By Brad Greer

Luke Latham’s one out triple ignited a four-run seventh inning rally as the South Panola Tigers picked up a huge District 2-6A road victory Tuesday night with a 8-5 win over No.13-ranked Starkville.

With the victory, the Tigers improved to 2-3 in district play and 8-11 overall while Starkville fell to 2-3 and 9-4 on the season. The two teams will meet again today in Batesville beginning at 4 p.m with the junior varsity contest followed by the varsity game at 6 p.m. South Panola will host Olive Branch tomorrow starting at noon.

Trailing 5-4 in the top of the seventh, Matt Hendrix led the inning with a single while Ryan Maxwell reached base after getting hit by a pitch. Hendrix then tied the contest a 5-5 by scoring on a error off the bat of Chris Townsend. After Mitchel Babb popped out to record the first out of the inning, Latham blasted a two-RBI triple that plated Maxwell and Townsend to give the Tigers a 7-5 lead. Zach Horne added an insurance run by slapping a single to drive in Latham for the final run.

Hendrix picked up the win on the mound by throwing six innings in relief of starting pitcher Lee Self, who left the game after two innings due to a stomach illness. Hendrix struck out nine batters in the game while improving to 2-2 on the year.

After Starkville scored three runs in the bottom of the first, the Tigers got on the board with two runs in the top of the third on Wesley Gregg’s RBI groundout that scored Joey Gabbard. Zach Horne followed with an infield single and later came home on a passed ball.

The Yellowjackets then added a pair of runs of the own in the bottom of the third to take a 5-2 lead. South Panola answered back with two runs in the top of the fifth to close the margin to 5-4. Townsend and Gregg reached on back-to-back singles. After Hunter Durham  drew a walk to load the bases, Maxwell also walked to force in a run. Gregg added the last run of the frame by scoring on a balk.

South Panola collected nine hits in the game as Hendrix, Horne and Latham registered two hits each. Self, Townsend and Gregg all recorded singles in the victory.