By Brad Greer

Whether it be on the high school or collegiate level, a majority of baseball  teams find it difficult to get mentally focused on playing a non-district game  after a big district battle the night before.

Fresh off their 8-0 win over at Tupelo Friday night, the South Panola Tigers traveled to Olive Branch Saturday afternoon in hopes of keeping their momentum going.

The end result were not positive as the Tigers seemed to go through the motions in dropping a 7-3 verdict to the Conquistadors.

Olive Branch (4-6) erased a  3-2 South Panola lead with a five-run fourth inning to put the game out of reach. Bradley Swade provided the big blow of the inning with a two-run homer off of the scoreboard to close out scoring.

Andrew Dowdy earned the win on the mound for the ‘Quistors by scattering five hits over five innings of work while striking out six.

Taylor Meek (2-1) took the loss for South Panola by going 3.1 innings on the hill. The senior right-hander gave up four runs on four hits while fanning five and walking two. Andrew Horne followed with two earned runs on two hits and two strikeouts in 1.2 innings in relief. Taylor Karr closed out the game by working a scoreless sixth.

Jordan Hall’s two-run single in the bottom of the second staked Olive Branch to a 2-0 lead. The Conquistadors loaded the bases with two outs but could not add to their lead as Meek got Austin Irby to fly out to end the inning.

South Panola answered with a run in the top of the third as Preston Blair led off the inning with a walk then advanced to second on a wild pitch then later scored on a error.

The Tigers added a pair of runs in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead. Meek led off the inning with a single up the middle followed by Blake Darby’s bunt single to put runners on first and third with no outs.

Courtesy runner Matt Jones and Darby executed a double steal to tie the game at 2-2. Darby would then steal third and race home on a throwing error to break the tie.

South Panola registered six hits in the game but struck out nine times, five of which were called looking. Chris Townsend led the Tigers offensively with two singles.Chance Whitten, Horne, Meek and Darby provided singles. Both teams commited three errors in the game.

Hunter Ivy made the most of his first high school start by tossing a three-hit shutout. The sophomore walked four and struck out five while improving to 3-0 on the season.

 South Panola (10-5; 2-0 in Region 2-6A) managed only three hits but took advantage of six walks and three errors by the Golden Wave.

The Tigers plated three runs on one hit in the second then added before Chance Whitten blasted a solo home run in the following inning to increse the led to 4-0.

South Panola put the game out of reach in the fifth with four runs on one hit.

Tays Hardy added a spark to the Tiger offense with a two-run single. Adam Cook registered a RBI single in the first. Will Dickins drove in a run in the fifth with a bases loaded walk.

South Panola traveled to Senatobia last night in a non-district matchup and will go to Columbus tonight for a Region 2-6A contest beginning at 6 p.m.