MONTICELLO – It was a big night for the smaller schools in opening-day baseball action at the Lawrence County Classic, Friday night. In the season opener for both schools, Class 3A West Marion rebounded from an early 7-0 deficit to beat 5A Brookhaven, 10-8.

After that, Class 2A Wesson dominated 4A host Lawrence County, 8-3. A full slate of action was scheduled for Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m.

Wesson 8, LCHS 3

In the nightcap, Wesson hurlers Alex Smith and Bailey Warren combined to strike out 10 Lawrence County batters, pitching their way out of multiple jams; jams mostly caused by 7 bases on balls.

The Cobras, coached by Seth Lofton, carved out a 5-2 lead through 4 innings, then put the game away with 3 more runs in the top of the fifth. Bailey Warren led Wesson with 3 hits. Justin Boone and Cullen Greer added 2 hits each. Smith, Jase Alexander, and Taylor Roberts also hit safely for the Cobras, who took advantage of 4 LCHS errors.

Lawrence County threatened numerous times, but the Cobra hurlers came up with big strikeouts at the right times. The Cougars’ biggest threat came in the bottom of the third, but Smith induced Will Jackson to ground into a 1-2-3 double play. Jackson and Hunter Stephens each had 2 hits to lead the Cougars. Matt Patterson, Patrick Little, and T-Tez Cole each had 1.

John Hedgepeth started on the mound for Coach Cory Keyes’ Cougars. He battled into the fifth inning, when he was taken out of the game by a wicked line drive off the bat of Justin Boone, which struck Hedgepeth in the chest.

“I didn’t necessarily think we played an awful game,” said long-time LCHS assistant Craig Davis. “I thought we did some good things, but Wesson just did everything better. They pitched well, defended well, and battled well at the plate. That’s a pretty good formula.”

W. Marion 10, Brook 8

In the opening game, Brookhaven scored 1 run in the second and 6 more in the top of the third, to grab a 7-0 lead over West Marion. The Trojans battled back with 5 runs in the bottom of the third, then completed their comeback with 2 in the bottom of the fifth, and 3 more in the sixth.

The game ended with Ole Brook having the potential tying runs at second and third.

Jacob Allen and Junior Wells each had 2 hits to lead West Marion. Allen had a solo homer, and Wells had 2 doubles. Jesse Pittman, Devon Hilburn, Bret Case, Adam Whalum, and Tanner Trahan also hit safely.

Pittman earned the win with 4 and 1/3 innings of strong relief. He limited the Panthers to a single unearned run on 3 hits. Allen started on the mound for the Trojans.

Coach Randy Spring’s Panthers got 3 hits from Landon McCullough, and 2 from Zach Smith. Each had a double. Houston Case, Peyton Clark, and Genoa Sartin also had hits.

Seth Porter started and worked 3 innings for Ole Brook. Reed Jones pitched the fourth, fifth, and sixth, and was the tough-luck loser. Each Panther pitcher gave up 5 runs, but each of them allowed just 2 earned runs.

Both games were played in extremely damp conditions, due to heavy Thursday and Friday rains. The Brookhaven-West Marion game endured a 20-minute rain delay.