Troopers defeat Volunteers
Fastballs were to the liking of the Mooreville Troopers on Saturday.
The Troopers hit three solo home runs and added a three-run shot in the fifth to get enough offense to defeat the Starkville Academy Volunteers 7-4 during tournament action.
It was a day where the baseball was flying out of the ballpark and the Vols were giving Mooreville the pitches to hit.
“Mooreville is a mature team, had a good plan and pretty much like everyone has done to us this year,” Starkville Academy head coach Thomas Berkery said. “We’re getting ourselves in fastball counts, throwing fastballs and they are not missing. You have to tip your cap to those kids that do that. Even at the high school level, they take some bad swings occasionally.”
Mooreville took a 2-0 lead with a pair of solo homers in the third inning, then added another solo blast in the fourth before putting up a four-spot in the fifth with a three-run roundtripper causing the most damage.
Berkery said it was a case where the Vols just did not mix enough pitches in with the fastball.
“We’ve just got to keep working on locating the off-speed pitches,” Berkery said. “There were a couple of scenarios where we didn’t make a play that extended the inning and they got some runners on.”
Starkville Academy was able to put some runs up with two in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Porter Skelton had a two-run double in the fifth, while Micah Mcgee drove in a run in the sixth and the other run scored on a wild pitch.
The Vols were held to just three hits as Skelton had a single to go along with his double and John Paul Buckner added a single.
Berkery said his team was not prepared to face the “soft tossing lefty” that was presented to it by the Troopers.
“Offensively, we are in lala land,” Berkery said. “I’ll take a little bit of the blame for not having them ready for that. At the same time, adjustments can be made at the plate. They’ll get better from it. We’re going to learn from everything we do whether it’s good, bad or indifferent.”
Starkville Academy (3-3) is scheduled to play Adams County Christian School at Hinds Community College on Monday.
Friday’s Game Starkville Academy 17, Bayou Academy 10
The Vols were able to win a slugfest that lasted well into the night.
Micah Mcgee led Starkville Academy with four hits, while Cooper Mcneel and Colby Allen added two hits each. One of Allen’s hits was a home run.
Skelton was the starting pitcher for the Vols and worked 2.2 innings, while Allen hurled 3.1 innings in relief with six strikeouts and Ayden Alsobrooks pitched the final frame.