By Staff
GOTCHA' District One's Chris Wiygul is tagged out by District Four's Colten Anthony after a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners to second and third.PHOTO BY PAULA MERRITT / THE MERIDIAN STAR
By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
June 29, 2003
Ridgeland's Justin Smith tossed District Six to the State Games gold medal in 2002 with a 5-0 shutout over District One in the finals.
Smith was even more impressive Saturday night as he threw a two-hit shutout as District Six eliminated District Five 1-0 at Scaggs Field at Meridian Community College.
The game's only run came in the top of the fourth as Chad Crosswhite of Madison-Ridgeland Academy, lofted a solo homer over the fence in left field.
Smith struck out only three batters, but had District Five hitting into 14 ground ball outs.
District Five threatened twice, getting runners at second and third with one out in the fifth and at first and third with two outs in the sixth. Demond Morrow of Laurel got the loss despite allowing only three hits in six-plus innings.
District Six plays in today's gold medal game around 1 p.m. against the 10 a.m. winner of the District One-District Four contest.
District One 7
District Four 6
West Point's Patrick Thompson doubled in the bottom of the seventh to score Jared Koon of Tupelo with the winning run as District One evened its pool
play with District Four. The two will square off in an elimination game today at 10 a.m.
District Four scored four runs in the top of the sixth to pull even at 6-6.
Clay Weatherford of Itawamba AHS and Charlie Williams of Saltillo both had two singles for District One. Ben Russell of North Pontotoc had a two-run
single.
Jared Wesson of Tupelo got the win with two innings of one-hit relief.
District Four got a pair of RBI-singles from Heath Grant of Starkville, a
two-run single from Colten Anthony of Eupora, and a double from Louisville's
Chris Perry.
Ackerman's Ryan Miller took the loss in relief.
District Five 12
District Eight 4
Meridian pitcher Kyle Boswell got the win for District Five as he allowed
eight hits and four runs in 6.2 innings.
Ryan Aultman of Heidelberg Academy had a single and a two-run triple for
District Five. Matt Andrews, also of Heidelberg Academy, had a single and a
double. Cory Chance of Northeast Lauderdale and Kedrick Martin of Meridian
both had a pair of singles with Chance driving in two runs. Ben Smith of
Laurel had a two-run single, Derek Norris of Seminary had a double, and Trey
Sutton of West Jones had two RBIs.
Tommy Lott of Greene County had an RBI-triple for District Eight which was
eliminated with the loss. Brett Davis of George County took the loss, giving
up four runs in 1.1 innings.
District One 16
District Three 4
North Pontotoc's Ben Russell did it all for District One as he went 4-for-4
with two doubles, two home runs, and six RBIs to send District Three packing. Russell also threw an eight-hit complete game for good measure. He hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning and a two-run blast in the seventh.
District One scored five runs in both the fourth and fifth frames.
Mitch Moreland of Amory had three singles and two RBIs for District One.
Chris Wiygul of Tupelo and Brian Dozier of Itawamba AHS both had two
singles, while Luke Adkins of Nettleton had a double and a triple to drive
in two runs.
Trent Jennings of Cleveland had a single and a solo homer for District
Three. Ben Maddox of Greenville St. Joseph took the loss.
District Six 9
District Five 2
District Six scored three times in both the fifth and sixth frames to beat
District Five in the winner's bracket game late Friday night.
Nick Hardy of Madison Central hit a single and a two-run homer for District
Six. Matthew Little of Northwest Rankin had two singles and Logan Power of
Hillcrest Christian had an RBI-double.
Marc Bayse of Hillcrest tossed 4.2 innings to get the win.
Derek Norris of Seminary had a single and a two-run double for District
Five. West Lauderdale's Bo Davis had a double.