With a comeback like the one posted by Bryant, Ark., the Southwest Mississippi All-Stars are going to need a repeat of their Sunday offensive explosion.
Southwest Mississippi pounded out 14 hits and scored in each of its four innings at the plate Sunday to handle Little Rock, 15-4.
The win puts the Southwest All-Stars into the losers’ bracket final of the 14-year-old Babe Ruth Baseball Southwest Regional Tournament in Bryant.
The All-Stars impressed manager Will Terrell with their hitting prowess. He had been worried since his team needed a four-run fifth inning to beat Tri County, Texas, on Sunday evening.
“We didn’t stop hitting. Last time we got a big lead early, we jumped on Tri County for four runs, then we stopped hitting,” Terrell said. “We had to score four runs later to beat them.”
Southwest plays host Bryant today at 5. Bryant rallied for a 7-6 win over Nederland, Texas, Sunday.
Southwest Mississippi fell to the losers’ bracket with a 10-0 loss to Nederland Saturday.
But the All-Stars showed their own brand of fireworks against Little Rock on Sunday. They began their explosion with a four-run first inning highlighted by Adrian Brown’s three-run, inside-the-park home run.
Brown’s shot sailed over the head of the Little Rock left fielder and also scored Marquis Lewis and Gage Posey, who walked and singled, respectively, with two out. The inning’s fourth run came when Tanner Parvin singled, stole second and scored on two passed balls.
The lead went to 7-0 in the second. Jacob Fleming led off the frame with a double. Two outs later, he scored on Lewis’ single.
“He’s a big ol’ young ’un,” Terrell said of the 6-foot-2 Fleming.
Lewis then stole second and scored on a Posey single to make it 6-0. Posey stole second and third, and came in to score on an infield single by Brown to extend the margin to 7-0.
Fleming pitched three innings for Southwest. He gave up four runs — one earned — on five hits, walked two and struck out four.
Little Rock took advantage of three errors to score all four of its runs in the third. Southwest answered with a seven-run bottom of the third.
The third was highlighted by Fleming’s two-run triple. Lewis, Blake Terrell and Branden Canny added RBI singles and Randy Bell forced in a run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Southwest tallied its final run in the bottom of the fourth.
