By By Adam Robinson
sports editor
When the W.S. Neal Eagles and head coach Coy Campbell walked off the baseball field Friday night in Brewton after their 2-0 loss to the Tigers of T.R. Miller, their thoughts of winning the Escambia County Tournament Championship looked slim.
The Eagles had fallen to 1-1 in the tournament with the loss and the Tigers improved to 2-0. But then came Saturday and a 17-7 win over Escambia County to put them at 2-1 with a tie with Flomaton and T.R. Miller after the Hurricanes beat T.R. Miller 8-4 in the earlier game on Saturday.
The win over Atmore for the Eagles earned them first place in the tournament as W.S. Neal, T.R. Miller, and Flomaton all finished with 2-1 records and forced the winner to be decided by tiebreaker.
The team with the least amount of runs allowed would take the championship. W.S. Neal took first with 11 runs allowed followed by Flomaton with 12, and T.R. Miller with 18.
The Escambia County Tournament championship for the Eagles was the second straight for W.S. Neal and the first repeat winner since T.R. Miller won in 2003 and 2004.
In the game Saturday, W.S. Neal led 2-0 after the first inning of play only to have their lead taken away when the Blue Devils scored three runs in the top of the second inning to grab a 3-2 lead.
W.S. Neal would later go on top 5-3 and 7-3 before Escambia County cut the lead to 7-5 after the top of the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Eagles posted 10 runs to take a 17-5 lead.
The big inning for the Eagles was led by Logan Williamson who connected for a grand slam to put the Eagles on top 11-5. Already with a six-run lead and no outs in the inning, the Eagles batted around in the inning and scored six more runs in the inning to take a 12-run lead into the top of the fifth inning.
The Blue Devils would score two runs in the top of the fifth inning to cut the Eagle lead to 17-7 and had one runner on second and third base before Christian Purvis ended the game on the mound for the Eagles with a strikeout.
Williamson led at the plate with a 3-for-3 day with a double and a grand slam and four RBIs.
Reid Johnson followed closely behind with a 4-for-4 day including a triple and four RBIs as well.
Purvis was 1-for-4 with two RBIs and Josh Palmer was 1-for-2.
Dylan Godwin went four innings on the mound to get the win allowing five runs on six hits, walked two, and struck out eight.
Purvis went the final inning and allowed two runs on two hits, walked none, and hit two batters.
Williamson, Keith Bradley, Johnson, and Gary McGraw all made the all tournament team for the Eagles with McGraw being tabbed as the MVP of the 2010 tournament.
W.S. Neal JV:
W.S. Neal’s junior varsity baseball team started the season off 2-0 last week with a 6-2 and 4-2 win over Jay.
In game one against Jay, Dylan Godwin and Cam Blackman pitched in the win with Godwin going one inning and Blackman four innings.
Damion Williams went 2-for-3 at the plate with a triple and Jeremy Myers and Godwin were both 1-for-3.
In game two, W.S. Neal scored all four runs in the first inning to get the win by two.
Brian Settle pitched two innings and Myers went one inning along with one from Tyler Joyner.
Taylor Elliott was 1-for-3 at the plate in the win.