MONTICELLO-North Pike and Lawrence County were winners on Friday, in the opening night of the high school baseball season, at Lawrence County High School. In the opener, North Pike hammered the Ole Brook Panther 10-0 in six innings. In the nightcap, host Lawrence County fought off a stern challenge from feisty Bogue Chitto, winning 3-0. Friday was day one of the 2-day LC Cougar Classic.

George Lott’s North Pike Jaguars were dominant in the opener. They banged out 10 runs on 10 hits in dropping the 10-run rule on Ole Brook. Meanwhile, North Pike hurlers Dallas Smith and Ben Coney were combining on a no-hitter. Southpaw Smith worked 4 innings, striking out 5. Coney worked the fifth and sixth innings.

Coney also went 3-for-3, and drove in 3 runs, to power the Jaguar offense. Jacob Gill, Kade Killingsworth, and Brantley Hughes each had 2 hits, with Gill lacing a double and a triple. Smith also had a hit.

Penn Wilson started and worked 3 and 2/3 innings for the Panthers. Michael Lambert and Blaine Moak also pulled mound duty for Randy Spring’s club.

The late game was a bit tighter, with former LCHS baseball coach and Lawrence County School Superintendent Tony Davis returning to his old field, as coach of the Bogue Chitto Bobcats. The 1A Bobcats gave it a great fight, but Lawrence County righty Kody Smith proved too much, striking out 9 en route to a 3-0 shutout.

Lawrence County got singles from Rishad Haynes and Kasey Durr in a 2-run third inning that was also aided by 2 Bogue Chitto errors. Brandon Bullock led off the fourth with a single, stole second and third, and scored on a Logan Greenlee groundout.

That’s all Kody Smith needed. He faced just 26 batters in recording 21 outs. Bogue Chitto never got a base runner past second base. Catcher Logan Greenlee was key to the Cougars’ success, throwing out 3 Bobcat base runners.

Bogue Chitto catcher Joey Elliott also had a good night, both offensively and defensively. He had 2 of the Bobcats’ 3 hits. Second baseman Cameron Price added the other.

Bobcat hurler Nick Parker was just about as good as Smith. In 5 innings, he limited the Cougars to 3 runs-only 1 of which was earned-on 3 hits. Steven Ginn pitched Bogue Chitto out of trouble in the bottom of the sixth.

The win was the first head coaching win of new LCHS head coach Josh Garrett, a former standout pitcher for the Cougars. Garrett coached despite battling the flu bug throughout the week.

“It was a good win for us,” Garrett said, “but there wasn’t anything easy about it. Bogue Chitto has a fine team, and we were fortunate to have Kody (Smith) on such a good night. Their pitchers did a fine job, too.”