Eupora had some challenges ahead of it last week with two Class 2A, Region 4 games and a matchup with a Class 7A team on the rise, but the Eagles had a net positive come out of it.
Despite a tough loss to the Starkville Yellow Jackets to close the week, Eupora took two steps forward in district play and managed to take both games from Sebastopol to stay in the fight for first place.
“I thought we played really well two out of three and even in the Starkville game I thought we had really good, competitive at bats is going to be big down the stretch,” Aldridge said. “We’re trying to figure out some things on the mound but as far as at bats are concerned we’re really starting to come together as a lineup.”
Game one against the Bobcats was a neck-and-neck battle.
The Eagles and Sebastopol traded blows with Eupora building a 3-0 lead only to see the game tied in the fourth inning. Eupora got the advantage back at 7-4 going into the seventh before the Bobcats made a run and cut it to a run, but Kyler Kent slammed the door with two big strikeouts to finish the game.
Kent walked a batter when he entered with one out in the inning but had two strikeouts to keep the Bobcats off the board. Dale Britt earned the win in relief and surrendered one earned run on two hits and two walks in 1.1 innings. He also struck out two batters.
Landry Winter delivered another competitive start with his 5.0 frames, four hits, three runs, one earned run, two walks and nine strikeouts.
Brooks Powell and Jacob Surma led the team with two hits each and the rest of the squad managed two hits combined. Winter had the only multi-base hit with his double. The team walked seven times and had three hit batters.
In a complete reversal in style, game two saw the Eagles put up an incredible 14 runs in the first inning and make quick work of the Bobcats in a 16-4 win in just four innings. This time, three different Eagles managed two hits with Ames Conrad, Joseph Rollins and Britt notching two hits and Britt and Rollins had three RBI as well.
Rollins and Cole Cummings and Rollins had doubles while Winter walked twice. Eupora had eight free bases with five walks and three hit batters. Conrad started the game and threw all 4.0 innings with seven hits, four runs, three earned runs, three walks and two strikeouts.
In late February, Eupora started a string of losing that stretched across several weeks of action. With the exception of a win against Region 4 foe Union, the Eagles lost seven of eight contests.
Something flipped for the squad, interesting enough, in two losses during spring break to Ripley and Lausanne Collegiate. Since those defeats, the Eagles have won four out of five ball games.
“We flipped some guys in the lineup and played several different guys. We could have easily packed it in but we played a gauntlet before spring break and I think the guys took the challenge. Losing is never fun, but what brought a little bit of excitement is the kids would come up to you after those games and talked about how it was going to make us better. To finally see it all come to fruition has been huge.”
Eupora (7-11, 3-1 Region 4) got back to work in district play by taking on J.Z. George if the weather made it happen on Tuesday. The team is expected to travel to Carrolton on Friday to play the Jaguars at 6:30 p.m. and will play at Vardaman on Saturday.
Region 4 play will conclude next week with a two-game set against Philadelphia on the road Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and at home on Friday at 6 p.m. A win in the final four district contests will give the team a district championship and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
“We’re sitting at a really good spot right now, we just have to keep that momentum moving forward,” Aldridge said. “We’ve got to have the same mentality that we’ve had. It’s one of those that you approach a day and a pitch at a time. I told the kids to play hard and let the scoreboard take care of itself.”
