Parklane baseball coach Michael Clements was hesitant Tuesday to call Parklane’s 10-2 victory over Jackson Prep a statement win.
Thursday night called for no such reservations.
Parklane completed a three-game sweep of the No. 1 ranked team in MAIS with a pair of wins — 10-6 and 8-3 — to extend its win streak to 12 games.
“I think it says a lot,” Clements said with a slight chuckle. “It does say a lot for us. There are going to be a lot of people gunning for us, I know that.”
The Pioneers (14-4, 9-0) still have nine district games left, but are guaranteed to finish no worse than .500.
Meanwhile, the enthusiastic bus ride down Interstate 55 to McComb did have a sour grape. Matt McElveen, who started the first game, popped his shoulder out during the second inning. He was forced to leave the game but Landon Mabile tossed 4 2/3 innings to pick up the win.
It’s not the first time McElveen’s shoulder has popped out. It happened during the 15-year-old Babe Ruth tournament in July and last month against Bowling Green.
“Hopefully we will be able to get that thing ready for next week,” Clements said. “It doesn’t seem to be an injury that lingers too long.”
Parklane clung to a 4-1 lead heading into the sixth inning and erupted for six runs to put the game out of reach. Shane McKinley and Tanner Whittington both had two-run singles in the inning. Whittington finished with three RBIs and Matthews Artigues collected three singles to lead the Pioneer offense.
All nine starters recorded a hit for Parklane. James Michael Schmidt added two RBIs and Walt Aldridge reached base in four of five plate appearances.
The Pioneers wasted little time striking in the second game, as they raced out to a 6-0 first-inning lead.
Jackson Prep (13-6, 5-3) did commit two costly errors (14 in the series), but the big blow came when Whittington ripped a two-run double. The sophomore finished with seven RBIs in the series.
“He’s been doing a really good job with the bat,” Clements said.
Zach Smith took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing a Prep hit. He picked up the win and gave up two runs in 5 2/3 innings. He also collected two RBIs at the plate. Artigues had another multi-hit game, and Mabile, McKinley and Schmidt all singled.
Parklane is off until Tuesday when it hosts Hillcrest.
