A three-run homer in the first game of McComb’s doubleheader on Friday didn’t mean quite the same as one did five hours later to finish off the nightcap.
Dontrell Sargent hit a three-run shot in the first game to extend it to a sixth inning as Forest Hill led 12-2 and ended up winning 17-6.
In the second game, Ben Slaton finished off the game with two on in the sixth inning. His shot to left centerfield put McComb up 18-8 to 10-run rule the visiting Rebels.
“Early in the season we’d get hard hit ball but it wouldn’t continue,” McComb head coach Brady Jones said. “It got contagious tonight, and we definitely put lumber to the ball.”
Sargent won the second game, pitching two innings and leaving with a 9-6 lead, and drove in two runs to go with his four RBIs from the first game.
Slaton drove in four in the second game, while Marshall Dexter got four RBIs of his own on one swing in the first.
Sargent drove in Bradley Brock on a sacrifice fly, and Hunter McCullough walked to load the bases.
On a 1-2 count, Dexter turned on a ball and hit it over the left field fence to tie the game at 5 and give McComb some momentum.
Sargent allowed one run in the second, but struck out two hitters with the bases loaded to get out of the jam.
An RBI single from Kenny Artigues, a one-run double by McCullough off the wall in center and a two-run double from Zach Rowell coupled with two errors by Forest Hill put McComb up for good at 9-6.
Rowell entered the game in the third and gave up two runs over three innings to keep the Tigers out front before Artigues came on to pitch the sixth.
McComb didn’t have a problem making good contact in the second game, but in the first game, the Rebels piled up 21 hits, which amazed Jones.
“They capitalized on every single bad pitch,” he said.
McCullough started the game and didn’t have much luck on the mound but did get a little bump in the fifth when he hit a solo homer to right field.
Jones said he hopes the freshman lefthander will forget the bad and go with the good things he did.
“He’s been having trouble popping up, and it was good to see him go to right,” Jones said. “For a freshman to do that at this level is a confidence boost.”
The nightcap on Friday meant that McComb won one of three in the series against Forest Hill to drive their district record to 5-7 and 8-12 overall.
