It was a great first two weeks to the season for Eupora on the baseball diamond but the Eagles encountered their first taste of adversity to close out last week.
After knocking off rival Choctaw County, Eupora finished with back-to-back losses to French Camp Academy and Houston. It sparks a big week ahead as the Eagles try to get footing back and get ready for Class 2A, Region 2 play.
Game one of the week on the road against CCHS was a big one. The Eagles exploded at the plate with six runs in the second inning and another 15 in the fourth and fifth for a run-rule victory. They pounded out 18 hits and surrendered just three of their own.
After scoring those six runs in the second, the Eagles gave up a couple in the bottom of the inning. They would begin to pull away in the fourth inning with four runs and then blew the doors off of the Chargers with a nine-run frame in the fifth to get the early win.
Everyone got in the mix offensively for Eupora in the win. Reed Hale was 4-for-5 at the plate with five RBI. Carter May finished with three hits and three RBI with a double.
Landon Davis and Drew Tabb had two hits and two RBI each, Parker Knight and Ty Murphy also had two hits. As good as the hitting was, it was not to overshadow the work by junior Tanner Fletcher on the mound. Fletcher threw all 5.0 innings, gave up three hits, no earned runs, three walks and struck out four batters.
The hitting disappeared in the next two ball games when they scored one run the next two games. On Friday against a hot FCA team, the Eagles had just two hits and committed four errors when they lost 6-0. Davis and Hale provided the two hits.
On the mound, Cade Adkins pitched 4.0 innings, gave up five hits, three earned runs, four walks and had seven strikeouts. Ty Murphy and Chris Robinson finished things out in the final two frames.
After beating Houston to open up the season, Eupora couldn’t get the season sweep against the Hilltoppers on Saturday in a 2-1 loss. They had two hits from Murphy and Davis but there wasn’t enough offense to get the win. Robinson and Hale gave the team a chance as Robinson gave up no runs on four hits in his 5.0 innings and Hale struck out three batters in 2.0 innings.
The good news for the Eagles is they’ve got a chance to get back to their winning ways this week. Eupora (4-3) goes to Kosciusko on Friday to play Kosciusko at 11 a.m. and Pearl around 1 p.m. They’ll come home on Saturday to play two games against Nettleton and Scott Central in games beginning at 11 a.m.
