MONTICELLO — The Lawrence County Cougars hosted the NatchezBulldogs and the Petal Panthers in high school baseball actionSaturday afternoon at Jimmie Davis Park. The Cougars defeatedNatchez 12-8, but dropped a 10-3 decision to second-ranked Petal inthe final game of the day. Petal also defeated Natchez 10-0.

With the split, Chris Clark’s Cougars moved to 8-10 on theseason. The Cougars are 4-3 in Division 6-4A play and will returnto division play, hosting Brookhaven on Tuesday night.

Petal, ranked number two in the state, improved to 19-1. Natchezclosed the week at 5-10.

Lawrence County scored in 6 straight innings in the win overNatchez. The Cougars needed most of those runs, as the improvingBulldogs scratched out their share of runs against 3 Cougarpitchers. Marty Ballard started and went an inning and 1/3, andfellow sophomore Jonathan Stephens worked 2 innings.

Senior Marlon Stanfield proved most effective, earning the winwith 3 and 1/3 scoreless innings of relief. The trio allowed 9Natchez hits and struck out 10.

Natchez scored 4 runs in the top of the fourth to grab an 8-7lead. Lawrence County responded with a tying run in the bottom ofthe fourth, then scored 3 in the fifth and another in the sixth tosecure the win.

Senior Klein Harbour had 3 hits and 3 RBI to lead LawrenceCounty. Trent Hartzog also drove in 3 runs with his 2 singles.Stanfield and Luke Watts each had 2 hits. Stephens, Joseph Evans,and Michael Thompson also had hits. Joseph Hayes, Jason Hayes, andClifford Wright each had 2 hits for Natchez. Jason Hayes blasted ahomer

Petal 10, Lawrence County 3

Petal, coached by Loyd Star grad Kevin Britt, simply outhitLawrence County in the final game of the day. The highly-rankedPanthers banged out 14 hits, with no less than 5 Petal hittersfinding the multiple-hit column. Third baseman Brent Collins ledwith 3 hits.

Petal clawed out a 5-1 lead against freshman Cougar starterJoseph Evans. Lawrence County cut it to 5-2 with Michael Thompson’ssolo homer in the bottom of the third. That was as close as theCougars would get.

Petal had a 7-2 lead when Lawrence County’s Casey Williamswhacked a mammoth solo homer in the bottom of the sixth. That cutthe Panther lead to 7-3, but Petal tacked on 3 insurance runs inthe top of the seventh.

Lefty Drew Cartlidge started and got the win for Petal. BrandonIngram worked the final 2 and 2/3 innings. Evans, Williams, andStanfield pitched for Lawrence County. Williams was most effective,limiting Petal

That same threesome–Evans, Williams, and Stanfield– had 2 hitseach for Lawrence County. Thompson, Luke Watts, and Jake Russelleach had 1 hit.