Yazoo City High School’s baseball team split a pair of games this week with Wingfield and St. Joseph’s Catholic School.
The game with Wingfield on Monday was as high a scoring game as the Indians have had in recent years.
It all started when Wingfield put up four runs in the top of the first inning to take a big lead.
But the lead disappeared in the blink of an eye when the Indians put up four runs of their own in the bottom of the first to tie things up at 4-4.
Wingfield came back in the second inning with two runs, which the Indians countered with one run of their own, making it a 6-5 game.
Yazoo City grasped the momentum in the bottom of the third inning with a four run effort, taking a 9-6 lead.
The Falcons, however, would not go away. They came back in the top of the fourth with three runs to tie things up at 9-9 until the Indians regained a slight 10-9 lead with a run in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Falcons were once again able to produce another run to tie things back up at 10-10.
Then the Indians broke the game wide open in the bottom of the fifth with a huge 10 run inning to force the umpire to call the game.
Yazoo City head baseball coach Ben Tillman was thrilled to see his team hit the ball well in the win.
“We were on top of it,” Tillman said. “Our bats woke up late in the game. It was actually tied 10-10 in the fifth inning. It was a combination of their pitching and our hitting.”
On the flip side, Tillman realizes that they will have to pitch better in the future.
“Our pitching really struggled,” Tillman said. “We couldn’t find the strike zone. It was good to see us bail our pitching out.”
Torie Haymer had a huge offensive game in the win. He went 4-for-4 with a triple, a walk, six RBIs and a run scored.
Darius Taylor was right behind Haymer in the hits department with a 3-for-3 day at plate with a triple, two walks, three RBIs and three runs scored.
Taylor also earned the win on the mound with a shutout inning in relief.
Jacques Gates went 2-for-2 with three walks, three RBIs and three runs scored.
On Tuesday, the Indians had their toughest test of the season to date with St. Joe.
The Bruins struck first in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.
St. Joe added to their lead with a run in the bottom of the second inning to go up 2-0.
After a scoreless third inning, the Bruins put up two runs in the bottom of both the fourth and fifth innings to take a 6-0 lead, which was the eventual final score.
Tillman believes that St. Joe was simply a very tough step up in competition.
“St. Joe was definitely a step up in competition,” Tillman said. “They’re the best team we have played this season. They may be the best team we play this season in the regular season.”
Kory Price had the lone hit for Yazoo City in the loss to the Bruins.
Senior Terrance Reese earned the loss after giving up six runs (4 ER) on 10 hits with six walks and nine strikeouts in the complete game effort.
The Indians of Yazoo City will meet up with the Panthers of Yazoo County on the diamond today.
The game at Yazoo County High School is set to begin at 2 p.m.
