By By Richard Dark/The Meridian Star
April 14, 2001
The Meridian High Wildcats upped their overall mark to 19-10 heading into the final Saturday of the regular season with a doubleheader sweep of last season's Class 3A runner-up Caledonia at John Moss Field.
In the first game, MHS hung a three-spot in the bottom of the second and was never really threatened in the 5-1 win.
Torry Bates pitched what MHS head coach Vince McLemore called his best outing of the year in an eight strikeout performance. Bates also allowed only three hits and three walks.
After Ricky McMillian reached on an error, Tyler Maxwell, Greg Harris and Richmond Alexander all drove in runs to fuel the frame.
Harris wound up going 2-for-4 with a double.
Maurice Cole had a pinch hit two-run home run to settle the issue.
Josh Johnson led the Confederates at the plate, collecting all three hits.
Meridian 14, Caledonia 4: The Cats rallied from a four-run deficit and went on to pound the Confederates into submission, stamping down the mercy rule after five frames. In the process, the Cats gave McLemore his 250th career win.
After four straight walks to start the game, McLemore inserted Tyler Maxwell, who struck out three and got excellent run support to grab the mound win.
After MHS scratched out five runs in the third and fourth frames to take the slim lead, the floodgates opened with the Cats hanging a nine-spot in the fifth.
Bates connected on an impressive grand slam homer, while Dubose also added a two-run jack to end it early.
Overall, it was a pretty thorough effort today against a good club, so I'm pretty pleased with that," McLemore said.
The Cats won't get much time to bask in these, as they hit the road for Alabama today, taking on Gadsen and Tuscaloosa Central, with the first game beginning at 3 p.m.
Richard Dark is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rdark@themeridianstar.com.