TAYLORSVILLE — The Brookhaven 14-year-old All Stars knocked offCleveland 8-4 Wednesday night in the Dixie Boys State Tournament.Brookhaven, coached by Terry Britt, is two wins away from clinchinga state title.

Unbeaten Brookhaven battles Lawrence County at 7:30 p.m. In theloser’s bracket, Carthage meets Cleveland. The winners meet Fridayfor the championship.

In Wednesday’s games, Carthage eliminated Perry County andLawrence County stopped Laurel-Jones County.

Brookhaven 8, Cleveland 4

The winning pitcher was Ryan Kennedy who worked the final fiveinnings in relief of starter Michael Martin. Martin worked for twoinnings with one strikeout. The game was tied was 2-2 going intothe third inning when Kennedy fanned 12 strikeouts.

At the plate, Brett Rushing sparked Brookhaven with a two-runhomer in the first inning. Tyler Case smashed two doubles and waswalked once. Matt Magee singled and walked. Colten Laird singled.T.J Floyd singled and walked twice. Kennedy was hit by a pitch.Zach Williams singled and was hit by a pitch.

Cleveland collected 10 hits in the loss.

In the fifth inning, Brookhaven added two more runs for a 4-2lead. They followed up with two runs in the sixth and two in theseventh to clinch the victory.

The winner advances to the World Series in Grand Prairie, Texas,starting Aug. 5.

Brookhaven 13s finish second

In the championship game of the 13-year-olds state tournament atLaurel, Brookhaven was defeated by Laurel-Jones County 15-6 andfinished the season as the No. 2 team in the state.

Absorbing the loss was Gib Britt who pitched five innings withthree strikeouts, one walk, four hits allowed and 11 runs scored.Travis Sorrels worked the remainder of the game, striking out onebatter, walking two and allowing three hits and four runs.

At the plate, Kyle Cross doubled and singled for Brookhaven.Matt Smith and Britt each singled twice. Brandon Allen doubled.Gage Wilson and Cade McCullough hit safely.