Despite dropping a decisive third game to Pontotoc on Monday night to conclude its season, the Kosciusko High School baseball team had a very strong season (21-9-1) that saw the Whippets advance in the playoffs.
“It’s been a really tough battle,” Jones said of the series. “They are a very talented bunch of hitters. One through nine, they can leave the park at any time. There is no lull in their lineup. We didn’t play Kosciusko baseball in Game 1, but we responded well in Game 2 and played our brand of baseball."
Pontotoc took Game 1 of the best-of-three series with a 6-1 home win last Friday, the Whippets scattering four hits in the contest. Justin Nunn led the offense with two hits, while Brandon Black and Eldarius Roby tallied one hit apiece. Roby also stole one base.
Nunn scored Black with an RBI single in the top of the first inning to give the Whippets a brief 1-0 lead.
Pontotoc tallied three runs in the bottom of the first and added runs in the second, third and fourth to clinch the win.
Nolen Yuille received the pitching start for the Whippets and he went 2 and 2/3 innings. Yuille allowed six hits and four earned runs. Tyler Vancise entered in relief and threw 3 and 1/3 innings of three-hit ball. Vancise struck out one, walked one and allowed one earned run.
The Whippets returned to the diamond Saturday facing elimination after their Game 1 loss, but a seventh-inning hit by Black, aided by a Pontotoc error, resulted in Chase Morgan scoring the go-ahead run that lifted Kosciusko to an 8-7 win.
Micah Parker earned the win from the mound. He posted two strikeouts and only allowed four hits and one earned run in the contest.
Black went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs, including a double. Nunn finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and one run, while Morgan was 2-for-3 with a team-high three RBIs and one run.
Nunn scored Black with a fielder’s choice, and Morgan plated Parker and Matthew Allen with a triple in the first to push the Whippets ahead 3-0.
In the bottom of the third, Morgan hit a sacrifice fly to score Roby, and Vancise’s sacrifice fly scored Roby and pushed Kosciusko ahead 5-2. Black doubled in the bottom of the sixth while Nunn singled in Black to give the Whippets a 7-6 lead.
Pontotoc knotted the score in the top of the seventh before Black’s hit sparked the Game 2 win.
The win set up a decisive Game 3, which Pontotoc won 8-4.
Kosciusko completed its first-round sweep of Clarksdale on Monday, April 22, with a 16-2 win to advance. The Whippets outscored the Wildcats 32-4 in the series.
“We played hard and scored 21 runs in the first inning of Game 1, so that always helps,” Kosciusko coach Jon Jones said. “Our pitchers did what they had to in Game 1 and we were able to finish it early. In Game 2, I didn’t think we played nearly as well because of the score the day before. That’s my fault. I have to have them ready to play every inning of every game.”
