By By Richard Dark/The Meridian Star
May 1, 2001
When the Meridian High Wildcats needed it most, Sanduan Dubose delivered.
Dubose, a Meridian Community College signee, blasted a pair of home runs Monday night at John Moss Field to help lift the Wildcats to a 10-6 win over the Forest Hill Rebels in the decisive third game of the second round of the MHSAA Class 5A baseball playoffs.
The Wildcats (25-13) advance to face the highly-touted Hattiesburg Tigers. Game One of the South State Championship best-of-three series is set for Thursday at 6 p.m. at John Moss Field.
And when the Rebel hurlers did, they paid for it, as Dubose went yard off both Forest Hill starter Joey Dearman and losing hurler Mitchell Taylor.
After FHHS (22-11) rallied in the third and fourth innings to knot the score at six, Dubose led off the bottom of the fourth with the solo job to give the Cats the lead for good.
He followed up the 2-for-4 performance with another jack in the fifth to push the home team's lead to 9-6 while electrifying the crowd and his teammates in the process.
Not lost in the Cats offensive extravaganza (11 total hits) was the performance of hurler John Iverson.
Iverson came on in relief of struggling starter John Hays Compton and shut down the Rebels, striking out six in 32/3 innings of work, while allowing only three hits and walking two.
After MHS pinch runner Greg Harris scored on a fielder's choice to put his team up 8-6, Forest Hill responded with a big threat in the top of the fifth.
A walk and back-to-back singles by David Burt and Greg Manogin loaded the sacks full of Rebels.
But Iverson (9-3) came through in the clutch, fanning two straight, before getting Raphael Ward to ground out to first to end the threat.
With a man on third in the sixth, he struck out Chris Kursar for the third out and set down the final three batters he faced swinging and looking to put the appropriate exclamation point on the night.
At the plate, Iverson added a double as did first baseman John Stevens. He and second baseman Kris Barnett each went 2-for-4. Designated hitter Dion Hampton had a 2-for-2 output.
FHHS, which hurt its chances with four errors, was led in its nine-hit attack by Calvin Triplett and Lance Avalon, who both went 2-for-4.
The Cats batted around in the second to churn out six runs on four hits, coupled with a pair of fielding errors to lead by a half dozen. The frame was highlighted by a pair of nifty bases-loaded bunt singles by Barnett and Richmond Alexander.
The latter was ruled an E-3, but it helped continue the parade to the plate, before the near collapse occurred over the next two Rebel at-bats.
Richard Dark is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. You can call him at 693-1551, ext. 3234 or e-mail him at rdark@themeridianstar.com.