It started early with the leadoff batter for W.S. Neal and often for the Eagles as they cruised to a 12-2 area win over Monroe County Thursday in East Brewton.
With the 10-run mercy rule win in five innings over the Tigers, W.S. Neal improved their record to 5-1 overall and to 1-0 in area play.
Hunter Mullins got things going early for W.S. Neal in the bottom of the first inning as the Eagle leadoff hitter took a three ball and no strike pitch over the centerfield fence to give W.S. Neal an early 1-0 lead.
W.S. Neal would add three more runs in the inning along with two in the second, five in the fourth and one in the sixth to get the 12-2 win.
Keith Bradley pitched a two-hitter for the Eagles in the win. Bradley pitched four innings allowing no runs, walked and hit one and struck out five.
“This was a good win for us,” W.S. Neal Eagle head coach Coy Campbell said. “Anytime you can start your area and open up with a win, it is big. Keith (Bradley) threw the ball well for us tonight on the mound for four innings. We got to work with some other guys and got to see where we are at in the game and allowed them to score. We had a chance to get everybody in and that was good and we will play them again (Friday) and we are going to go in there and treat them like they are undefeated and try and get another area win.”
Monroe County’s two runs came in the top of the fifth off one hit and two Eagle errors.
Gary McGraw pitched the final inning for W.S. Neal allowing one hit, two runs, none earned, walked and struck out one.
With the Eagle lead at 11-2 in the bottom of the fifth, McGraw got the game winning hit and RBI to score the 12-2 win.
At the plate for W.S. Neal, Mullins was 2-for-3 with one RBI and a homerun. Damion Williams was 1-for-2 with a double and one RBI. Reid Johnson had one RBI and McGraw was 1-for-1 with one RBI.
Logan Williamson was 1-for-2 and Hayden Cooper was 1-for-1 with two RBIs.
In the JV game, the Eagles won 5-4 to improve their record to 3-0-2.
Patrick Glass earned the win in three innings of work and Miles Powell got the save.
Cam Easterling went 1-for-2 along with Brandon Carmichael.