PELAHATCHIE — Starkville Academy is moving on to play for a state championship.
Behind a big offensive approach led by the hitting of Brennan Templeton, the Volunteers raced past East Rankin Academy, 14-1, in six innings in the Semifinal Round of the MAIS Class 4A Division III baseball playoffs at Patriot Field on Thursday night.
Starkville Academy (26-10) will face Brookhaven Academy for the MAIS Class 4A Division III state championship next week.
“When the weather changed we started swinging the bats a little better and that’s a good time to start swinging the bats better,” said Starkville Academy coach Justin Flake. “We were able to be aggressive on the bases and apply pressure. We wanted to keep applying pressure on them and had some big swings to drive in some runs.”
Starkville Academy scored in every inning.
Templeton drove in the game’s first run with a RBI single to left field to give the Volunteers a 1-0 lead.
Owen Couvillion had a RBI single in the second to extend the Starkville Academy lead to 2-0.
The Vols began to expand their lead in the third, scoring four runs to stretch the lead to 6-0 on a home run from Blake Little, a two-run single from Joseph Portera, and a sacrifice fly from Jack Johnson.
Two more runs crossed the plate in the fourth to make it 8-0 as Brantley Berkery had an RBI single and Micah Buckner delivered a sacrifice fly.
East Rankin’s lone run came in the bottom of the fourth on an Isaac Johnson solo home run to right field to cut the Starkville Academy lead to 8-1.
Templeton added a two-run single in the fifth to extend the Volunteer lead to 10-1.
In the sixth Starkville Academy scored the final four runs to make 14-1 on a Couvillion sacrifice fly, RBI single from Jackson Knight, a RBI single from Lawson Mullins, and Mullins scored on a fielding error on the same play.
Brody Burkley (7-0) got the win on the mound for Starkville Academy pitching a complete game allowing eight hits, one run, and had three strikeouts.
“Scoring every inning was big and scoring first is always a big deal and when we kept extending the lead our guys were just able to settle down and play the game more comfortable,” Flake said. “Brennan is a great hitter. I’m proud of him, too, ‘cause he struggled early in the season, so if he’s going to cash on his ability at the plate, now is a great time to get that out of him. Playing for a championship is going to be exciting against a great opponent.”
Templeton went 5-for-5 at the plate with two doubles and three RBI to lead Starkville Academy. Berkery added three hits, while Mullins, Buckner, and Knight added two hits each for the Volunteers.
“Try to stay disciplined at the plate, stick to my approach, and it all worked out,” Templeton said. “We just stuck to our approach and we knew they’re a good squad and just knew we had to come in here and get the job done and we did. It’s going to be exciting next week playing for a championship, so we will be ready.”
East Rankin finished the season 21-14.
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