Maroon Tide and Blue Devils post district wins
Picayune 5 North Pike 3
The Picayune Maroon Tide took another step toward securing a playoff berth with a 5-3 road win over North Pike at Summit. The win puts Picayune at 9-8 overall and 3-3 in district play with three district games to play.
Jakail Myers poked a two run homer (his second of the season) in the top of second inning to put the Maroon Tide up 2-0. The Jaguars rallied to take a 3-2 lead going into the fifth.
Picayune got a single from Logan Ledet and Kyler Lauga laid down a bunt and the Jaguars were made the play to third in attempt to get Jerimiah Stallings (courtesy runner for pitcher Ledet), but Stallings was able to shift gears and make his way back to second to avoid the out. With two runners aboard, Chad Dudenhefer moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Kade Turnage doubled to score Stallings and Lauga for a 4-3 lead. Chad “The Cobra” Stockstill singled to bring in another run.
Ledet went the distance for Picayune and drew praised from Head Coach Cody Stogner for his resilience.
“Logan fought through it and pitched a heckuva game. North Pike squared it up on a lot of pitches and got 10 hits, but he just kept battling,” Stogner said.
“We’re playing with great effort right now and our pitching is phenomenal. We just need to score a few runs and we can beat anybody,” said Stogner.
“I told the guys Saturday, we have just have to take it one game at a time. The guys are having fun and playing well.”
Picayune will be at home on Tuesday hosting North Pike (6-6, 1-4) at Kent Kirkland Field at 7:00 p.m.
Pearl River Central 8 Hattiesburg 2
The Blue Devils spotted Hattiesburg an early run before the PRC bats came alive to punch out the Tigers 8-2 at the Pearl River Central Baseball Complex.
Hattiesburg score a run in the third, but it could have been worse. In the inning, the Blue Devils took advantage of the Tigers aggressive baserunning by tagging out two runners to halt the uprising and keep to just 1-0. Austin Diebold came on in relief of starter Logan Williams during the third inning.
Photo by Carey Meitzler
Austin Diebold tags out a Tiger baserunner after a rundown
Head Coach Neil Walter commented on Diebold’s performance.
“Austin came in and did what he has done all year and got us out of jams. The guys behind him believe in him and his ability to get out of jams can be attributed to his faith in the guys making plays behind him,” Walther stated after the game.
PRC punched across two runs in the fourth inning behind an Austin Dean single and Ethan Everett's RBI sacrifice fly.
“Dean’s hit to tie it up was obviously big, but I felt the biggest at bat of the game was Everett’s sac fly on a 1-2 count after he had struck out on a 1-2 pitch in the second. He hit the ball hard, just right at the guy but deep enough to allow us to score,” Walther stated.
The Blue Devils (15-4, 5-1) got six more runs in the fifth. PRC loaded the bases on two hit batters and a walk and scored the runs with singles from Mason Treat and Robert Shoemake, and a double by Everett.
PRC will host South Jones on Saturday before traveling to Hattiesburg (10-7, 2-3) on Tuesday.
