By Brad Greer

Murphy’s Law of ‘Whatever can go wrong ,will go wrong’ seemed to haunt South Panola Thursday afternoon in their Region 2-6A battle with Grenada Thursday afternoon at Tiger Park.

Two costly errors by the Tiger defense followed by a series of wild pitches led to five unearned runs in the fourth inning as Grenada held on to a 6-4 victory to maintain its one game lead in Region standings.

“For the past few games its been one bad inning that has hurt us. We need some good things to happen for us. Our problem now is we have got some guys that if they make a mistake they beat themselves up and it becomes mental. We  just encourage them to stay positive and get ready to play the next day, “ said Tiger head coach Patrick Robey.

 South Panola grabbed a 1-0 lead in  third as Chris Townsend led off the inning with a triple then  scored when Dashawn Lindsay reached on an error.

The wheels fell off for the Tigers as Jadauris Redditt and Ethan Burke reached on errors to start the fourth inning for Grenada. After both runners advanced on a wild pitch, Will Jordan lofted a sacrifice fly to bring home Redditt. Cody Larson followed with a RBI single that scored Burke to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

Leadoff hitter Jaylon Bledsoe struck out swinging but reached first base after the ball got past Tiger catcher Bobby Epps to keep the inning alive. Paul Horan then singled past third driving in Larson.

Bledsoe would later race home on a passed ball while Horan scored on a balk by Tiger starting pitcher Chance Whitten as the Chargers built a 5-1 lead.

South Panola closed the margin to 5-2  in the bottom half of the frame as Andrew Horne reached on an error and scored on  Epps squeeze bunt. Epps was the defensive star of the night as the Tiger catcher threw out three base runners at second.

Grenada increased its lead to 6-2 in the seventh on Reddit’s RBI sacifice fly that scored Dalton Thomas.

South Panola rallied with two runs in the bottom of the seventh as Townsend drew a two-out walk then later scored on a single by Lindsay. Whitten followed with a triple to drive in Lindsay  to make the score 6-4.

Grenada starting pitcher Hunter Bull ended all hopes of a Tiger victory by striking out Tays Hardy to end the game.

Whitten took the loss on the moud for South Panola by giving up six runs (one earned) on five hits while walking three and fanning one in seven innings. Whitten tripled and singled to led the Tigers at the plate. Townsend also tripled while Lindsay, Hardy, and Epps added singles.

South Panola 6, Grenada 1

The roles were reversed somewhat Friday afternoon in Grenada as the Tigers took advantage of four Charger errors in route to a key 6-1 district win.

Hunter Ivy tossed a complete game on the mound  to improve his record to 4-1 on the season. The sophomore scattered eight hits while fanning two and walking none.

South Panola (13-9;3-3) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first on a pair of singles by Townsend and Whitten. The Tigers added to their lead in the second  as Will Dickins walked then later scored on Whitten’s two-out double.

Taylor Meek closed out scoring with a solo home run in the fifth.

South Panola hosts Tupelo today at 6 p.m. in the last regular season home contest.

By Brad Greer

 Taking one glance at Tupelo Christain’s baseball schedule shows why they are not afraid of playing anyone at any given time.

The Class 1A Eagles have gone toe-to-toe with some of Mississippi’s elite teams including West Jones, Sumrall, Ridgeland and Jackson Prep so playing South Panola was not that big of a intimidation factor.

Led by the pitching of Tucker Akin, Tupelo Christian first ever meeting with South Panola was a successful one as the Eagles blanked the Tigers 4-0 Saturday afternoon.

Akin handcuffed the Tigers on three hits, two of which came on infield singles, while walking four and striking out six.

“We have played some tough teams this year and to come over here and beat a very good South Panola team is big for us. They have got a solid baseball team. Playing teams like this is only going to make us better when we get to the playoffs,” said Akin, who improved to 4-1 on the season.

Tupelo Christian (10-8) scored one run in the first, two in the fourth and one in the sixth to give Akin plenty of support as the junior left-hander mowed down Tiger hitters.

South Panola’s lone threat came in the fourth as they loaded the bases with two outs only to have Akin strikeout Tays Hardy to end the inning.

Two errors gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead off Tiger starting pitcher Taylor Meek. Tupelo added two more runs in the fourth as Zach Tybor led off the inning with a triple then scored on Tyler Beard’s sacrifice fly.

Akin followed with a walk before advancng to third on an error and bunt single by Zack Bridges. Leadoff hitter Taylor Beard drove in Akin with a sacifice fly to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead.

Meek (2-3) took the loss on the mound by going four innings while giving up two earned runs on five hits. Tyler Tubbs, Matt Jones and Taylor Karr all pitched one inning of relief for Tigers.

The Eagles tacked on their final run in the sixth as Lee Bunch walked and later scored on a wild pitch.

Andrew Horne, Will Dickins and Joseph Williams singled for South Panola’s only hits.
Tupelo Christian registered nine hits on the day but stranded 13 on base. South Panola meanwhile left six runners on the base paths and commited four errors on defense.