By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
Two potential Class 3A baseball heavyweights were able to land a blow, as the T.R. Miller Tigers and Montgomery Academy Eagles split a doubleheader in the capital city Saturday.
T.R. Miller won its third straight game to start the season with a 7-4 triumph in the opener. Montgomery Academy ended the Tigers' perfect season with a 10-2 victory in the nightcap.
"It was a good test for us. Montgomery Academy has a very good team. We'd certainly like to get another shot at them in postseason," T.R. Miller coach Jim Hart said. "We hit the ball well in the first game and they hit the ball well in the second game. A split against them was not the worst thing that could happen to us."
Although they actually had fewer roundtrippers than the Eagles, the long ball paved the way for the Tigers' first game triumph.
T.R. Miller got a two-run blast from Trent Davidson in the top of the first inning and another two-run homer by Jordan Ball in a three-run third inning that extended the gap to 5-0.
Montgomery Academy hit three homers in the first game, but all three were solo shots. The first of those came in the bottom half of the third inning when the Eagles cut the gap to 5-2.
T.R. Miller got those two runs back in the fourth inning when Jordan Cauley walked, Jacob Salter reached on an outfield error and Joseph Turner delivered a single to make it 7-2.
Montgomery Academy hit its other two solo homers in the fifth and seventh inning espectively to close out the scoring.
Brad Lannom had a pair of hits and an RBI for the Tigers. Ball and Turner also had two hits.
Patrick Sorrells went the distance on the mound for the win, as he worked around 10 hits. He struck out five.
Game two began well enough for T.R. Miller. Davidson had an RBI single in the first inning and Lannom smacked a solo homer in the top of the third inning that produced a 2-0 lead.
Montgomery Academy broke through in the bottom half of the third inning with a three-run rally to take the lead for good. The Eagles added four more runs in the fourth, a fifth inning marker and two sixth inning runs to pull away.
Salter and Turner each had two hits to lead the Tigers' attack.
Kurt Prater started and took the loss, as he went the first four innings and surrendered the first seven runs. Lannom went the last two frames to finish up.
The Tigers, who played at Monroe County Tuesday, visit W.S. Neal Friday for a 6 p.m. contest. Junior varsity play starts at 4 p.m.
Game one
T.R. Miller 203 200 0 – 7 9 0
MA 002 010 1 – 4 10 2
Game two
T.R. Miller 101 000 0 – 2 8 2
MA 003 412 X – 10 16 1