By By Jamie Sullivan/staff writer
Feb. 17, 2002
The West Lauderdale Knights picked up their first win of the season, knocking off Clarkdale 8-1 in the Lauderdale County Baseball Tournament Saturday afternoon at John Moss Field.
After a bitter loss to Nehoba Central Friday night, the Knights got things rolling the right way Saturday afternoon.
The Meridian Wildcats improved to 2-0 with a 5-0 blanking of Neshoba Central in the tourney's final game.
West Lauderdale 8
Clarkdale 1
The jitters were definitely gone as the Knights jumped out to an early 2-0 after the first inning.
Miles Joyner had an RBI single in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Jeremey Lovett reached the bases on an error by the Bulldog second baseman, and was later drove in by Jay Warren.
The Bulldogs had two base runners in the second inning but were unable to come away with any runs.
In the second inning, Trent Posey blasted an RBI single to the outfield scoring Randy Diveley for a 3-0 lead.
Clarkdale got a lead-off double by Brandon Mabry to start the third inning. Micheal Davis moved Mabry to second base on a sacrifice fly. Justin Brewer later singled to the outfield scoring Mabry from second base to cut into the Knights' 3-1 lead.
The Knights were determined to get the run back in the third innning. Lovett received a free pass to first base, and later stole second and third base on passed balls by the Bulldog catcher. Warren singled Lovett in for a 4-1 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Posey reached base on a single, but due to a throwing error, he was allowed a free walk to second base. Posey later went to third base on another passed ball.
Later in the inning, Bo Davis layed down a squeze bunt to score Posey from third base. Lovett had a RBI double to the outfield to score the courtset runner to make the score 6-1 West Lauderdale.
The fifth inning was scoreless for both teams.
The Bulldogs were unable to score in the sixth inning also.
The Knights scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to claim the victory.
The Knights improved to 1-1 on the season while the Bulldogs dropped to 1-1 also.
The Knights will host Heidelberg at 4 p.m. on Friday. Then they will travel to Neshoba Central for another match-up with the Rockets.
Justin Brewer suffered the loss while Jamie Fontan enjoyed the win.
Meridian 5
Neshoba Central 0
The Meridian Wildcats improved to 2-0 on the season with a 5-0 win over Neshoba Central Saturday night.
Bobby Stone reached base on a walk in the third inning, and Greg Harris came in as the courtsey runner and scored when John Stevens hit a sacrifce fly-out. The Wildcats led 1-0.
The Wildcats struck again in the fifth inning, when Andy Slayton and Harris crossed the plate on errors by the Rockets. The Wildcats led 3-0.
The last runs of the game came when Richmond Alexander and John Iverson stepped on the plate to make the score 5-0.
Torry Bates picked up the win for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats will be in action again next week when they compete in the Mid-Mississippi Classic at Northwest Rankin High School. The Wildcats will play Clinton.