The Enterprise Yellow Jackets survived a defensive eight-inning marathon Tuesday to stay undefeated in Region 7-2A baseball action with a 3-2 victory over their Lincoln County rivals the Loyd Star.

“This was a great game by both teams,” said Enterprise coach Cass Brister. “Both pitchers threw an excellent game. Our kids showed a lot of fight tonight by keeping the game close to squeeze out the win. This was a good win tonight, but we need to get back to work to start preparing for Friday.”

The Jackets (7-5, 5-0) will travel across Lincoln County to take on the Hornets (8-6, 3-1) for a divisional rematch Friday night at Loyd Star’s Smith-Smith Field. Junior varsity action starts at 5 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 7 p.m.

Enterprise 3, Loyd Star 2 

Jackets and Hornets fans had a full night of sporting events to watch as their baseball and softball teams battled head-to-head in a pivotal district race.

In baseball action, Loyd Star and Enterprise provided an exciting defensive pitchers duel in a low scoring affair.

The Jackets quickly took advantage of the Hornets miscues in the bottom of the first inning to push across two runs to take a 2-0 lead.

During a great defensive battle, the Hornets finally managed to break up their lag in the top of the sixth inning and tied the game at 2-all.

Both teams made huge attempts to end the game in seventh inning, but neither defense would give in as their starting pitchers continued to shine on the mound.

In the top of the eighth inning, Loyd Star threatened to claim the lead, but Enterprise held strong defensively.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Enterprise’s Austin Fuller sparked the Jackets rally with a big triple to start the inning. With one out recorded, the Hornets elected to load the base to have a force out at every base. Josh Hardin would burn the Hornets defensive strategy as he lay down a sacrifice bunt to score Fuller from third for the winning run.

Senior Jackson Cole was the winning pitcher for the Jackets with 12 strikeouts and two walks.

Peyton Flowers suffered the setback for the Hornets with nine strikeouts and two walks.

“We have got to find to play behind our pitchers defensively and eliminate our mistakes at the plate,” said Loyd Star coach Jared Britt. “Both pitchers pitched a great game. Cole did an excellent job by keeping us off balance at the plate for Enterprise. We need to regroup and start focusing on Friday’s game.”

Fuller and Cole were the top hitters for Enterprise with a triple each. Hunter Richardson provided a double. Lane Boyd hit a single.

Caleb Yarborough paced the Hornets at the plate with a triple and a single. Hitting safely were Levi Redd, Hayden Brownlee and Cole Smith.