SP Baseball
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tigers fall to Tupelo again
By Brad Greer
Different day. Same result.
In what was almost a carbon copy of the 4-0 shutout win in their first meeting, Tupelo received another dominant pitching performance from senior right hander Ben Hudspeth as the No. 2 ranked Golden Wave downed South Panola 4-1 in Region 2-6A clash Friday night at Tiger Field.
Hudspeth (4-0) tossed a complete game two-hitter while striking out 14 batters along the way as Tupelo improved to 12-1 on the season and 2-0 in district play. South Panola meanwhile fell 0-2 in district and 8-4 overall.
South Panola scored its only run in the bottom of the first as leadoff hitter Chris Townsend reached on an error, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Lee Self’s sacrifice fly.
Tupelo tied the game at 1-1 in the second as Blake McCullough and Grant Spencer drew one-out walks off Tiger starting pitcher Self. After a passed ball advanced both runners to second and third, J. D. Roberts delivered a RBI single through the left side of the infield to drive in McCullough.
Self got out of the inning with no more damage being caused as he got leadoff hitter William Goss to ground into a inning-ending double play.
The Golden Wave would give Hudspeth all the run support he would need in the top of the third as the visitors struck for three runs on three hits to take a 4-1 lead.
Cody Shrewsbury and Hudspeth got the rally started with back-to-back one-out singles followed by a Luke Davis walk to load the bases. Conner Carothers then lifted a deep fly ball to center that scored Shrewsbury from third to make the score 2-1.
McCullough would then smash a two-run triple into right-center to plate Hudspeth and Davis to end the scoring for both teams.
South Panola threatened to score in the bottom half of the frame as Hudspeth plunked Will Dickens and Townsend with pitches but then retaliated by fanning Mitchel Babb and Self to end the inning.
The Tigers would not get a hit until the fifth inning as Dickins broke up Hudspeth’s no hit bid with a single. Babb’s single in the sixth accounted for the Tigers only other hit.
Self (2-1) took the loss by going six innings on the mound while giving up four hits. The senior righty struck out six but issued seven walks on the night. Sophomore Hunter Durham tossed a scoreless seventh inning for the Tigers.
South Panola will host Columbus in district action today starting at 4 p.m. with the junior varsity followed by the varsity at 6.
Tiger baseball downs Grenada 15-6
By Brad Greer
The South Panola Tigers put an end to a modest two-game losing streak in a big way by downing Grenada 15-6 Saturday afternoon. The game was moved to Grenada due to wet playing conditions at Tiger Field.
Six South Panola batters registered multiple hits as Lee Self and Tays Hardy drove in three runs each as the Tigers erased a 4-1 Grenada lead by scoring eight runs in the second inning to take a 9-4 advantage. Sophomore Will Daughtery pitched a solid 4.2 innings in relief of starting pitcher Hunter Durham to pick up the win. Mitchel Babb finished out the game by tossing a scoreless seventh inning.
Chris Townsend’s lead off home run in the top of the first gave the Tigers a short-lived 1-0 lead before the Chargers scored four runs on four South Panola errors in the bottom half of the frame. Both teams combined for 11 errors on the day as South Panola made six miscues while the Chargers booted the ball around five times.
Durham led off the second inning by getting hit by a pitch. Catcher Bobby Epps then walked to put runners on first and second. Following a Will Dickins strike out, Hardy and Blake Darby delivered RBI singles that scored pinch runners DaShawn Lindsey and Tevis Flowers to close the Charger lead to 4-3.
Townsend kept the rally going by reaching on a fielders’ choice. Babb, Self and Andrew Horne followed with consecutive singles to give the Tigers a 7-4 lead. Self would later score on a wild pitch and a steal of home by Horne would close out scoring in the inning.
Grenada would pick up an unearned run in the third inning off Daughtery as Javeris Redditt reached on an error and later scored on a Jaylon Bledsoe single to make the score 9-5.
The Tigers would tack on four more runs in the fourth as Hardy’s two-run double plated Flowers and Dickins.
South Panola added the final two runs in the seventh on Self’s two-run single that chased home Townsend and Babb.
Darby, Hardy, Babb, Dickins and Horne finished the day 2-for-4 at the plate while Self went 2-for-5. Daughtery also added a single in the victory.
With the win, South Panola improved to 9-4 on the season.
