SP baseball sweeps Water Valley in DH

By Brad Greer
South Panola used their bats and solid pitching in both ends of a doubleheader as they swept Water Valley 3-2 and 13-5 in a pair of five inning games Tuesday at Water Valley.
The Tigers banged out 13 hits in the second game as Brandon Phelps drove in four runs with two doubles and a single. Caleb White provided two singles and   two RBI’s as South Panola blew open the contest with a six-run fifth inning.
South Panola grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first as Phelps banged out a two-run double that scored Dawson Griffin  and Brayden Locke who had both drawn walks to lead off the game. Phelps would later score when Anderson Wilder bounced into a double play.
Water Valley responded with four runs off one hit in the bottom half of the frame to grab a 4-3 lead.
The lead would not last long as the Tigers strung together three singles and a double in the third to regain the lead at 6-4. Phelps added his forth run batted in one inning later with a single that plated John Culp to give South Panola a 7-4 advantage.
Bowen Williams, Dre’ Moore, and Culp registered singles in the victory while Gehrig Griffin garnered two singles. Dawson Griffin and Locke supplied doubles.
Chris Brown surrendered four runs on two hits with three strikeouts and five walks in three innings on the mound. Luke Weldon worked two innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits and fanning two batters.
South Panola-3 Water Valley-2
Wes Morgan retired nine of the first ten batters he faced without giving up a hit in three innings as the Tigers held off a late Blue Devil rally in the fifth to win the opening game.
South Panola took a 1-0 lead in the first as Dawson Griffin led off the game with a single before moving to second on a passed ball. The freshmen-to-be used his speed on the next at bat as he raced home on a ground ball to second off the bat of Locke.
The Tigers capitalized on two Water Valley miscues and singles by Morgan and Williams in the third to increase their margin to 3-0 in the third.
Water Valley made things interesting in the fifth by scoring two runs off Phelps who had relieved Morgan in the fourth. The Blue Devils had runners on first and second with two outs before Phelps got the final batter to fly out to end the game.
Willams paced South Panola with two singles. Phelps, Morgan and Dawson Griffin contributed with singles.
South Panola will be back in action at Lafayette County Monday at 4 & 6 p.m. The Junior High Tigers host Lafayette Monday before going to Lafayette Tueday with both games starting a 5 p.m.