By By Jeff Byrd/staff writer
April 6, 2002
Southeast Lauderdale kept alive its chances at a post-season baseball berth by beating Newton County 3-2 here at Tiger Field on Friday night.
The Tigers took advantage of five Newton County errors and a complete-game effort from Jeff Linton to capture the critical Division 5-3A contest. Had Southeast lost, its hopes for a playoff bid would have ended.
With the win, the Tigers can now play their way into the playoffs against West Lauderdale and Philadelphia. Southeast is 7-3 in the division. Philadelphia also has three losses while West Lauderdale clinched the division by beating Choctaw Central also on Friday.
Still, the Tigers have things in their own hands. Linton was a big reason why. Every time Newton County threatened, he was able to induce the key out to get the Tigers out of the inning. The Cougars left eight men on base, six in scoring territory.
Linton allowed two earned runs off seven Cougar hits. He struck out six while walking two in improving to 7-3 on the year.
Down 3-1, the Cougars made one last stab at pulling even in the seventh inning. Colby Amis led off with a soft hit into right field. Two batters later, Josh Avant drilled his third hit of the game into left. Amis scored to make it 3-2, while Avant took second on an error.
Linton, however, bounced back leaving Avant at second after retiring Robby Carey on a comebacker to the mound and then Matthew Boggan on a ground out to second base.
Southeast grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Tyler Harper doubled in Jay Butler who had reached on the first of five Cougar errors.
In the second, three more Cougar errors chased home Brandon Booker for a 2-0 lead. Booker scored when a pickoff throw went awry and into right field.
The Cougars pulled to within 2-1 in the top of the third when Mylan Anderson blasted a solo home run off Linton. Avant followed with a double but was left there after Linton got Carey to pop out.
Newton's fifth error brought in Linton who reached on a lead off hit in the third. The run made it 3-1.
It stayed that way until the seventh. In between, the Cougars left a man on third in the fourth, the bases-loaded in the fifth and one on second in the sixth.
Despite the woes, Cougar coach Wyatt Tullos gave credit to Linton.
Adam Bout took the hard-luck loss. He struck out six while allowing just three hits. The other Tiger hit was a sixth inning triple by James Pierce.
Bout helped his cause by going 2-for-3.
Southeast, now 12-8, will play 5A power Meridian today at 1 p.m. at John Moss Field, the time is a move up from the original 6 p.m. start. Newton County, 14-14, will face Lake and Neshoba Central today.