By Staff
from staff reports
W.S. Neal and T.R. Miller baseball teams played to a 5-5 tie after seven innings before the Tigers scored one run in the bottom of the eighth inning to win 6-5.
With the win, T.R. Miller improved to 17-4 and had one game left in their regular season Friday night against Cottage Hill.
W.S. Neal’s season came to an end with a 13-13 record.
Both teams scored one run in the first inning before W.S. Neal scored four in the third inning to take a 5-1 lead.
The Tigers then held W.S. Neal scoreless the remainder of the game. The Tiger scoring came with two in the third, two in the fifth to tie the game at 5-5 and one in the bottom of the eighth to win by one run.
Robert Knowles took the win on the mound in relief of starter Corey Rilling while W.S. Neal’s Keith Bradley took the loss.
Rilling went 2 1/3 innings and allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits, walked three and hit three.
Knowles went 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run on one hit, struck out six, walked three and hit two.
Bradley went seven innings and allowed five runs, struck out six, walked six and hit five.
At the plate for the Tigers, Wes Dickey was 2-for-4 with a double and Conner Denton was 3-for-5 with two RBIs including the game-winning run that scored Stephen Warren.
Kevin Davis was 1-for-3 with a triple and Knowles was 1-for-4 with a double with Cody Swain.
Rilling was 1-for-4 along with Warren and Wil Riggs.
For W.S. Neal, Bradley was 1-for-3 and Tyler Sawyer was 2-for-3. Jeremy Myers was 1-for-4 and Dylan Godwin was 1-for-5. Dodson Herrington was 1-for-2.
T.R. Miller defeats Excel:
In their final regular season road game Tuesday in Excel, the T.R. Miller Tiger baseball team defeated the Panthers 18-1 and 11-5.
The doubleheader sweep made the Tigers record 16-4 overall this season.
Also with the win, the Tigers got help from area champion Bayside Academy as they took down Cottage Hill giving the Tigers the runner-up spot in the area.
As the runner-up, the Tigers will travel in the first round of the playoffs, Friday, April16.
T.R. Miller will be making their first playoff trip since 2007 after missing in 2008 and 2009.
The Tigers will either play the area 2 champion. Area 2 consists of Daleville, Geneva, Slocomb or Wicksburg.
T.R. Miller 18,
Excel 1
T.R. Miller scored in all innings but two and plated 13 runs in the seventh inning and held Excel to one run in the first inning to get a big 17-run win.
The Tigers scored one in the first, two in the third, one in the fourth and fifth before exploding for 13 in the final stanza.
Kevin Davis got the start on the mound and the no decision and Robert Knowles got the win in relief.
Davis went two innings and allowed one run, unearned, on three hits, walked three and struck out five.
Knowles went the final four innings and allowed no runs, three hits, stuck out one and walked one.
At the plate, the Tigers were led by Wes Dickey who went 3-for-3 with one RBI and Dylan Bell who was 1-for-1 with a three-run homerun.
Conner Denton was also led the Tigers with a 4-for-4 day with three RBIs and Davis was 4-for-5 with two RBIs and a double.
Knowles was 3-for-4 with three RBI and Cody Swain was 1-for-4 with one RBI.
Stephen Warren was 1-for-4 with two RBIs and Bryant Jernigan was 1-for-1. Wil Riggs rounded out the Tiger hitters by going 1-for-3.
T.R. Miller 11,
Excel 5
In game two, the Tigers finished off the doubleheader sweep with an 11-5 win to improve to 16-4.
The Tigers held a 2-0 lead after the top of the third inning before falling to four Panther runs in the third inning and trail 4-2 in the game.
T.R. Miller added two runs in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game at 4-4 and took a 6-4 lead with two runs in the fifth inning.
Excel cut the lead to 6-5 with one run in the fifth, but T.R. Miller responded with five runs in the top of the seventh to get the win by six runs.
Denton earned the win on the mound in relief of starter Dickey.
Dickey went two innings and allowed four runs, three earned, on four hits, walked six and struck out five.
Denton went three innings on the mound and allowed one run and one hit. He struck out five and walked one.
Corey Rilling went the final two innings and allowed no runs, one hit, walked one and struck out five. Denton was also perfect at the plate in game two going 3-for-3 with two RBIs.
Davis was 1-for-5 with one RBI and Knowles was 2-for-5 with one RBI and a double. 
Rilling was 3-for-5 with a triple and Riggs was 1-for-4 along with Swain.