The Ethel Tiger baseball team won their 21 consecutive home game with a 9-1 win over West Lowndes last Thursday night, having not lost at Tiger Field since April 23, 2015, against St. Aloysius, which was a 7-6 first-round playoff loss. The Tigers took care of business on the road as well with a 27-7 thumping of Leake County on Friday and a 7-6 win over MHSAA Class 4A Leake Central after first dispatching Leake County last Monday night in three innings, 15-0. With the wins the Tigers moved to 15-5 overall and 3-1 in Region 6-1A play.
In last Monday night’s 15-0 win over the Leake County Gators, Alex Schuster got the start and win by pitching three innings, yielding only one hit while striking out four. The offensive leaders for the Tigers were Tyson Steen with a home run, two runs scored and two RBI; Hayden Beall with a single; Alex McMullin with two runs scored; Hayden Burns with a single, two runs scored and an RBI; Hayes Wood with a home run, two runs scored and two RBI; Schuster with a single, two runs scored and two RBI; Blake Wilkinson with a single and one run scored; Brady Odom with a double, one run scored and an RBI; Cody Weeks with a double, two runs scored and two RBI and Cam Campbell with a double, one run scored and an RBI.
On Thursday night the West Lowndes Panthers paid the Tigers a visit and Hayden Burns got the start and win for Ethel. Burns pitched two innings allowing no runs on one hit while striking out one. Wood pitched two innings in the contest and yielded one walk while striking out two and Steen pitched an inning and struck out all three Panthers he faced. The offensive leaders for the Tigers were Steen with two runs scored; Beall with three singles, one run scored, an RBI and a sacrifice; Burns with two singles and an RBI; Wood with one run scored; Schuster with two singles, one run scored and two RBI; Tanner Reeves with two singles and one run scored and Weeks with two singles and an RBI.
The Tigers hit the road on Friday night to play game two in the Region 6-1A series with Leake County and Blake Wilkinson got the start and win by pitching two innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits and a walk while striking out two. The offensive leaders for the Tigers were Steen with a single, double, three runs scored and two RBI; Beall with two singles, two runs scored and two RBI; Burns with a single, double, three runs scored and two RBI; Wood with a single, double, three runs scored and two RBI; Schuster with two singles, three runs scored and two RBI; Reeves with two singles, two runs scored and an RBI; Brady Odom with a single, double, two runs scored and two RBI and Weeks with two singles, two runs scored and two RBI.
The Tigers wrapped up the week on Saturday with a matchup with Region 4-4A Leake Central in Carthage. Steen got the start and win for the Tigers, yielding three hits, two walks and three runs (one earned) while striking out four in four innings of work. Schuster came on in middle relief and pitched two innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits and three walks while striking out two Gators. Burns came on in the bottom of the seventh to record the save, striking out two while giving up no hits, walks or runs. The offensive leaders for the Tigers were Steen with a single, one run scored and an RBI; Beall with a single, one run scored and an RBI; Burns with an RBI; Wood with a single and an RBI; Schuster with four singles, one run scored and two RBI; Brady Odom with a single and Weeks with two singles and an RBI.
The Tigers will finish up Region 6-1A play this week with a Thursday night matchup against Sebastopol on the road at 6 p.m. after playing the first game of the series in Ethel on Tuesday night. The Tigers will claim the Region 6-1A Championship with a clean sweep of the Bobcats. The Tigers will finish up the regular season next week when they host Scott Central on Monday night at 7 p.m. and will play their final regular season game on the road on Tuesday night in Columbus when they take on West Lowndes at 5 p.m. The MHSAA Class 1A Playoffs begin on April 21.
