BY CALEB GARNER
Special to The Dispatch
STARKVILLE–Both teams pitched lights out, but only one team could come out on top as defending 6A state champions DeSoto Central (16-10) defeated Starkville High (17-9) 4-1 on Saturday night at Carlisle Field.
The Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A first-round series is now even at a game apiece and will be decided at 6 p.m. Monday at Southaven.
The Yellow Jackets and Jaguars relied on strong starting pitching and defense to keep the score tied for a majority of the contest. Both pitchers lasted into extra innings and they both tossed well over 100 pitches.
Starkville head coach Travis Garner praised the workmanlike performance that his starter, Will Prewitt, gave.
“We thought that (Prewitt) would give us a chance to keep us in the game,” Garner said. “He pitched a lot better than I thought he would. We should have scored more runs, though.”
DeSoto Central struck first in the second on a one-out single by Jared Cramer that scored Luke Clement to give them the 1-0 early advantage.
The Yellow Jackets responded with a tying run in the fifth inning on a wild pitch that scored Will Murphree. However, that would be the only run that Starkville would be able to manufacture. Murphree finished 1 for 2 for Starkville.
Both teams had chances to take the lead in the late innings, but neither were able to get anything across the plate. It was not until extra innings that that trend was nixed, when the Jaguars took the lead in the eighth by scoring a trio of runs.
A base hit by Drew Thomas pushed Ryan Nemnich, who reached on a lead off walk, across for the winning run. The Jaguars tacked on some insurance runs with Alex Russell hitting a two-run single that scored Thomas and pinch runner Hunter French to finish off the scoring for the night.
Russell finished 2 for 4, while Thomas was 1 for 3 on the night. Jared Cramer also had a pair of hits for the Jaguars.
Will Prewitt worked 7-2/3 innings and tossed 128 pitches in his first loss of the year. He allowed four runs on seven hits, while striking out four and walking six batters. Prewitt also hit a batter. He left with two outs in the eighth with the bases loaded and was relieved by Dee Petty, who had been stellar at shortstop for Starkville. Petty allowed the two-run single, but induced a groundout to finish the inning without further damage.
For DeSoto Central, team captain Trey Jones went the distance, throwing 119 pitches and giving up just one run on a pair of hits. He also struck out four and walked five in the eight-inning effort. DeSoto Central head coach Mark Monaghan said that his starter gave with the team down 1-0 in the series.
“I cannot say enough about Trey Jones,” Monaghan said. “He is a senior and a captain. Sometimes you can get the best baseball out of your team when their backs are against the wall and he gave us that tonight.”
Garner thinks that his team still has a chance to take the series over the tough Jaguar team.
“We are young, and (DeSoto Central) is the defending 6A state champs,” Garner said. “It is two really good ball teams going out there and I think we are pretty evenly matched. It is going to come down to who plays well on Monday. We play good clubs day in and day out and (Starkville) is not scared of anything.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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