The Ethel Tiger baseball team was on the cusp of returning to the MHSAA Class 1A South State Championship series for the second year in a row, but had the opportunity slip through its hands in the bottom of the sixth inning in game three on Monday night with the score tied at 4-4 when a dropped infield pop-up resulted in a two-base error that left the runner at second base with no outs. The Tigers battled, but the runner eventually moved to third and scored on a sacrifice fly with one out on the board to center to push the eventual winning run across, giving the Resurrection Catholic Eagles a 5-4 series clinching win in Pascagoula. The Tigers went down in order in the top of the seventh inning and watched their season, a very successful season at that, come to a close. Ethel closed the book on the 2017 season as the Region 6-1A Champions and finished with a 24-7 overall record.
Ethel traveled to Pascagoula on Friday night in Game 1 of the three-game series and could never get the bats going in a 4-0 loss. The Tigers returned home on Saturday and rocked the Eagles with a 22-5 series tying win that pushed this quarterfinal matchup to a Game 3 back in Pascagoula on Monday night.
In the 4-0 loss in Game 1 of the quarterfinals in Pascagoula Hayden Burns got the start for the Tigers and pitched 4.2 innings, yielding four runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks while striking out four. Tyson Steen took over the mound in the bottom of the fifth inning and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up no runs on one hit while striking out one Eagle batter. Hayes Wood pitched the final inning for the Tigers and yielded no hits, runs or walks while striking out one. The offensive leaders for Ethel were Tyson Steen with a single; Wood with two singles; Brady Odom with a single.
Game 2 back in Ethel on Saturday night was a much different story for the Tigers, who took the contest 22-5 in five innings. Tyson Steen got the start and win, giving up five runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk while striking out two. The offensive leaders for Ethel were Tyson Steen with two doubles, two runs scored and three RBI; Hayden Beall with a single, home run, one run scored and three RBI; Hayden Burns with a home run, double, three runs scored and six RBI; Wood with two runs scored; Alex Schuster with a single, four runs scored and two RBI; Blake Wilkinson with a single and three runs scored; Tanner Reeves with a single, double and three runs scored; Odom with three singles, one run scored and two RBI; Noah Steen with two runs scored; Cody Weeks with a single and three RBI and Cam Campbell with one run scored.
In the return trip to Pascagoula on Monday night for a winner-take-all Game 3, Wood got the start and pitched 3.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, two walks and one hit batter while striking out four. Burns suffered the loss in the contest, pitching 2.1 innings, yielding one unearned run on no hits, a walk and three hit batters while striking out three. The offensive leaders for the Tigers were Alex McMullin with one run scored; Wood with a single and one RBI; Schuster with a single and two RBI; Reeves with a sacrifice, one run scored and an RBI; Weeks with a single and a double and Campbell with one run scored.Resurrection Catholic will host Nanih Waiya in Game 1 on Thursday night in Pascagoula in the MHSAA Class 1A South Championship series.
