BROOKHAVEN – The Ole Brook Panthers defeated the Lawrence County Cougars 7-5 in high school baseball action Saturday afternoon at Moyer Field. The Panthers grabbed the lead with a big five-run third inning, and Brookhaven pitchers Reed Jones and Myles Tipton made that lead stand up.

With the win, Randy Spring’s Panthers improved to 14-10 on the season. Ole Brook will face Pearl River Central in a home-and-home series this week, with the Region 6-5A championship on the line. Lawrence County, coached by Cory Keyes, fell to 11-11 on the season.

“It was a good win for our team,” Spring said. “I thought Reed and Myles gave us a good game on the mound, and we defended well behind them. We got some timely hits.”

Lawrence County took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, courtesy of consecutive one-out singles from T-Tez Cole, Kody Smith and Will Jackson. Brookhaven tied it in the bottom of the second, when Penn Wilson doubled and eventually scored on a throwing error.

Ole Brook took control of the game in the bottom of the third. The Panthers got four hits in the frame and were the recipients of a walk and two Lawrence County errors. Wilson, Jones, Scotty Bateman and Nick Kesler all had hits in the frame.

“We butchered up everything there was to butcher up in that inning,” said long-time LCHS assistant Craig Davis. “Even if it didn’t show up as an error in the scorebook, we messed it up. We had a lot of innings like that early in the season, but we’ve been doing much better lately. It popped back up and bit us today.”

Lawrence County got back into the game in the top of the fifth, tallying three runs on hits by Smith, Jackson, Logan Greenlee, and Joshua Stephens. The Cougars cut Brookhaven’s lead to 6-5 on a T-Tez Cole solo homer in the top of the sixth.

Ole Brook got an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Reed Jones reached on an error, was doubled to third by Kesler and scored on a Penn Wilson ground out.

Brookhaven reliever Myles Tipton retired the Cougars in order in the seventh inning. He took over for Jones, the veteran left-hander who gave the Panthers six solid innings. Jones got hit some, but repeatedly pitched out of trouble, striking out five.

Kesler led Ole Brook with three hits. Wilson added two. Tipton, Jones, Bateman, Dorrian Wilson and catcher Blaine Moak also hit safely.

Kody Smith led Lawrence County with three hits. Cole and Jackson had two each. Stephens, Greenlee, Kewaun May and Kasey Durr also had hits. Greenlee gave the Cougars two good innings of mound work, before coming out in the nightmarish third. Smith was solid in three and 2/3 innings of relief, striking out three.