TAYLORSVILLE — Brookhaven eliminated Lawrence County by a scoreof 5-3 Thursday night in the semifinals of the Dixie Youth 14sBaseball State Tournament. Brookhaven, coached by Terry Britt. is4-0 in tournament action. Lawrence (3-2) finished No. 3 in thestate.

In today’s championship game, Brookhaven meets Carthage at 4:30p.m.. Carthage eliminated Cleveland in the loser’s bracket Thursdayand must beat Brookhaven twice to win the state title.

Brett Rushing was the winning pitcher in relief of starterColton Laird. Laird who worked the first three innings, strikingout two batters. Rushing finished the final four innings with sevenstrikeouts, a walk and one hit a batter.

Losing pitcher Tyler Reeves went the distance in the loss with11 strikeouts, one walk and two hit batters.

Brookhaven was powered by Zach Williams with a 3-run homer andreached on an error. Matt Magee doubled, singled and walked.Rushing singled twice and was hit by pitch . Doubling was T.J.Floyd.

Lawrence County had six hits. Jamie McCardle homered and singledtwice. LaQuinton Martin singled and reached base twice on errors.Tyler Reeves singled. Scott Votau singled and was hit by a pitch.Layne Stephens singled.

Lawrence scored two runs in the bottom of the third for a brief2-0 lead. Brookhaven scored three runs in the top of the fourth fora 3-2 lead. Magee singled. Rushing reached on an error. Williamshit a 3-run homer.

Brookhaven scored in the top of the six for a 4-2 lead. ColtonLaird walked. Floyd doubled to score Laird.

In the top of the seventh, Magee doubled and Rushing scoredMagee on an error to push Brookhaven’s lead to 5-2.

Lawrence score their final run in the bottom of the seventh,cutting the deficit to 5-3..