By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
June 23, 2001
After two days of the State Games of Mississippi baseball tournament, the teams from District One and District Six stood as the last remaining unbeaten teams in the eight-team College World Series format field.
In today's action, District Three takes on District Four in a 10 a.m. elimination contest. At 1 p.m., District Five meets District Eight in another elimination game.
At 4 p.m., District One meets the 10 a.m. winner with District Six taking on the 1 p.m. winner at 7 p.m.
In Friday's winners' bracket games, District One spanked District Four 10-2 and District Six slipped past District Five in nine innings.
In Friday's elimination contests, District Three ousted District Two 4-3 and District Eight sent District Seven packing with a 5-0 blanking.
In Thursday's late game, District Five defeated District Seven 9-7.
District Six 7, District Five 6 (9 innings): Van Pope's single to right field drove in Rob Blackledge with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as District Six won the late game Friday night.
Pope, a rising senior at Terry, went 4-for-5 with four singles in the game.
District Six led 6-0 after four innings thanks to a four-run fourth frame. John Morgan Mims, Greg Manogin, and J.J. Brown each had RBI-singles in the inning.
District Five came back with three runs in the top of the fifth with Buddy Wyrick and Nathan Jack each having a run-scoring single.
District Five tied the game with three runs in the top of the seventh. Drew Anderson, a rising junior at Northeast Lauderdale, had a two-run, pinch-hit single to pull his team to within 6-5 and Brett Jones followed with a two-out RBI-single to force extra innings.
Brown had two singles for District Six which managed 10 hits. Sam Self had a pair of RBIs.
No player from District Five had more than a single as that team had seven hits.
Pope got the win with 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief.
Ty Lawson came on to pitch the ninth for District Five and took the loss.
District Five 9, District Seven 7 (late Thursday): District Five scored six times in the bottom of the first inning in taking Thursday night's late game.
Trent Posey of West Lauderdale had a pair of singles in the first-inning uprising. Drew Tanner and Cagney Ulmer had RBI-singles in the inning. District Seven also committed three errors in the frame.
District Seven got to within 6-4 with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the fourth.
Disitrict Five added one run in the bottom of the fourth and two in the fifth to claim a 9-4 advantage.
District Seven chased winning pitcher Jason Ford of Northeast Jones in the seventh with a two-out rally that saw Ben Goza of Brookhaven launch a three-run homer to left field. Ty Lawson of Wayne County came on in relief to retire Adam Smith to end the game.
Tanner and Brett Jones both went 3-for-4 to lead District Five. Jones had a pair of doubles, while Tanner had two RBIs. Posey finished with a pair of singles.
Ford went 6 2/3 innings to get the win. He struck out eight and walked three. Over the first six innings, he allowed only four hits.
Jeffrey Waycaster and Dooley Simmons both had two singles for District Seven. Kyle Ginn had a double.
Christopher Rayborn took the loss.
District One 10, District Four 2: Sparky Smith of Tupelo tossed a complete game seven-hitter and Jeffrey Rea of Nettleton went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles as District One stayed unbeaten with the late afternoon win.
District One got three runs in the bottom of the first inning on a three-run blast to right field by Kevin Caldwell of Tupelo.
District Four got both of its runs in the top of the second on an RBI-single by Bruce Branch and an error when his hit was misplayed in center field.
District One picked up two more runs in the second on an RBI-double by Brandon McGarity and an RBI-single by Rea.
McGarity doubled in the fourth and scored on a fielder's choice by Kennard Springer.
Scottie Jacobs made it 8-2 in the fifth on a two-run single.
Springer added a two-run single in the sixth to cap the scoring.
Smith struck out six and allowed only one earned run in getting the win.
Caldwell finished with a double and a homer. McGarity had a pair of doubles. Bo Baxter added two singles.
Stephen Pusha had two singles to lead District Four's seven-hit offense. Cliff Davis took the loss.
District Three 4, District Two 3: District Three used a three-run fifth frame to send District Two packing in the Friday morning contest.
The big hit in the inning was a two-run double by Tucker Bullard of Pillow Academy.
District Three had a triple from Matthew Rozier and a double from Derek Weeks in its five hits.
Rozier was the winning pitcher, allowing two runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Scott Crawford had a single and a double in District Two's eight hits. Jamarris Sims had two RBIs.
Steven Hannan took the loss.
District Eight 5, District Seven 0: District Eight starter Jason Phillips of East Central tossed four innings of three-hit shutout as his team eliminated District Seven Friday afternoon.
District Eight got three runs in the second inning and added two more in the fourth. Trey Cuevas had an RBI-single in the second inning with Joey Burlison of East Central ripping a two-run triple in the right-field corner.
In the fourth frame, Cuevas had an RBI-double and later scored on a throwing error by third baseman Trent Smith.
Cuevas went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Casey Summerlin added a double among District Eight's seven hits.
Jeffrey Waycaster of Brookhaven Academy had two singles to lead District Seven's six-hit attack.
District Seven starter Cass Brister took the loss.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at mstamper@themeridianstar.com.