The Ethel Tiger baseball team (2-0) traveled to Greenville last Friday night to get their season started against St. Joseph only to have the contest called due to lightning and moved to Ethel on Saturday for a doubleheader. The Tigers promptly took care of business on Saturday with a 5-2 and 11-1 sweep of the Irish.
In game one on Saturday Hayden Burns got the nod and pitched five complete, allowing one unearned run on one hit with nine strikeouts while walking only one Irish hitter. St. Joe got on the board first in the contest with a walk and an error.
Two innings later the Tigers responded after Hayes Wood drew a walk with one out. An Alex Schuster single was quickly followed by a Tyson Steen RBI single that plated Wood for the Tigers first run of the ball game. Burns grounded out to the shortstop pushing Schuster across and then Cody Weeks doubled scoring Steen.
The Irish would push their final run across in the top of the sixth inning after Brady Odom came on in relief of Burns. Odom allowed an unearned run on one hit and one walk while striking out two.
The leading hitters for the Tigers in game one were Schuster with a single and one run scored; Tyson Steen with a single, one run scored and an RBI; Burns with a double and three RBI; Weeks with a double and an RBI and Elijah Steen with a single.
In game against the Irish Tyson Steen got the start and pitched four complete, allowing one hit, no runs and one walk while striking out nine. Neither team would score until the bottom of the second when the Tigers plated 10 runs on two hits, seven walks and three errors. Hayden Beall got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Burns and Tanner Steen grounded into a fielder’s choice pushing Tanner Reeves across. Wood followed with an RBI double that scored Blake Wilkinson and Schuster singled home Tanner Steen and Wood with a single. Tyson Steen, Burns, Reeves would score on one walk and two errors by the Irish third baseman before Beall took one off the leg for another RBI scoring Brady Odom.
The Tigers pushed their final run across in the bottom of the third on an RBI double to left by Burns scoring Tyson Steen.
Brady Odom came on in relief of Burns and pitched the final inning, allowing a run on one hit and two walks while striking out two.
Tiger pitching struck out 22 Irish hitters on the day allowing four hits, six walks and three earned runs. The Tigers played Central Holmes on Tuesday night and will travel to J.Z. George on Thursday night for a 4 p.m. contest and Noxapater on Friday for a 6 p.m. contest. The Tigers will then play Water Valley in Winona on Saturday at 10 a.m. before traveling to Lexington to take on Central Holmes at 4 p.m.
