BELDEN – It was a marathon where runs were very hard to come by. In the end, the visitors got just enough to come out on the winning end.
Two sacrifice flies by Major Smith got Starkville Academy past Tupelo Christian 2-1 in 11 innings on Thursday night.
The Volunteers (3-2) had runners on second and third with one out and Smith facing a 1-1 count. He cracked the next pitch deep enough into left field to score what ended up being the winning run.
“My whole approach there was just contact. Just put the ball into play and let’s just see if we can score some runs,” Smith said. “I just wanted to give the team a chance and just do it all for the team.”
Jack Northcutt then came on in relief for the Vols and struck out the side to seal it. It was the cherry on top of a 21-strikeout performance with no walks allowed by Starkville Academy’s pitchers. Tanner McKee went the first five innings and Brody Burkley went the next five, striking out 11 combined.
“Our offense was brutal,” TCPS coach Andrew Herrington said. “Eleven innings striking out 21 times is not the way we do things. It’s very frustrating.”
The Eagles (4-3) got the scoring started in the bottom of the first. Cullen Hobby cracked a double, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jax Coker then made it 1-0 with a chopper down the right side.
Starkville Academy had a hard time answering until the fifth, when the Volunteers put runners on second and first with no outs. The runner on second went to third after an errant pickoff throw, then scored on Smith’s first sac fly of the night to tie the game.
The teams were locked in a stalemate for the next several innings, but Tupelo Christian in particular had trouble offensively. After the first inning in which they scored, the Eagles had just four baserunners the rest of the night.
Herrington felt that those struggles came largely from non-competitive at-bats.
“We didn’t put together four or five competitive at-bats to get those guys to first, move them over to second, lay a bunt down, whatever we’ve got to do,” he said.
Coker, Dawson Ward and Jack Decker combined for 11 innings of seven-hit, two-run ball with one walk allowed and eight strikeouts for TCPS.
Extra Bases
Big Inning: A single by Maddox House and a double by Burkley set up Smith’s go-ahead sac fly
Big Stat: Burkley had 11 of Starkville Academy’s 21 strikeouts on the mound.
Coach Speak: “The biggest message is don’t be selfish. Put the ball on the ground. Play for your teammates. You don’t play for the big fly. The big flies will come. Just hard ground balls, hard line drives and make it happen.” – Herrington
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