By Brad Greer

After posting a strong runner-up finish in last week’s June Jam, the Batesville 7-year-old coach pitch All-Star baseball  team was back on the diamond Thursday afternoon in an opening round game of the Dizzy Dean North State tournament at J. P. Hudson Park.

 Aided  by Dre Moore’s first inning three-run home run, Batesville eased past Tri-County 23-8 and into the second round of the 10-team double elimination tournament that concluded with Sunday afternoon’s championship game.

After Tri-County pushed across one run in the top of the first inning, the Batesville bats quickly came to life as leadoff batter Weslan Morgan hammered an  inside-the-park home run to tie the game.

Singles by Caleb West, Drake Barton, Trevor Bailey and Caleb White produced a pair of runs before Moore drilled a line drive deep into right-center that plated Bailey and White to make the score 6-1.

Tanner Jaudon closed out scoring by slapping a single up the middle that got past the center fielder and rolled to the fence allowing Jaudon to score. Due to Dizzy Dean rules, no team can score more than seven runs in one inning.

Batesville tacked on seven more runs in bottom of the second to take a 14-1 lead as a Haze Smith single and a double off the bat of Morgan keyed the inning.

Tri-County scratched back into the game in the top of the third with five runs on three hits to cut the margin to 14-6, but Batesville quickly ended any comeback hopes Tri-County had by scoring six runs in the third and three more in the fourth to end the game.

Morgan, Barton, Bailey and Travis Duffy scored three runs each for Batesville while West, White, Jaudon, Forrest Pierce and Haze Smith all scored two runs. Bailey added to the hit parade with a home run and a single.