By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

Picayune kept visiting Bay High win-less in Division 8-4A action Tuesday night.

And in the process, the Maroon Tide remained unbeaten in league play as well.

Head coach Cayne Stockstill’s crew followed the standout pitching of Hunter Gill as well as some heavy hitting from Jared Bales, Jake Riser and Evan Nichelson as the homestanding Maroon Tide shut out the Tigers 5-0.

With the win, Picayune moves to an impressive 5-1 overall and more importantly 3-0 in league play. It is the first time in Stockstill’s five seasons at the helm of the team that the Maroon Tide has been 3-0 in district play.

Bay High, meanwhile, which was swept last week by Long Beach in league action, drops to 2-6 overall and 0-3 in the loop. Picayune was coming off a league sweep of arch-rival Pearl River Central last week.

Gill, considered the Tide’s number two starter, pitched like an ace as he allowed just two singles to Bay High and just four Tiger base runners in the complete game performance. He was in command all night, staying ahead of the opposing batters and striking out a career high 11.

Gill got plenty of support at the plate from the aforementioned trio of Bales, Riser and Nichelson. Bales blasted his third home run in the past week, a two run shot in the fifth, while Nicholson also drove in a pair of runs with an RBI-double and a run-scoring single and Riser had three hits including a pair of doubles and scored twice.

Nicholson’s RBI-single in the second put Picayune ahead for good, and Bryce Ladner singled and later scored on a Tiger throwing error to make it 2-0 in the third.

Bales’ blast made it 4-0 in the fifth, and Nicholson completed the scoring with his run scoring double that scored Riser in the sixth. Bales also added a single earlier in the game.

And that was far more than enough for Gill, as he never allowed a Tiger runner past second base.

Ladner, who is 3-0 on the year on the pitching mound, will lead Picayune on Friday as he takes the hill when Picayune looks for the sweep in Bay St. Louis.

Long Beach 14, Poplarville 4 — Long Beach also remained unbeaten in Division 8-4A play and kept Poplarville winless with a win Tuesday at home over the Hornets.

D’Iberville 2, PRC 1 — PRC pitcher Ramsay Graham allowed just one hit but the homestanding Warriors made it enough as D’Iberville moved to 1-0 in league play and the Blue Devils fell to 0-3.