Six homers direct LCHS past Wesson

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, March 14, 2007

MONTICELLO – The Lawrence County Cougars overwhelmed the WessonCobras 25-2 in high school baseball action Tuesday night at JimmieDavis Park.

Fourteen different Cougars got hits, and 6 smacked home runs, asLCHS enjoyed one of the greatest offensive outbursts in schoolhistory. All of that happened in just 4 innings of batting. Thegame was halted after Wesson batted in the top of the fifthinning.

“It was just one of those nights,” said third-year LawrenceCounty coach Cory Keyes. “We had this exact same pitching matchup,on this field, 2 years ago, and we got beat badly. Tonight, theball just kept hitting our bat, even after we subbed out.”

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Wesson grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, as pitcherJonathan Grace ripped an RBI single to left. After that, the hostCougars had it their way.

Joseph Evans and Zachary Summers opened the bottom of the firstwith singles. Two outs later, first baseman Nick Jackson hit a3-run homer, briefly making it a 3-1 games. After the next batter,Brandon Middlebrook, was hit with a pitch, Cougar leftfielder CoreyJones launched a monumental blast deep into the Monticello night.In the span of just 6 pitches, a 1-0 deficit became a 5-1 LawrenceCounty lead.

In the bottom of the second, Grace retired the first 2 Cougarbatters. The third, catcher Summers, got a bloop single thatlaunched a 2-out, 9-run rally. Jones, Mackenzie Woods, andDominique West had singles in the inning. The blow that blew thegame open was a grand slam homer by designated hitter BrandonMiddlebrook.

After 2 runs scored on a dropped fly ball, second baseman JosephEvans hit a 2-run homer that curled just inside the left field foulpole. Lawrence County had a 14-1 lead.

Trey Fischer singled and scored for Wesson in the top of thethird, but the Lawrence County onslaught continued in the bottomhalf. Justin Hewitt, Jones, West, and Ricardo Barnes had singles inthe inning. In his first varsity at-bat since opening day, NathanCase hit a 3-run homer that clanged off the flag pole in leftfield. In his first-ever varsity at-bat, catcher Dillon Lee verynearly homered, doubling deep into the left field corner.

In the fourth, Tyler Reeves had a double for the Cougars. WesleyWilson and Conner Oakes had the first varsity hits of theircareers. Woods added a single, and Barnes, used almost exclusivelyas a defensive replacement at first base, hit a grand slam homerun.

“It was a bit of a fluke,” said long-time LCHS assistant CraigDavis. “Their starter was hitting 83 (mile per hour), and throwingwell. He’s been tough on us in the past. It was good to see some ofour young guys have success in the last two innings. We had four orfive guys who got their first varsity hits tonight.”

Pitcher Woods worked 5 efficient innings to run his record to3-0. He allowed 2 hits, walked 1, and struck out 4. Grace, thefirst of 3 Cobras pitchers, took the loss.