The Union Yellowjackets won two out of three games last week, including a doubleheader sweep of Bay Springs to open Division 4-2A play.
Union beat Bay Spring 10-4 and 15-5 on Thursday before losing a 14-13 game to Leake Central on Saturday.
“We were happy to get two more wins this week,” Union coach Dustin Hamrick said. “We should've gotten all three games as W's, but we didn’t play good enough defense to win Saturday. The Leake Central game was just back and forth the whole game. They got the last at-bat and took advantage of it after we took the lead again in the seventh.
“Offensively, we have performed pretty well this week and we're continuing to improve some on the mound. Saturday was the first game we haven't played good defense, so hopefully we can correct those things and get back to winning this week during Spring Break. Our guys are playing hard and we have a lot of guys contributing and I'm proud of their efforts.”
Union will return to play on Monday as they play Sylva Bay at the Stringer Tournament at 3 p.m. The Jackets will then play Sebastopol at Forest on Tuesday at 5 p.m. Union will finish off the week on Friday as they play at Quitman in a 1 p.m. contest.
Union 10, Bay Springs 4
The Yellowjackets pulled away late and took a six-run win over the Bulldogs on Thursday in the first game of a doubleheader.
After each team scored two runs in the first inning, Union scored one in the third and Bay Springs tied it up with one in the top of the fifth. Union then exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fifth to go up 9-3. Each team added another single run as Union held on for the win.
Union had five hits and drew seven walks. Rope Lovern was 2-for-3 on the day with three RBIS while Jaylon Buckley was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. J.T. Vance and Trevor Patchin each walked twice and scored a run. Jack Rigdon had a pinch-hit single the drove in three runs for the Jackets.
Jaylon Buckley pitched three innings and picked up the win, giving up two runs on one hit and four walks while striking out seven. Patchin pitched the final four innings and gave up two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out five.
Union 15, Bay Springs 5
The Yellowjackets scored in five of the six innings to take a run-rule win over the Bulldogs in the second game of the doubleheader.
Union led 3-2 after the first and each team scored three in the third as the Jackets led 6-5. Union started to pull away as they scored two in the fourth and fifth and finished off the game with five in the sixth.
Union had 15 hits while Bay Springs committed eight errors and walked five. Jaylon Buckley was 3-for-5 with a triple, home run, three runs scored and five RBIs for Union. J.T. Vance was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs while Trevor Patchin was also 2-for-5 with a double. Kolton Cockerham was 2-for-4 with a double and three runs scored while Henry Thornton was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored. Rope Lovern was also 2-for-4. Preston Germany drove in two runs with a single.
Henry Thornton pitched 2 2/3 innings and gave up five runs on three hits and six walks while striking out four. Vance pitched the final 3 1/3 innings and gave up just one hit while striking out 10.
Leake Central 14, Union 13
The Gators scored two runs ion the bottom of the seventh to come from behind and beat the Jackets on Saturday.
Leake scored two win the first, five in the second and had single runs in the third and fourth. Union scored four in the second, three in the third and one in the fourth and trailed 9-8. The Jackets scored two in the fifth to go ahead 10-9 before Leake scored three in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead back at 12-10. Union scored three in the top of the seventh to retake the lead at 13-12 before Leake scored two in the bottom of the seventh.
Union had 11 hits in the contest as J.T. Vance was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBIs. Trevor Patchin was also 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Jaylon Buckley walked twice and scored twice while Kolton Cockerham scored twice and had two RBIs. Henry Thornton doubled and drove in a run while Gavin Heath scored twice.
Judd Young started and went 2 1/3 innings as he gave up eight runs, only one earned, on four hits and two walks. Preston Germany pitched the next 3 1/3 innings and gave up four runs on four hits while striking out three. Gavin Heath pitched the final 2/3 of an inning, giving up two runs on two hits and two walks.
