Louisville’s baseball team picked up a pair of big victories on the diamond last week, knocking off Class 5A Neshoba Central and earning a division split with Kosciusko.
The Wildcats won a thrilling, 11-10 decision over Neshoba last Monday before splitting two games with Kosy – winning by an identical 11-10 score in the first matchup before falling 8-6 in the second game.
Louisville entered this week with a record of 4-8 overall. The Wildcats were scheduled to host Noxubee County on Tuesday, then host Pearl on Thursday. Friday, they’ll make the trip to Macon for another division game against Noxubee, and Saturday the Cats are scheduled to go to Starkville.
Next week, barring any schedule changes or makeups, Louisville is scheduled to host Madison Central on Monday (April 16) before going to Caledonia on Tuesday (April 17). The MHSAA Class 4A state playoffs are scheduled to begin next weekend.
In the win over Neshoba last Monday, the Wildcats scored five times in the third inning and four more times in the fourth.
Dre Shumaker was one of three Cats with at least two hits, as he had a single, double, two runs and three RBIs to lead the way.
Elijah Wilkes was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, while Pervis Frazier was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Deonte Yarbrough doubled, scored twice and drove in a run; Noah Essary doubled and scored; Shemar Eiland singled, scored three times, drove in a run and had three of the team’s seven stolen bases; Keyandra Boler had one RBI; and Markevious Jackson scored once.
Takobe Johnson was the winning pitcher in relief of John Mark Wallace. Johnson threw four innings and allowed two earned runs.
In their first contest with Kosciusko, the Wildcats fell behind 9-2 after the Whippets scored five times in the third inning.
But Louisville answered with nine runs in the top of the fifth to take the lead and held on for the win.
Eiland and Yarbrough drove in nine runs between them. Eiland was 3-for-5 with a triple, two runs and five RBIs while Yarbrough was 3-for-4 with a double, triple, four RBIs and one run.
Boler added two hits and two runs scored; Frazier singled and scored three times; Roper Stoots singled and had one RBI; Essary singled; and Shumaker, Wilkes and Ty Cooper all scored once.
Camden Sanders was the winning pitcher, throwing 4.2 innings in relief of Boler.
In their second matchup with Kosy, Louisville led 4-2 after three innings but could not hold on.
Yarbrough homered and finished with two RBIs while Frazier had two hits, two runs and two RBIs.
Boler doubled and scored twice; Shumaker had two RBIs and a run scored; and Johnson added one hit.
Essary was the losing pitcher, with Wilkes and Yarbrough also seeing time on the mound.
