By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
June 27, 2003
Jonathan Blakeney of West Jones tossed a three-hit complete-game shutout and West Lauderdale's Bo Davis had two hits and scored two runs as District Five defeated District Seven 3-0 in the opening round of the State Games Baseball Tournament Thursday night at Meridian Community College's Scaggs Field.
Blakeney gave up a leadoff double to Michael Thompson of Lawrence County to start the game, then allowed just two more singles the rest of the night.
Davis got a leadoff triple to left-center in the bottom of the first inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cory Chance of Northeast Lauderdale.
District Five picked up a pair of unearned runs in the third to take a 3-0 lead. Two errors on West Jones' Trey Sutton's grounder sent Sutton to third and Davis and Chance across the plate. Davis had doubled, while Chance was hit by a pitch.
Douglas Davis of Adams Christian School took the loss despite allowing only four hits and one earned run in six innings.
In today's games, Districts One and Two meet in an elimination game at 10 a.m., while Districts Seven and Eight meet in another elimination game at 1 p.m. In winners' bracket action, District Three takes on District Four at 4 p.m. and District Five faces District Six at 7 p.m.
District Six 3
District Eight 2
Chad Crosswhite of Madison-Ridgeland Academy, and formerly of Leake Academy, hit a fly ball deep enough to center field in the top of the seventh inning to score Nick Hardy of Madison Central from third base with the go-ahead run to snap a 2-2 tie.
Crosswhite had two singles to go with the sacrifice fly. District Six also got a single and an RBI-double from Joe Scalzo of Northwest Rankin.
Jonathan Johnston, also of Northwest Rankin, tossed the final 1.1 innings and did not allow a baserunner in getting the win. Matt Welch of Northwest Rankin tossed the first 5.2 frames, allowing only four hits.
Jared Lowery of Petal and Grant Hogue of Oak Grove each had two singles for District Eight. Lowery took the loss, allowing one run in three innings of relief. Taylor Kimble of Greene County tossed the first four frames, allowing two runs on four hits.
District Four 10
District Two 6
District Four snapped a 6-6 tie with four runs in the top of the seventh inning to take Thursday's tournament opener. District Four rallied from a 6-2 deficit to pull even with four runs in the top of the fifth.
Heath Grant of Starkville had three singles and two RBIs for District Four. Ryan Miller of Ackerman had two singles and an RBI-triple. Brantley Clay of New Hope had two singles and a double with Torrey Stewart of Kosciusko adding a solo homer. Hunter Abrams of New Hope and Dustin Rhodes of Starkville both had a pair of singles.
Colten Anthony of Eupora got the win with 3.1 innings of no-hit relief.
Josh Tidmore of Hernando took the loss in relief. He had two singles out of District Two's six hits. Calvin Kirkland of Senatobia added a two-run single.
District Three 8
District One 7
District Three erased a 7-5 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat District One.
Both teams had 11 hits.
Blaise King of Cleveland and Winn Cadenhead of Washington School both had two singles for District Three. Brett Skelton of Washington School, Craig Taylor of Bayou Academy, and Ben Turner of Washington School each had a double with Anthony Palasini of Greenville St. Joseph adding a two-run single.
District Three starter Trent Jennings of Cleveland went three innings to get the win. After Gary Barbati of Cleveland threw 3.2 innings of relief, Jeff Sides of Indianola came on with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh and got Luke Adkins of Nettleton to fly out to end the game.
Kevin Williams of Corinth had a three-run homer and an RBI-double for District One. Brian Dozier of Itawamba AHS had a double and two singles, Tupelo's Jared Koon had two singles, and Clay Weatherford of Itawamba AHS added a single and a solo homer.
Adkins took the loss in relief.