MONTICELLO-The Lawrence County Cougars swept a Division 7-4A baseball double-header from South Pike in Thursday night baseball action at Jimmie Davis Park. In game one, the Cougars overcame an early 6-1 deficit to beat the Eagles, 18-8. In the second game, LCHS won by a 9-3 score.

With the win, Cory Keyes’ Cougars improved to 13-11 on the season. Lawrence County completed Division 7-4A play with a record of 4-6.

“It wasn’t terribly easy in either game,” Keyes said, “but we had an okay night. We got off to a tough start in the first game, but were able to battle back. In the second game, their guy (Jeffery Pace) held us down for a while, but we finally found a few hits and runs.”

In the first game, Lawrence County pitcher Will Jackson had a tough start, as South Pike jumped to a 5-1 lead in the top of the second. Freshman Kasey Durr relieved Jackson in the second, and worked the final 3 and 1-3 innings to earn the win.

LCHS battled back with 6 runs in the bottom of the second, and tacked on 5 runs each in the third and fourth. The Cougars ended the game via the 10-run rule by scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth.

Durr, Jackson, T-Tez Cole, Kody Smith, Joshua Stephens, Marcus Atterberry, and Steven Colson had hits for Lawrence County. Smith drove in 4 runs in the game.

Robert Holmes led Neal Smith’s South Pike Eagles with 3 hits. LaPatrick Nimox and Ray Tapp each had 2 hits.

In the second game, Lawrence County’s Joshua Stephens and South Pike’s Jeffery Pace were locked in a 1-1 game through 3 innings. In the top of the fourth, South Pike touched Stephens for 2 unearned runs, and a 3-1 Eagle lead.

Lawrence County responded in the bottom of the fourth, scoring 5 runs on 4 hits. Kody Smith’s 2-run single was the biggest hit. LCHS got 3 insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. T-Tez Cole and Smith had back-to-back doubles, and Stephens had an RBI groundout. Smith knocked in 7 runs on the night, giving him a total of 41 on the season.

Cole had 3 hits in the game. Smith and McLaurin had 2 hits each. Kewaun May, Gabriel Lewis, and Marcus Atterberry also had hits.

On the mound, Stephens gave Lawrence County 5 solid innings. All 3 runs he gave up were unearned. Freshman Devin Thurman worked 2 solid innings of relief to earn a save. The duo combined to strike out 12 South Pike batters.

Keshun Nimox led South Pike with 2 hits. Jeffery Pace started for the Eagles and pitched into the sixth inning. He gave it a gutsy battle, keeping his team in the game until the last inning.

“I thought Josh and Devin both threw well for us,” said long-time LCHS assistant Craig Davis. “If we had defended better, we might have shut them out. Their guy (Pace) did a great job, too. We finally had some success against him in the latter half of the game.”