Picayune serves up 9-4 win over Stone
Published 4:18 pm Saturday, March 25, 2023
It was great weather for some baseball this Saturday, March 25, as the Picayune Maroon Tide (9-9 district 2-0) hosted non-district opponent Stone Tomcats. The Maroon Tide beat the Tomcats 9-4.
Stone’s Braxton Jones had a SAC hit giving them a 1-0 lead. At the bottom of the inning, Picayune picked a 2-1 lead. In the following inning, Picayune really heated up with the great difference and explosive offense.
After the 3rd inning, Picayune led 3-1 thanks to a Morgan Craft RBI. In the fourth inning, the lead jumped to 7-1. In this order, Stone made a catcher’s error, which allowed Brunson Stockstill to steal home. Picayune loaded the bases, and a Kyler King’s base hit resulted in a 2RBI. Then Craft’s RBI double resulted in an RBI.
In the top of the 6th Stone’s Jones RBI doubled making the score 7-2. With only one out Head Coach Evan Nichelson’s pitcher swapped Cooper Moreaux for King. Moreaux was solid at the mound and deserved the breather. And it was a great strategic move because King stuck out the next two batters.
King transferred that energy onto offense and smacked a two-run home run hit-up mid-field. That gave Picayune a 9-2 after 6 innings.
Top of the 7th Stine made a tough effort, Willie Breland hit his two-run home run. That was the last of Stones’ scores as Picayune makes this their third win in a row.
Coaches Quotes
“Cooper gave us a chance to win, he did really good today, got us into the 6th inning, did a great job on the mound, and had good defense behind him. If we do that I like our chances every game.
Picayune’s performance was like a wave, their level of play increased early, reached a peak in the 4th inning, and then dropped down a little towards the later innings. Yet that Maroon Tide wave was high enough to keep Stone at bay.
“Offensively we applied a lot of pressure early, kind of got stale there in the middle innings, [but] we finished strong. I think some bats are starting to wake up, and that’s big as we go through the district,” said Nichelson.
Nichelson said, with the three games win streak they want to keep this momentum going as they enter back into district play on Tuesday, March 28 against the Long Beach Bearcats, (7-9 district 0-2).
