Ole Miss signee Austin Hartzog of Hillcrest Christian handcuffedhost Brookhaven Academy 7-0 on a cold Tuesday night with a 2-hitterin a battle of Cougar teams in varsity baseball action.

Hartzog (6-4, 209) fanned 15 batters, walked 2 and hit 1 batter ingoing the distance for the Saints.

BA falls to 1-2 on the season while Hillcrest improved to2-1.

“The Hillcrest pitcher had a good game,” said BA first-year headcoach Casey Edwards. “Hartzog is clearly an amazing pitcher towatch. He is probably the best pitcher we will face this year. Hehad his rhythm tonight. We tried to disrupt it.”

Edwards said Brookhaven senior Tripp Jolly pitched well in relief.”Tripp had a good game pitching. He matched up well with Hartzog.”

Working the final 5.2 innings, Jolly collected 14 strikeouts, 1walk and 1 hit batter.

Absorbing the loss was Tyler Parvin in 1.1 innings with 2strikeouts, 1 walk and 4 runs allowed on 4 hits.

“Austin pitched a good game,” said Hillcrest coach Shane Kelly. “Hespotted his pitches well. BA’s pitcher (Jolly) did a good job aswell. We’ve got to do a better job putting the ball in play.”

Hillcrest added 2 more runs in the fourth and 1 in the seventh forthe win. Hillcrest outhit BA 11-2. BA committed three errors.

BA got a single from Christian Keene and Will Lucas.

Caleb Baucum and Thomas Woodruff led Hillcrest with a double and asingle apiece. Drew Fountain singled twice. Josh Rogersdoubled.

Junior varsity action

Hillcrest nipped BA 3-1 in the JV game. Newt Riley singled for theCougars.

Hillcrest got a double from Trent Driver. Singling were LeeOgletree, Ian Childress and Zach Saranthus.