By Will Dickins
The Batesville Junior High baseball team hosted the Lafayette Commodores Monday night and split two games 8-3 and 6-4.  
Lafayette 8, BJH 1
The first game featured the teams’ starting lineups and ended with Lafayette winning 8-3.  
Bowen Williams started on the mound and ran into trouble early as the Commodores led off the game with a single and double who later scored. The Tigers tried to answer with a single from Williams, but could not string together enough hits.  The inning ended with a 2-0 lead for the Commodores.  In Wes Morgan’s at bat during the first inning, a foul ball was driven into the Lafayette dugout and hit #1 Sam Larson in the head.  He was taken to the hospital soon after.  
Lafayette came back to the plate in the second inning and scored three more runs which resulted in Morgan taking the mound to get the Tigers out of the top half of the inning down 5-0.  Caleb White started the bottom half of the second inning with a single.  Gage Heath and Caleb Lantern earned walks to bring the bases full. The Tigers were hoping to put a dent on the scoreboard but a line drive from KeShaun Lantern was caught and made into a double play at second.  With runners at first and third nothing could be done. The inning ended with the same 5-0 lead for Lafayette.  
The Commodores only got one run in the third on an unfortunate balk. The Tigers then got two runners in scoring position again with Williams and Denver Brown walks ,but could not capitalize.  The inning came to a close with Lafayette adding one run to their score to make it 6-0.
Another run came in to score in the top of the fourth inning for the Commodores.  Gunner Ward came in to pitch against the second batter and finished out the.  The Tigers finally got on the board after Heath scored on a passed ball after walking and stealing second base.  The inning ended 7-1.
Lafayette scored one more in the seventh, but The Tigers had a late push and added two runs.  The Tigers started to put the bat on the ball and force the Commodores to make plays. This resulted in their best inning.  It was not enough, though. The Commodores would win 8-3 and take the first game.
The Tigers had three hits.  Williams had two and White had one.  Pitchers were: Williams, two strikeouts; Morgan, two strikeouts; and Ward, one strikeout.
BJH 6, Lafayette 4
The Commodores started off strong again with four runs in the first inning.
After finally keeping Lafayette scoreless, the Tigers scored five of their own runs in the second inning.  With three walks to load the bases, Jensen Presley brought in the first run.  The next four runs were brought in from a throwing error and two passed balls.  
The Tigers added one more in the third and last inning.  Dawson Griffin had a single and ended up on second.  He then stole third on a low ball in the dirt and scored on another passed ball.  This brought the game to a close with the score being 6-4 in favor of the Tigers.
Griffin had one hit, and Presley had an RBI for the Tigers at the plate. Pitchers were: Griffin, two strikeouts and Brown, five strikeouts.  
Brown also gave up no runs.
The Tigers will be at Oxford for a doubleheader Monday at 5 and 7 p.m.