Tide put up a fight, but Warriors too strong, 11-6
By: Jason Pigott
The first two games of the regular season between the Tide and the Warriors produced a combined total of five runs, On Saturday night, five runs were scored in the game's first inning. In a see-saw affair that saw four lead changes in the first four innings, the Oak Grove Warriors would use a five run 4th inning to pull away and complete the regular season sweep of the Tide.
The Warriors got two in the top of the 1st off Picayune freshman southpaw, TJ House. It could have been a devastating start for Picayune but House worked out of a bases loaded jam with one out, by striking out the Warrior DH and by inducing an inning ending grounder to shortstop. Aided by two Warrior errors, the Tide offense would answer in the bottom of the inning by scoring three times on RBI singles from Hoyt Hughes and Sean Garrard and lead 3-2 after one inning of baseball.
After each team went scoreless in the 2nd, the Warriors got three more in the top half of the third. After a two-out error by the Tide infield and a walk, Oak Grove catcher Cullen Tatum delivered a 2 RBI double to give his team the lead once again. But, once again Picayune would respond by scoring three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Heath Stevens led off the inning with a base hit to left field and would later score on a single from Garrard. Two more runs were forced home on walks drawn by Justin Deloach and Alex Riser giving the Tide a 6-5 lead after 3 innings.
In the fourth, the Warriors would blow the game open. Two runs on three consecutive hits by the top of the Warrior's batting order would chase TJ House from the game with a runner on second and no out in the inning. Trailing 7-6 and a runner on second base, Tide skipper, Cayne Stockstill, would once again turn to his ace Heath Stevens to stop the Oak Grove offense. After an error by the Tide third baseman put runners at the corners, Stevens would surrender a 3-run home run to the left field power alley by Warrior 1B, Hendrick Leverette before retiring the side.
In the bottom of the fourth Oak Grove Coach Harry Breland decided to bring in his ace, Wayne Smith, to try and hold the 10-6 lead. Smith (7-0) would do just that by allowing just two hits over the game's final four innings. He would strike out six Tide batters and collect his third win of the season over Picayune. The win assures Oak Grove (19-1, 5-0) of a playoff berth and, barring a total collapse, a Division 5 championship.
Picayune (12-8, 3-3) will control their own destiny in the final week of the regular season. The Tide will battle the Hattiesburg Tigers two times that week that will decide 2nd place in the division and a place in the playoffs. Picayune won game one of the season series 7-5 in Hattiesburg on March 22.