Fine tuning is the name of the game for Eupora as non-conference play starts to wind down in its baseball season and the Eagles are preparing for the start of Class 2A, Region 2.
The Eagles had won four-straight games by the middle of last week but ran into two tough clubs on Friday and Saturday that handed them losses. All total, they ended the week 2-2 starting and ending with wins over Ethel and Scott Central respectively.
The week began on Tuesday against the Ethel Tigers. Reed Hale came out and threw 7.0 strong innings without an earned run and scattered six hits and one walk with nine strikeouts in a 10-2 victory. The bats also came alive with 10 hits as Parker Knight and Cade Adkins had a couple of base knocks each.
“Reed Hale had a pretty dominating performance,” coach Cole McBride said. “He really controlled the zone, mixed in pitches really well and kept guys off balance. I think we really swung the bat really well. That was a big game for us to be able to come out against them and get the win.”
The timely hits weren’t as prominent on Friday when the team traveled to a tough Class 5A opponent in Neshoba Central. The Rockets led 3-0in the first and 5-0 in the second and the Eagles couldn’t bring home runs in two key situations after both of those innings in a 9-0 loss.
“Neshoba is a really good club and it just wasn’t our night. We walked a couple of guys but still had opportunities throughout the game,” McBride said. “We were down three runs and had runners on base and struck out twice. We just didn’t come through.”
A bright spot in the game was a 3-for-3 night for sophomore Chris Robinson. Unfortunately, the rest of the team only had two hits combined in the loss. McBride also threw five different pitchers in the game with Robinson having the most success as he pitched a team-high 2.1 innings, gave up just one hit and one unearned run while walking one and striking out two.
Saturday gave the Eagles a chance at redemption at Scott Central as they played a Round Robin against Puckett and the homestanding Rebels. Puckett was a good measuring stick game for Eupora in 2A as the Wolves have started the season off strong.
It was a battle and Eupora fell behind 10-4 before rallying in the fifth inning and coming up just short in a five-inning game. Pucketttook home the narrow 10-8 victory.
Adkins led the team with two hits and two RBI while Carter May, Ty Murphy and Parker Knight all got innings on the mound.
The Eagles bounced back in game two of the day against Scott Central as they scored five runs in the sixth inning to get some distance in what would be an 8-6 win. The whole lineup got in on the action at the plate in a 12-hit ball game as Carter May had three hits, two doubles and three RBI and Adkins, Hale and Jacob Collum all had two hits.
“We kicked the ball around a little bit against Puckett but our guys that pitched gave us a chance. We just couldn’t get it done,” McBride said. “I thought that our guys stepped up against Scott Central. We had some big hits and found ways to manufacture runs.”
Both Eupora (6-3) and Scott Central will be back in action on Thursday at 3 p.m. in Eupora as the two teams will play at the site of the end of last season. A year ago, those two teams played one of the final high school sporting events before the country shut down sports.
While McBride is thankful that there doesn’t appear to be any shutdowns coming after this game, he hopes the wins follow. District play is next week and the coach is looking for success on the diamond this week to lead them into a big two-game set with Calhoun City.
“We need to show we’re capable of playing clean baseball. We need to throw strikes, put balls in play and make the plays on defense,” McBride said. “Our guys are pretty prepared and are locked in for the most part. They know who they want to be and what they need to do, now we just have to go do it.”
