MONTICELLO – The Ole Brook Panthers defeated the Lawrence County Cougars 7-2 in Saturday night baseball action at the season-opening Lawrence County Classic. The Panthers rode the 4-hit pitching of left-hander Andrew Culver to their first win of the season.

Landon McCullough had 3 hits for Brookhaven, and Houston Case cracked a 3-run homer.

With the win, Brookhaven improved to 1-1 on the young season. The Panthers dropped their season opener on Friday, losing 10-8 to West Marion. Ole Brook blew a 7-0 lead in that game.

“I thought our guys bounced back from that pretty well,” said Panther coach Randy Spring, of the loss to West Marion. “Andrew threw the ball well for us, and I thought we swung the bats and ran the bases pretty well. We always look forward to coming over here and playing Lawrence County.”

Lawrence County loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first, but managed to score just 1 run. Brookhaven responded with 4 in the top of the third, 2 of them on Case’s first homer of the season. The Panthers added another in the fourth, then 2 more in the fifth, with a Zach Smith RBI double being the key blow.

Culver kept the Cougars in check throughout, striking out 8 and allowing just 4 hits. Kody Smith had 2 hits for Lawrence County. Cade Turner and Patrick Little also had hits.

Jordan McCaffrey started and went 4-plus innings for Coach Cory Keyes’ Cougars. Hunter Stephens pitched the final 3, allowing just one run on 3 hits. Seth Porter and Genoa Sartin also had hits for Brookhaven.

The defensive highlight of the night came from LCHS freshman right-fielder T-Tez Cole, who made a headlong-diving, fence-crashing grab of Smith’s foul fly in the top of the seventh.

“We’re struggling a bit right now, but it’s not like our guys aren’t trying,” said long-time Cougar assistant Craig Davis. “That catch by T-Tez was the best outfield catch in Lawrence County High baseball history. Trust me. I’ve seen all of them.”

Earlier in the day, North Pike defeated West Marion 8-3, and edged Wesson 7-5. L.D. Coney and Jordan Hinton each had 2 hits in both games for the 2-0 Jaguars.

Wesson (1-1) got 2 hits each from Bailey Warren, Jase Alexander, and Koy McFarland.