D. McBride scored on a two-out double by Dalton Sims. The Tigers responded with a run in the bottom half of the frame when Self drew a bases loaded walk to force in Horne to expand the lead to 3-1.

Hendrix pitched the first two innings for the Tigers as the senior right-hander gave up two hits and one run while striking out two batters. Self followed by pitching one inning, fanning one while walking two batters and allowing one hit. Andrew Horne closed the game by hurling the final inning while surrendering two runs on one hit and walking one.

South Panola registered four hits in the game as Self doubled and Ryan Maxwell delivered a single.

Offense was not in short supply in the Tigers first game of the day as South Panola scored five runs in the second and nine in the third to ease past the Gators. Babb got the starting nod on the hill and pitched the first two innings.

The junior left-hander struck out four while issuing two walks. Colby Gammill  pitched the third inning and gave up one run on one  hit while fanning one batter. Bobby Epps closed the game by pitching the fourth inning as the sophomore gave up three runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts and one walk.

South Panola erupted for five runs on two hits in the second to give the Tiger pitchers all the run support they would need. The inning was highlighted by Self’s two-run inside-the-park homerun off Gator starting pitcher Drake Davis.

The Tigers  batted around in the third by sending 14 batters to the plate to take a 14-0 lead. Hendrix delivered a two-run single later in the frame. Two batters later, Wesley Gregg drilled a two-run double followed by Epps’ RBI groundout that plated Matt Brown.

South Panola tacked on three more runs in top of the fourth to finish the scoring. Greg led the Tigers offensively with two doubles and a single with three RBI’s. Epps also drove in three runs with a pair of singles. Self and Hendrix knocked in two runs each while Maxwell and Brown added run-producing singles.

Babb collected a pair of singles while Zac Horne chipped in with a single.

South Panola will open the regular season Saturday at Ridgeland by taking on Northwest Rankin at 1 p.m. The following game will be between the Tigers and the host Titans at 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, the Tigers will host Grenada in non-district action at 5 and 7 p.m.