from staff reports

Back in March when the T.R. Miller Tiger baseball team squared off with the W.S. Neal Eagles in Brewton with the Escambia County Tournament title on the line, the Tigers earned a 5-2 win to claim the tournament championship.
More than a month later, the two teams squared off for a three-game area series Thursday and Friday with the 3A playoffs on the line and the Tigers pulled off a three-game sweep of the Eagles. The wins for T.R. Miller inched them closer to clinching a spot in the playoffs while the losses for W.S. Neal put the No. 8-ranked Eagles on the outside looking in going into the final area game series of the season for both teams.
W.S. Neal will take on No. 2-ranked Bayside Academy while T.R. Miller will take on Cottage Hill.
The wins for T.R. Miller improved them to 17-7 overall and to 3-1 in area play while W.S. Neal fell to 14-6 overall and to 2-2 in area play. As of press time, Bayside Academy is 3-1 in area play while Cottage Hill is 0-4.
Bayside Academy holds the tiebreaker over T.R. Miller while T.R. Miller holds it over W.S. Neal. W.S. Neal holds the tiebreaker over Cottage Hill.
T.R. Miller will need just one win over Cottage Hill to clinch a spot in the playoffs. If T.R. Miller sweeps Cottage Hill and W.S. Neal and Bayside split, T.R. Miller will be the area champion.
For W.S. Neal, the Eagles need to sweep Bayside in two games to make the playoffs. If Bayside wins one game against W.S. Neal, the Admirals make the playoffs. The only way W.S. Neal can win the area championship is with a sweep over the Admirals and Cottage Hill sweeps T.R. Miller.
The three wins over the Eagles of East Brewton improved T.R. Miller to 4-0 over W.S. Neal this season.
Thursday:
T.R. Miller 15, W.S. Neal 5
With T.R. Miller holding a 6-5 lead after four innings, the Tigers pounded out nine runs in the fifth to defeat W.S. Neal 15-5 in five innings.
T.R. Miller led W.S. Neal 2-1 after inning, but trailed the Eagles 3-2 after two. T.R. Miller rallied with three runs in the third inning and one in the fourth to grab a 6-3 lead before allowing W.S. Neal to score two in the fourth to get within 6-5.
Kyle Davis earned the win on the mound for T.R. Miller as he went five innings and allowed two hits, five runs, two earned, walked four and struck out nine.
No pitching stats were known for W.S. Neal as of press time.
At the plate for T.R. Miller, Jones Manning went 1-for-2 with a double while Drew Williamson was 1-for-4 with one RBI.
Davis went 1-for-4 with a double and one RBI while Hunter Brittain was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
Tripp Floyd went 1-for-2 with two RBIs, Zac Griffin was 3-for-3 and Chris Jones was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.
Jo Jo Booker went 3-for-4 with three RBI while Caden Lodge was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
Derrick Barton went 1-for-2 for W.S. Neal while Taylor Elliott was 1-for-1. Tyler Joyner had one RBI in the loss.
Friday game one:
TRM 9, WSN 2
Tripp Floyd went the complete game on the mound for T.R. Miller and struck out 14 Eagles to lead T.R. Miller to a 9-2 win over W.S. Neal in Friday’s first game. The win for T.R. Miller clinched the area series.
Floyd allowed two runs, none earned, and walked two.
T.R. Miller held W.S. Neal to one run in the second and fourth innings while scoring three runs each in the second and third innings, one in the fifth and two in the sixth.
W.S. Neal’s Tyler Joyner took the loss on the mound for the Eagles.
At the plate for W.S. Neal, Elliott had a single while Williams added a single and Malcolm Hawthorne had two hits and two RBIs.
For T.R. Miller, Griffin had a double and one RBI while Manning had a triple, a single and three RBI. Lodge added two hits and an RBI while Booker had one RBI.
Brittain added two hits while Floyd had one and Chris Jones added one along with one RBI.
Friday game two:
TRM 8, WSN 6
In the second game Friday and the third and final game of the series, T.R. Miller edged out the Eagles with an 8-6 win.
T.R. Miller scored one run each in the first and sixth innings while adding three each in the second and third.
W.S. Neal scored two runs each in the third and fourth innings while plating one each in the fifth and sixth innings.
Brittain, Tim McDonald, Williamson and Lodge all pitched for T.R. Miller and went seven innings and allowed eight hits, six runs, none earned, and walked eight while striking out 10.
No pitcher was known for W.S. Neal, but the stats were six innings, eight hits, eight runs allowed, four earned, walked two and struck out eight.
Elliott had one hit and one RBI for W.S. Neal while Joyner added one hit and one RBI.
Williams added three hits with one being a double and had two RBIs. Dakota Graves had one hit while Lane Chavers had two.
At the plate for T.R. Miller, Manning had three hits and one RBI while Williamson had one hit along with Griffin.
Dominique Jackson added two hits, Booker had one RBI and Lodge had one hit and three RBIs.