Loy locks up Southeast Lauderdale bats with playoff no-hitter.

Published 8:21 am Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Wesson senior Will Loy knows that his days of hardball are numbered as the Cobras have entered the MHSAA 3A playoffs.

Loy has a future as on the football field as the decorated prep quarterback has inked to continue his career as a signal caller for the Copiah-Lincoln Wolves.

On Tuesday, Loy took the ball as the game one starter for the Cobras (14-10) in their MHSAA 3A first round playoff series against Southeast Lauderdale (15-10-1).

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The senior leader delivered a complete game no-hitter as the Cobras never trailed in an eventual 5-1 win.

Game two will be played Friday at 6 p.m. If a third game is needed, it’ll be played back at Wesson on Saturday at 6 p.m.

“My curve ball was really working for me tonight and I felt really locked in from the start,” said Loy. “I feel like we’re a team that’s learned a lot this year about what it takes to not beat ourselves and tonight we did a good job of that.”

Loy struck out six and walked four while throwing 114 pitches.

Offensively, Wesson got things going in the bottom of the second inning when Ethan Laird drew a one-out walk and then moved up to second on an error that got Gabe Selman aboard.

Senior Grayson Coates then drew a walk to load the bases.

Sophomore Wyatt Garrett delivered the large home crowd something to cheer about with a base clearing double that put the Cobras ahead 3-0.

Coates and Garret also scored in the bottom of the fourth to put Wesson up 5-0.

SEL scored one run the sixth and had runners on first and second in the seventh, but Loy got a fly-out to Coates in rightfield to end the game.

The Wesson senior class if a five-man group made up of Loy, Coates, Laird, Selman and Brayden Coleman.

The Cobras went 16-9 last season and lost 2-0 in a first round playoff series to West Marion.

The 2022 team ended the regular season with two emotional losses to their region rivals from Franklin County and then that snowballed into the postseason with a 1-0 loss to West Marion in game one at home and a 13-3 loss in game two in Foxworth.

This year, the Cobras again dropped a pair of games to Franklin County to end region play.

The difference in 2023 is that the Cobras didn’t go right into the playoffs after losing those two games.

Coach Vance Windom and his team wrapped up the regular season with a pair of wins over other playoff bound schools.

On April 18 they beat 4A North Pike and two days later they beat 5A Brookhaven High 12-6.

“With this one tonight, we’ve won three in a row and I feel like we’re gaining confidence and playing together at the right time,” said Loy.

The winner of the Wesson series will play the winner between St. Andrew’s (19-9) and St. Patrick (14-13) in the second round. St. Patrick won the first game of that series on Monday by a 9-2 final.

The goal for the Cobras and their senior leaders is to keep the good vibes and the win streak rolling.

“We’re having fun right now,” said Coates. “We’ve only got a couple weeks left in school, so for us seniors, this is it as far as high school sports goes. We want to keep it going as long as we can.”