By By Will Price/Special To The Star
March 23, 2001
The Meridian High Wildcats team took a key Division 5-5A baseball victory over the Wayne County War Eagles Thursday by the score of 14-9.
Meridian improved to 11-6 on the year, and more importantly, to 2-1 in division play.
Wayne County fell to 4-9 and 0-3.
John Iverson got the win on the mound and is now 4-1, while Ty Lawson suffered the loss and droped to 1-5.
Sanduan Dubose, who went 4-for-4 against the War Eagles, is 13-for-17 in his last six games.
Multiple hitters for the Wildcats included Richmond Alexander with two, one being a double, Iverson with three, Kris Barnett with three, Torry Bates with three and Tyler Singleton with two. Dubose added two doubles, and Bates added two doubles.
Multiple hitters for Wayne County were Akeem Lafton with two, one a triple and the other a home run. Jonathan Sellers and Jacob Bynum added doubles.
Meridian took a two-run lead in the top of the first when Alexander and Dubose crossed the plate, only to see the War Eagles score three in their half of the inning, with the big blow being Lofton's triple.
In the third, Dubose, Dione Hampton running for Iverson and Barnett scored, putting Meridian up 5-3.
Dubose, Hampton, Barnett, and Michael Collins running for Ricky McMillian all came around, making it 9-3.
Wayne County got three in its half of the fourth on Lofton's three-run homer.
The War Eagles closed the gap to 9-8 with two more runs in the fifth.
Meridian then put the game away in the top of the seventh with five runs, as Alexander, Hampton, Maurice Cole, Chris Roberts, and Barnett scored to make it 14-8. The War Eagles got the final run of the evening when Bynum doubled and later scored on a bases-loaded walk.
Meridian travels to West Lauderdale tonight for a junior varsity contest at 6 and a varsity game at 8.