By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
It may not have read Mackie Jackson Day on the calendar, but it was the T.R. Miller junior's day on the field Tuesday when the Tigers beat the Escambia County Blue Devils 9-0.
All Jackson, who faced just two batters above the minimum, did was throw a no-hitter and strike out 13 on the mound and single and homer at the plate.
Jackson's job was made much easier when the Tigers broke out of a hitting slump that had seen them score just eight runs over their previous four games. T.R. Miller erupted for 14 hits, three of which came off the bats of Stephen Matthews and Jordan Cauley. Baxley Raines and Jackson both had two.
T.R. Miller scored in every inning. Becker Denton gave Jackson the only offensive support he needed when he stroked a two-run single in the bottom of the first inning.
The first of Cauley's three hits was an RBI double in the second inning that made it 3-0. Kendall Land, who courtesy ran for Jackson after he singled in the third, scored on Wade McCall's groundout to make it 4-0.
Raines doubled home Cauley in the fourth for T.R. Miller's fifth run and Jackson hit a solo homerun in the fifth to make it 6-0. The Tigers' biggest frame was the sixth where a double by Tanner Shehan was followed by an RBI single by Cauley, an RBI triple by Raines and an RBI single by Hayes Peace.
At T.R. Miller
Escambia Co. 000 000 0 – 0 0 2
T.R. Miller 211 113 X – 9 14 1
Tigers fall at Flomaton
T.R. Miller let three leads slip away before it dropped a 9-8, eight-inning decision to the host Flomaton Hurricanes.
The loss dropped the Tigers to just 1-4 in road games this season as compared to 7-0 at home after Friday's victory over W.S. Neal. It also marked the second time this season where T.R. Miller beat an opponent in the first meeting and lost the second time around. The Tigers, who beat Flomaton 10-7 back on March 3, also did that against Andalusia.
Both teams made plenty of miscues, as the Tigers made five errors and Flomaton committed six and most of the miscues factored into most of the scoring.
T.R. Miller led 6-4 headed into the bottom of the seventh inning when walks to Culton White and Dannon Lisenby, an infield error on a ball hit by Mike Wedgeworth and a single by Scott Walton enabled the Hurricanes to score twice and tie the game at 6-6.
The Tigers, who also let a 5-2 lead slip away, took their third advantage of the game in the top of the eighth inning when singles by Baxley Rains, Becker Denton, Mackie Jackson, Allen Williams and Stephen Matthews led to a pair of runs and put T.R. Miller back in front 8-6.
Once again Flomaton battled back, this time against reliever Becker Denton after starter Allen Wiliams went the first seven frames.
Will Hines was hit by a pitch and moved up a base on a passed ball. Taylor Ellis reached on an error and Parker Ross walked. Clay Simpson was hit by a pitch and Lisenby walked to force in a pair of runs to tie the game. Wedgeworth then delivered an RBI single to win it.
T.R. Miller came up on the short end of the scoreboard despite the fact it outhit the Hurricanes 17-8. That hit total included four by Williams, three by Jackson and two each by Tanner Shehan, Denton, Stephen Matthews and Land.
At Flomaton
T.R. Miller 002 030 12 – 8 17 5
Flomaton 010 120 23 – 9 8 6