LAUREL — The Lawrence County High Cougars defeated the LaurelTornados 7-3 in high school baseball action Friday evening, atTornado Field in Laurel. Cougar junior Joseph Evans went 6 and 2/3innings, striking out 9, to earn the win.

With the win, Lawrence County, under second-year coach CoryKeyes, improved to 2-0 on the young season. This week the Cougars,the defending Division 6-4A champions, will open division playagainst Brookhaven, at Moyer Field. While happy to get the win,Keyes didn’t think his Cougars were at their best at Laurel.

“We didn’t swing the bats very well,” Keyes said. “Joseph threwa decent game, and we played pretty well defensively, but we didn’thave a lot of quality, focused at-bats. We are fortunate to get outof here with a win.”

Mother Nature was the big winner in what was to be the LaurelInvitational Tournament. Lawrence County was scheduled to play WestJones and Quitman in the tourney, and weren’t supposed to play thehost Tornados at all. Heavy rains throughout the week forced someheavy rescheduling, and host Laurel agreed to play Lawrence County,just to give the Cougars a game.

“We needed to play, more than anything else,” Keyes said. “Theweather played havoc with their tournament, but we appreciateLaurel giving us a game. We both start division play next week, sowe both needed to play.”

After a scoreless first inning, Lawrence County scored 2 in thetop of the second. Marty Ballard led off with a walk, then stolesecond. He came home on a Texas League single by third basemanMackenzie Woods, who later an unearned run.

It remained 2-0 until the bottom of the fourth, when LukeLeggett’s Tornados rallied for 1 run. Shortstop Will Sandersonwalked, then advanced to third on a Ben Myers single and a wildpitch. Sanderson scored on a Hunter Ford groundout.

Locked in a 2-1 dogfight, the Cougars clawed out 5 runs in thetop of the fifth. First baseman Nick Jackson led off with a single,then catcher Zachary Summers beat out a bunt single. JohnathanStephens had a booming 2-run double in the inning, and Woodscompleted the rally with a 2-out, run-scoring infield single.

“We didn’t hit many hard balls tonight,” observed long-time LCassistant Craig Davis, “but a couple of them came together in thatinning, along with a couple of softies. The overcast skies gave usa perfectly white hitting background in the first few innings, andI think both teams were having a tough time seeing the ball.”

Laurel rallied a bit in the bottom of the fifth, hitting 4straight bouncers through the hole between the first and secondbasemen. That resulted in 2 Tornado runs, cutting Lawrence County’slead to 7-3.

Evans worked a perfect sixth inning, but tired a bit in theseventh. Laurel loaded the bases with a single and 2 walks, butJake Russell relieved Evans, and struck out the potential tying runto end the game.

Senior Matt Stapleton worked 5 solid innings for Laurel.Submariner Will Sanderson relieved Stapleton in the sixth, and shutthe Cougars out over the final 2 frames.