Nanih Waiya is halfway to a second straight MHSAA Class 1A State Championship in baseball. Two big innings enabled the Warriors to defeat Smithville 13-5 Tuesday in the opening game of the best-of-three MHSAA 1A championship series.
Game 2 in the best-of-three series is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at Trustmark Park. If a third game is needed it will be Saturday.
Nanih Waiya had a six-run third to take a 7-0 lead. After Smithville scored five runs in the fifth to pull within 7-5, the Warriors responded with five in the sixth.
Dalton Luke and winning pitcher Jake Kight both doubled to key the fourth inning rally. Chris Smith and Roper Ball doubled in the sixth.
From the Number 9 hole in the lineup, Smith led a 14-hit attack with a single, double, sacrifice fly and a hit batter. He scored three runs and drove in two.
Bryce Stanton had three hits, Roper Ball, Coley Taylor and Kight two each.
Kight pitched shutout ball for four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. Gabe Sciple came in in relief and walked the first batter he faced, forcing in a run. But he settled down and finished the game, allowing two hits, two walks and no runs, with three strikeouts in three innings.
"He had a few nerves when he first got out there," Nanih Waiya coach Tyler Rogers said. "But once he got settled in, I thought he did a really good job for us."
Stanton made a big defensive play, gunning down Tucker Hood trying to score from second on a single by Dustin Moffett to end the fifth after the Seminoles had cut Nanih Waiya's lead to 7-5.
Right after the game, Rogers reminded his team that Nanih Waiya won the first game 14-2 when the Warriors met Smithville in the championship series last year. But Smithville won the second game before Nanih Waiya eked out a 1-0 victory in Game 3.
"We have to come back here and take care of business," Rogers said.
The probable pitchers Friday are Stanton for Nanih Waiya and Jared Johnson for Smithville. Johnson led Smithville in the first game with three hits, including a two-run double.
