By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
John Mathieu threw a no-hitter and struck out 10 to lead the T.R. Miller Tigers to a 2-0 win over Escambia County Saturday in the championship game of the county tournament played at Atmore.
T.R. Miller (17-10) won ist first county crown since 2004 with a 3-0 record, while Flomaton was second at 2-1. Escambia County was third at 1-2. W.S. Neal finished the tournament with an 0-3 mark after a 10-5 loss to Flomaton. The Blue Eagles ended their season with a 9-15 record and a 10-game losing streak.
More details will be in Wednesday's edition.
T.R. Miller 11, W.S. Neal 4
Baxley Raines beat the Blue Eagles with his arm and his bat, as the Tigers opened the tournament with an 11-4 win.
Raines went the distance on a seven-hitter with 13 strikeouts. He also had a pair of hits, one of which was a solo homerun.
The Tigers, who beat W.S. Neal for the third time in four outings this season, stormed out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Blue Eagles pitcher William Shell. Becker Denton and Brice Martin both had RBI singles in the inning, but the biggest blow was Allen Williams' two-run double.
T.R. Miller later ran its lead up to 10-0 on Raines' homer in the second followed by a run-scoring wild pitch and Tanner Shehan's two-run double in the fifth.
The Tigers came within an out of ending the game on the 10-run rule, but W.S. Neal stayed alive when James Freeman hit a two-run double. Jared Cooper followed with a long homerun one batter later. The Blue Eagles also got another homerun in the sixth when Jacob cannon belted a solo shot.
T.R. Miller vs. W.S. Neal
T.R. Miller 610 030 1 – 11 11 1
W.S. Neal 000 031 0 – 4 7 3
T.R. Miller 6, Flomaton 4
The Tigers had to come from behind and then got a game-saving catch from Tanner Shehan in the top of the seventh inning to beat the Flomaton Hurricanes 6-4 Friday.
Flomaton took a 3-2 advantage into the bottom of the fifth when a series of mistakes by the Huricanes' defense opened the door for T.R. Miller's game-winning rally.
Kendall Land reached when his flyball was dropped in right field. Shehan also reached when his infield grounder was thrown away. Seth Holland, who hit a solo homerun earlier in the game and a double later in the contest, hit a ball that narrowly missed Holland on his way to third and shot past Flomaton shortstop Chris Edwards. The hit enabled both Land and Shehan to score and put T.R. Miller up 4-3. After Raines was walked intentionally, Becker Denton hit an RBI single and Mackie Jackson hit a sacrifice fly that increased the lead to 6-3.
The Hurricanes nearly pulled the game out in the top of the seventh. A one-out double by Scott Walton, his fourth hit of the game, a single by Will Hines and an RBI single by Tony Ellis narrowed the gap to 6-4.
T.R. Miller pitcher Mackie Jackson, who went the distance, got Caleb Bethea to pop out for the second out, but Josh Lambeth walked to load the bases. Jonathan McMath hit a sinking flyball into center field, but Shehan came up with a diving catch that preserved the win.
T.R. Miller vs. Flomaton
Flomaton 102 000 1 – 4 11 2
T.R. Miller 100 141 X – 6 9 2
Escambia Co. 10, W.S. Neal 5
The victorious Blue Devils lashed out 11 hits and never trailed in their 10-5 win over the Blue Eagles Friday.
Corey Flowers snapped a 2-2 tie with an RBI single and Eric Coley followed with a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth inning that gave the Escambia County a lead it never relinquished.
W.S. Neal got a two-run squeeze bunt by Bobby Freeman and a two-run single by Aaron Nelson.
W.S. Neal vs. Escambia Co.
W.S. Neal 000 202 1 – 5 7 3
Escambia Co. 011 305 X – 10 11 0