Junior Ethan Pulliam went the distance, striking out nine and walking two, and the Starkville High School baseball team made the most of its three hits in a 5-2 win over South Panola in the decisive third game of their first-round MHSAA Class 6A playoff series on Monday night in Batesville.
The visiting team won all three games of the series, with Starkville winning 6-2 on Friday night in Batesville and South Panola winning 6-5 in 11 innings on Saturday night in Starkville.
Pulliam also had the key hit for the Yellow Jackets (11-15), a two-run home run to left field in the top of the sixth that gave Starkville a 4-1 lead. Brennan Wright led off the inning by reaching on an outfield error and scored on Pulliam’s blast.
The Yellow Jackets scored their first two runs in the top of the fifth. after the Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Caden Tate reached on an error, Parker Simpson walked and Chipper Hornburger grounded into a fielder’s choice.
“We had first and third with two outs, and we tried to do an early break with the first-base runner,” Starkville coach Luke Adkins explained. “They went to the plate and threw a wild pitch. It bounced off the backstop and rolled toward first base, and Chipper never let up all the way around and scored.”
The Yellow Jackets picked up an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Chipper Hornburger hit a two-out single, stole second and scored on a single to left by Koby Livingston.
Starkville advances to meet Madison Central, the Region 4 champion, which had a first-round bye.
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