The Picayune Maroon Tide fought hard but fell to the Long Beach Bearcats on Friday night in their second district meet-up. It was a tight game early, but a triple RBI run by the Bearcats gave the visiting the edge that would lead to the Maroon Tide suffering a 9-5 loss.

 

The Bearcats opened the game with a couple RBIs in the first inning to lead 2-0. The Maroon Tide scored an early run at the bottom of the inning then took a 4-2 lead courtesy of Sam Landrum’s double RBI then followed by Jamie Lumpkin’s single RBI.

 

Both teams went without any runs in the second inning.

At the top of the third, the Maroon Tide defense had two quick outs from pitcher Brady Robertson’s strike out and Chris Davis’s fly ball. But the Bearcats stayed the course, they managed to the get bases loaded before getting the break the team needed coming off a Maroon Tide error. A dropped catch by Davis marked a triple RBI for the Bearcats and a 5-4 lead. Before things got worse, Robertson struck out the next batter four a third out.

 

The Maroon Tide went scoreless in the bottom of the inning. Then things looked bad for the Maroon Tide when the Bearcats lead increased to 7-4 after back-to-back RBIs.

 

At the bottom of the fourth, the Maroon Tide couldn’t seem to catch a break. The Bearcats caught two fly balls and Morgan Craft was struck out at the plate.

 

At top of the fifth, the Maroon Tide executed on defense and prevented any runs, but the Bearcats defense did the same in the bottom of the inning.

 

At the top of the sixth inning the Maroon Tide struck out a runner trying to steal second base, Davis caught a fly ball and Robertson stuck out a Bearcat hitter for a defensive three and out.

 

At the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs, the Maroon Tide methodically got runners on second and third base. With Dawson Underwood at bat, he connected, hitting a ground ball towards second base. It was very close but Underwood was called out at first for a third out.

 

The Bearcats lead was now 9-4 after they scored a double RBI in the seventh inning.

The Maroon Tide would finally respond in the bottom of the inning, scoring just one run off Chris’ RBI. This made the score 9-5. The Bearcats finished the game with Kyler King’s at bat. He connected but his hit was caught giving them their third out.

 

 

The Maroon Tide move to 9-13 overall and 2-2 in district play. Next, Picayune will play the Pearl River Central Blue Devils (14-8 overall 3-1 in district) on Tuesday, April 5 at Pearl River Central.