MONTICELLO — The Lawrence County Cougars defeated the QuitmanPanthers 7-4 in Class 4A baseball playoff action Monday afternoon,completing a 2-game sweep of Quitman in their best-of-threeopening-round series. LCHS won 2-1 at Quitman on Saturday.

With the win, Coach Cory Keyes’ Cougars improved to 23-6 on theseason. Lawrence County will open a best-of-three series with EastCentral Thursday night at Hurley, starting at 5 p.m. The Cougarshost East Central Friday at 6 p.m., at Jimmie Davis Park.

“We’re thrilled to still be playing,” Keyes said. “This seasonjust keeps getting better and better. We got some big key hits, andConner (Oakes) gave it a good fight, even though he got knockedaround a little.”

Oakes gave up 11 hits, but he limited the damage by not walkinga single Quitman batter. He struck out 6.

Oakes got powerful offensive support. Lawrence County banged out11 hits of its own, and 7 of them went for extra bases. The gamewas deadlocked at 0-0 until the bottom of the third, when DillonLee and Ford Johnson led off the inning with back-to-back homeruns. Willie Buckley and Oakes followed with doubles, and LCHS hada 3-0 lead.

Wesley Warren and Antwan Ratcliff had singles as Quitman cut thelead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth. In the bottom half, however,Lawrence County put up 4 more runs. Nathan Case hit a solo homer.Scott Votaw added a 2-run double, and Tyler Reeves capped the rallywith a 2-out, RBI single. The Cougars led 7-1.

In the top of the fifth, Quitman cut the gap to 7-4. DavidTaylor led off with a bunt single. Andrew Graham added a double.Slater Smith had a run-scoring single, and Warren hit a 2-out,2-run homer.

Oakes managed to close out the game by allowing just 1 baserunner in the final 2 innings.

Josh Lee started for Quitman, and was charged with the loss. In3 and 2/3 innings, Lee allowed 7 runs on 9 hits. He struck out 3.Jeremy Fuller pitched the final 2 and 1/3 innings, giving up just 1hit.

Warren, Taylor, and Graham led Quitman with 2 hits each. Smith,Ratcliff, Jacob Chancellor, Nick Howell, and Justin Knight each had1.

Buckley and Votaw each had 2 hits for Lawrence County. Johnson,Reeves, Oakes, Case, Lee, Wesley Wilson, and Brandon Middlebrookeach got 1, as every hitter in the Cougar lineup hit safely.