Tuesday night was a nail bitter between two rivals fighting over the No.1 spot in the district standings. Picayune, (12-9 overall) handed Pearl River Central (16-6 overall) their first district loss in a 7-6, eighth-inning game. This wins stamps Picayune as 5-0 in the district and PRC as 4-1 in the district.

“Not giving up, staying in the fight, we preach it and the kids did it tonight,” said Picayune’s head coach Evan Nichelson. Picayune baseball has been on the losing end of these PRC rivalries for the past two seasons. Nichelson said this win will set the program in the right direction.

Pearl River Central’s head coach Neil Walther wasn’t too happy about them not executing bunts and leaving points off the board in the opening innings. He put the blame on himself but said “We had chances to make plays but we didn’t do it… the effort and focus wasn’t there.”

In order to bounce back, Walther said he told his player following this loss to focus. These two teams will meet again Thursday, April 6 at PRC.

Recap 

PRC jumped to a 3-0 lead at the top of the 3^rd. Picayune would go unanswered until the 5^th inning, where Tanner Busby picked up an RBI single. The following pitch resulted in a wild outfield throw to home plate, allowing Busby to double and steal home. Picayune now only trailed 3-2. From here on out was a slugfest. At the top of the 6^th, Blue Devils Wesley Gardner hit a 2-run RBI. At the bottom of that inning, Maroon Tides Kyler King hit a 1 run RBI. PRC still led at 5-3.

Top of the 7^th, the Blue Devils scored a run off a wild pitch by King. Picayune trailed 6-3. At the bottom of the inning, Picayune scored 3 runs to tie the game. The first run occurred with no outs thanks to an RBI hit by Landon Watts. The second run occurred with the bases loaded, Jamie Lumpkin singled to first with a 1-run RBI. The game-tying run occurred off a sacrifice hit that was caught in the deep left field and allowed for a Maroon Tide runner to take home.

 

Extra Inning

Maroon Tides King led the mound and struck out two batters. Plus Picayune played a ground ball to first for a quick three-and-out series.

At the bottom of the inning, Picayune only needed one run to score. They managed to get their lead hitting on base, followed was Brady Robertson. With no outs, Robertson smacked PRC’s ball to the left wall for an RBI and walk-off run.

“Hit the ball hard through somebody,” was Robertson’s mindset once he set foot on the plate during the eighth inning.

“It was the only thing I could think of… I was down 0-2, anybody down 0-2 will let the nerves get to them, I tried my best not to let the nerves get to me.”

Robertson pitched the first 6 innings. King and Cooper Moreaux pitched the final 3 innings. Robertson praised them too, saying it was huge for them to come in and finish the game. “They only held them to one run and that’s huge,” he said.

Stats

Picayune; ss a team, Picayune had 5 hits, 7 RBIs, Landon Watts led with 2RBIs. On the mound, Robertson, and King combined for 8 strikeouts.

PRC: as a team, PRC had 6 hits and 4 RBIs. BJ Bellelo and Wes Gardner had 2RBIs each. Caleb Dyess pitched 6 innings and had 10 strikeouts and allowed 2 earned runs.