Southaven’s long bus ride from the outskirts of Memphis to theMcComb Spring Baseball Classic this week has been fruitful. TheChargers got a complete game from sophomore southpaw MichaelRobbins Wednesday, beating the Brookhaven Panthers 13-2 on MoyerField.

Robbins (1-0), getting his first varsity start, scattered 5 hitsin the 6-inning game. He struck out 9, walked 2 and didn’t allow anextra-base hit.

Southaven (11-1), ranked among the best baseball teams inMississippi, collected 11 hits for Coach Ed Rich. The Chargersscored 6 runs in the sixth on just 1 hit and 3 errors by the youngBrookhaven (5-7) team.

“I was impressed with Robbins,” said Coach Rich. “He had acouple of saves but this was his first start. We are really bungedup right now and we needed another pitcher. This gave him a chanceto step up.”

Rich planned to pitch Ole Miss signee Bray Wright against McCombtoday as the Classic continues at Rotary Field in McComb. In hiseighth year at the helm, Wright’s Chargers went 22-5 last year,losing in the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs.

Brookhaven makes up a Division 6-4A varsity game Friday atRaymond. Game time is 12 noon. The Panthers play at Franklin Countyin Bude Saturday, starting with a JV game at 11 a.m.

“(Chargers) are real fundamentally sound,” said Brookhaven headcoach Randy Spring. “Whenever we made mistakes, they jumped onus.”

“Our kids played hard,” Spring added. “We were doing well forfour innings.”

Sophomore Scotty Smith started on the mound for Brookhaven. Helasted 2.1 innings. He allowed 10 hits and 7 runs. fanning 1 batterand walking 2.

Josh Patrick, another sophomore in Brookhaven’s depleted moundstaff, relieved Smith in the third. Patrick, who struck out 2 andwalked 7, was replaced in the sixth by Kern Hoff, who moved fromfirst base to the mound after Southaven had forged a 12-2 lead.

The Chargers took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. A booming,2-run homer by centerfielder Michael Pennington was preceded byKyle Chunn’s single.

In the second inning, 3 straight singles by Southaven fueled a2-run statement. A towering pop fly by Pennington fell behindsecond base, between three Panther fielders and 2 runners racedhome, making it 4-zip.

Brookhaven got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second.Sophomore shortstop Brooks Hall smashed a single off the glove handof Robbins. Hall scored on a fielding error after catcher AdamOgden had singled, making it 4-1.

The Chargers got a 2-run double by Garrett Murphy over the thirdbase bag in the third, pushing Southaven’s lead to 6-1. Gabbert’slong double to the base of the left-center field fence raised theadvantage to 7-1.

The Panthers plated their second run in the third frame.Townsend led off with a single. Hall singled with 2 out. Townsendscored on a wild pitch.