MAIS BASEBALL

Late mistakes costly for Cougars

Southern Sports & Travel, By Darron Thomas
After four and 2/3 innings Friday night the Hillcrest Cougars and MHSAA powerhouse Petal were knotted up at 1-1 apiece in a game between two tradition rich baseball programs at a brand new Panther field but Petal would capitalize on Hillcrest mistakes to take a 5-1 win.
Petal took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Chase Toussaint drew a walk and advanced to third base following two Josh Rogers wild pitches. Anthony Alford brought Toussaint home on a sacrifice fly to right field.
Rogers helped his cause as the senior belted a one out triple in the top of the third inning. The Cougars tied the game at 1-1 when pinch runner Remarcus Stallings scored on a passed ball at the plate.
After a shaky first inning start Rogers settled in as the southpaw retired twelve straight Petal batters but with two out in the bottom of the fifth Rogers walked three consecutive batters to load the bases. Petal sophomore Anthony Alford then hit a towering shot to deep centerfield but TJ Knowles couldn’t come up with the catch allowing three Panthers runners to score to give Petal a 4-1 advantage.
Petal added another run in the bottom of the sixth as sophomore Tyler Graves lead the inning off with a single and then advanced to second on a fielder’s choice. Graves made his way to third on a passed ball and then scored the final run of the night as he took home plate on another passed ball.
Brandon Smith picked up the win as the junior went the distance allowing 1 earned run on 3 hits while striking out 9.
Josh Rogers took the loss as the senior gave up 2 earned runs on just 2 hits while collecting 11 strikeouts over six innings.
Hillcrest left five runners on base on the night while Petal left two.
The Petal Panthers who were preseason ranked #3 in MHSAA 6A improved to 6-1 while Hillcrest slips to 3-3.