April 30, 2010

Maroon Tide tames Tigers 7-5

by Carey Meitzler

Moss Point--Picayune's Jonathan Hickman overcame a shaky start on the mound and later helped his own cause with a double

sparking the Maroon Tide to a 7-5 win over Moss Point in Game 1 of their best of 3 series.

Picayune scored two runs in the top of the first.   Leadoff batter Braxton "Ichiro" Lee reached on an infield single and moved to

second base on a passed ball.  Eric Smith singled to right center to plate Lee.  Smith scored one out later when Brandon Jurich

reached on an error giving the Maroon Tide a 2-0 lead.

Moss Point scored three runs in the bottom of the frame with four hits, a fielder's choice, and a Maroon Tide throwing error to

take a 3-2 lead.

Both Hickman and Moss Point's Josh Jones settled in and kept their opponents scoreless over the next three innings.

Picayune scored two runs in the fifth to regain the lead when Colton Lee reached on an error and scored as his cousin Braxton

Lee sliced a doubled into the left field corner.  Eric Smith's grounder to short resulted in a Tiger throwing error that scored Lee

(Braxton) giving the Maroon Tide a 4-3 advantage.

Moss Point tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out pinch hit homerun over the right field fence by Joe Kirkland.

Picayune countered with two runs in the sixth when Jonathan Hickman hit a double into the right field corner after he had bunted

foul while attempting to bunt on the first pitch and then had two consecutive pitches called for strikes by the umpire who inadvertently

forgot the count,  much to the chagrin of the Moss Point fans who realized what had just happened.  With no argument from

the Moss Point dugout, Hickman remained at second base.   Kyle Beech singled to center scoring Hickman and Beech raced to

second when the throw to home got by the catcher.  After Jones struck out the next two batters, Colton Lee slapped what

momentarily appeared to be a ground ball single to right field, but Tiger second baseman Breland Booker made a diving grab of

the ball on the back edge of the infield grass and Booker's throw sailed past first base for an error that allowed Beech to score

for a 6-4 lead.

Moss Point cut the lead to 6-5 with a run in the bottom of the inning when Kendrick Barnes doubled to right and scored on

Byron James' single to left field.

Picayune got an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Drew Hedgepeth was hit by a pitch from Jones with the bases loaded.

Hickman struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to close out the win. For the game, he struck out 8 batters, allowed 9 hits,

and walked one batter.

Picayune will host Game 2 on Saturday at 1:00pm.