By By Robby Atkinson / staff writer
May 5, 2004
Freshman Paxton Pace tossed a complete game two-hitter as the West Lauderdale Knights took a 5-1 win over Magee to sweep the best-of-three series with the Trojans and advance to the Class 3A South State Championship.
The Knights travel to Purvis on Saturday for the first game of a best-of three series. The two teams will play in Collinsville on Monday. Purvis swept Raleigh in two straight games.
Pace finished the game with 11 strikeouts and two walks, while allowing one earned run.
The West Lauderdale offense had no trouble scoring runs, as the Knights ended the game with 10 hits. West Lauderdale took an early lead in the bottom of the first inning with a run to take a 1-0 lead over Magee.
Austin Davis got the first inning started with a double and later scored on a single by Drew Snider to give the Knights their one-run lead.
Pace entered the fourth inning with four straight strikeouts, but senior Josh Logan quickly changed that story, connecting on a towering home run to right field to tie the game at 1-1. The only other hit that Pace allowed was a single by Catlin McKinney in the top of the sixth inning.
West Lauderdale (28-6) fought back to take a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning behind some great hitting from the bottom of the lineup. Tyler Vick led off the inning by reaching on a throwing error by Magee (18-12) and Parker Temple followed with a double to put a pair of runners on base for the Knights.
Both runners crossed the plate on a single by Caleb Dulaney to extend the West Lauderdale lead to 3-1. The big blow of the game came in the bottom of the fifth for West Lauderdale to make the score 4-1. Snider led the fifth inning off with a solo home run to left field to give the Knights a three-run cushion.
West Lauderdale continued to swing the hot bats with one more run in the fifth inning to take a 5-1 lead. Jay Warren followed the home run with a single and reached second on a throwing error by the Trojans.
The final run of the night for the Knights crossed the plate thanks to a sacrifice fly by Parker Temple, providing Pace with plenty of run support.
Pace ended the game by striking out the side in the seventh inning to pace the Knights to the series sweep over the Trojans.
Tony May picked up the pitching loss for Magee, going seven innings and allowing five runs.