The Yazoo City Indians broke even with back to back games last week against Rosa Fort and Jim Hill.
On Friday, March 22, the Indians fell at home to Rosa Fort 17-1 in what Coach Gerald Peyton said was "By far the worst game of the year."
Starting pitcher Kory Price struggled early on the mound, only able to get through the first inning after a double play by Cordarious Brown stopped the base runners from getting home.
In the second inning Price continued to struggle as he walked several batters and allowed three runs mainly off walks and passed balls by the catcher Curdurrius Haymer.
Though Coach Peyton made a change and brought Henry Harris in to relieve Price on the mound, the game continued to unravel as Rosa Fort put up two runs in the third inning, three runs in the fourth, and nine runs in the fifth inning to give them a victory of 17-1 over Yazoo City.
"We scored only one run in the first inning as Claude Collum walked and reached 3rd Base on a sacrifice bunt by Cordarious Brown," Peyton said. "Kory Price would drive in Collum with a round out to short stop, and that was basically it for us offensively."
Though Peyton said this was the worst game of the year for the Indians, he said it was the pitching and the defense that hindered them that day.
"We are usually strong on the mound with pretty decent defense," he said. "A team has to be strong up the middle and we simply did not have it today."
On Saturday, March 23, the Indians were able to redeem themselves in a match up at home against Jim Hill. Coach Peyton said that the game was pretty close throughout but Yazoo City pulled out a win with a score of 16-10.
In the top of the first inning Jim Hill scored four runs, but the Indians fought back when Demarcus Ray and Cordarious Brown got on base from walks. These runners advanced with a sacrifice fly ball from Kory Price, and then a single from Henry Harris drove them home.
Neither team scored in the second inning, and Jim Hill went scoreless in the top of the third.
Darius Sibley and Marquain Allen walked on base for the Indians in the third inning. Sibley made it home on a bases-loaded walk by Brown. Jim Hill was not able to score in the fourth inning either, which gave Yazoo City another chance to add more points to the board.
A single from Harris would start off the fourth for the Indians. Sibley struck out at the plate, but was followed by Allen with a single. Haymer was hit by a pitch which loaded the bases. A double from Manari Paige brought home Harris and Allen; Collum drove in Haymer; and a double from Price sent Paige and Collum home, making the score 9-4 for the Indians.
Peyton said that Cordarius Brown found his groove on the mound in the fifth inning, preventing Jim Hill from scoring any runs, but the Indians were not able to score any runs either when they took the plate in the bottom of the 5th.
"In the top of the sixth Brown only had 15 pitches left on his count because of errors in the early innings by dropped pop fly balls in the outfield," Peyton said. "Brown started out the inning but had to be relieved by Collum, which did not work out well because Collum walked three."
Peyton said that before Collum was switched out from the mound, Jim Hill had scored five runs to tighten the gap with the Indians.
Needing to finish the game with a dependable pitcher on the mound, Peyton took a risk and chose 7th Grader Jordan Jaco to lead the Indians on defense.
"This young man came in the game and fielded a nice bunt for an out, picked a guy off at third, and caught a pop fly while only walking one," Peyton said.
The Indians were able to score six more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, which Peyton said gave Jaco some cushion as he returned to the mound for the seventh. Jaco would finish the seventh inning by giving up only one run to end the game with a win of 16-10 over Jim Hill.
"This young man should have been a lesson to the others that you should always be ready when called upon," Peyton said. "This is the mindset that all players should have. The smallest player on the field had one of the biggest hearts today."
