By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
April 20, 2001
For old playoff veteran West Lauderdale, Thursday's series opener with Purvis was a big piece of cake with lots of icing.
For Purvis, it was a nightmare that lasted just under 90 minutes.
It only took an inning for each team to show what was to come in the 10-0 four-and-a-half inning Knight win. West improved to 29-3.
West ace Todd Doolittle struck out four Tornadoes in the top of the first inning. Micah Bounds reached after striking out when Knight catcher Miles Joyner was unable to throw him out at first base. And that would be Purvis' offensive highlight for the first four innings as Doolittle was perfect in the second, third, and fourth frames before issuing a leadoff walk to start the fifth frame.
By the time the Knights completed their first at-bat, they had crossed the plate four times. Three Purvis errors led to the big inning.
Josh Snider reached on an error to start the bottom of the first. Snider stole second and went to third on Doolittle's sacrifice bunt. Van Wilson then laid down a perfect bunt on a 2-2 count to score Snider on a squeeze. Wilson reached when Purvis first baseman Cleveland Gray fumbled his bunt.
Brad McKee followed with a two-run homer to left field. Before the inning was over, Bo Davis reached on an error and scored on a single by Ryan Clay.
Was it the Knights' rich tradition that had Purvis off to a shaky start?
The Knights added three more runs in the second. Joyner led off with a single and courtesy runner Brent Boutwell scored on a two-run homer to left field by Snider. Wilson reached on an error and scored on a double down the left-field line by McKee to put the Knights up 7-0.
The Knights got an RBI-double from Joyner and an RBI-single from Doolittle in the third to go up 9-0.
McKee capped the scoring with a solo homer to center field in the bottom of the fourth.
Doolittle finished with a no-hitter to up his record to 10-0. He erased his fifth-inning walk with a 1-6-5 pickoff at second base to end the game.
McKee finished his day with two homers, a double, and four RBIs.
In addition to McKee's 3-for-3 night, Clay and Joyner both had two hits.
Andy McCarter (2-2) took the loss for Purvis, 14-10.
Game 2 is slated for today at 6 p.m. at Purvis.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at mstamper@themeridianstar.com.