By By Mike Woten/The Sun Herald
April 27, 2002
MOSS POINT The Moss Point Tigers used late inning heroics again for the second time in the playoffs to turn back Meridian 4-3.
Meridian came into the second round with an impressive 31-5 record and veteran right hander Jason Spinks (8-0) sporting a 0.98 ERA.
The Tigers (18-13) had produced a sixth-inning rally to eliminate Long Beach and used the same recipe coming back from a 3-1 deficit to score three runs in the sixth inning on Friday to take a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-three series in South State 5-A semifinals.
The Wildcats scored one run in the first that was followed by Ricky McMillen's single in the fourth innning that drove in John Stevens and John Iverson to increase the Wildcat lead to 3-0.
Moss Point's junior southpaw Miles Clark shut the door on the Wildcats as he allowed no more hits and striking out eight.
Clark allowed only two hits and walked five.
The Tigers began their dramatic comeback in the sixth. Moss Point, who scored a run in the fifth, started the sixth off when Clark drove a single to right field that was followed by a walk to Butler giving the Tigers runners on first and second and nobody out. Junior catcher Shane Crowley then sent the first pitch into left field for a single to load
the bases.
Marlin Bogan came to the plate and fouled off ten straight pitches before grounding out.
The Tigers inserted pinch hitter junior Drew Clardy, who stoked a curveball into left field to tie the game at 3.
The Wildcats seventh inning threat was stopped by Crowley, who threw out a runner on a steal attempt with one out to seal the win.
The series continues in Meridian at John Moss field at 4 p.m.