McCOMB — The Lawrence County Cougars defeated the McComb Tigers16-5 in Division 6-4A high school baseball action Friday night atRotary Field. Lawrence County broke to an early 7-1 lead, allowedMcComb to battle back into the game, then put McComb away bycontinuing to pile up runs. The game was halted after 5 innings,via the 10-run rule.

With the win, Coach Cory Keyes saw his Cougars improve to 8-2 onthe season. The Cougars are 2-0 in Division 6-4A play. McComb,under coach Jerry Brewer, fell to 4-8 overall, and 1-2 in thedivision.

Keyes said he was happy to get the important division win. “Wehad one poor inning, the bottom of the second, in which we didn’tpitch, catch, or defend very well. Aside from that, we played apretty good game.

“We’re 2-0 (in the division) going into a big game with TerryMonday night,” Keyes continued. “Our guys have done a good job toget themselves into that position.”

Lawrence County scored 5 runs in the top of the first, all after2 were out, and all unearned. McComb erred ground balls hit by 3 ofthe first 4 Cougar batters. Nick Jackson, Jake Russell, and JeremyWilliams took advantage with 2-out, RBI singles.

Eighth-grade third baseman Dontrell Sargent singled home a runfor McComb in the bottom of the first, making it a 5-1 game.

Lawrence County added 2 more in the second, after the first 2hitters of the inning were retired. Michael Thompson plated 1 runwith a misplayed triple to center. He was singled home by Jackson,and LCHS had a seemingly comfortable 7-1 lead.

McComb made things interesting in the bottom of the second. TheTigers took advantage of 2 bases on balls, 2 singles, and a 2-rundouble by shortstop Alonzo Harris, to cut Lawrence County’s lead to7-5. The Tigers even got the potential tying runs to second andthird with only 1 out before Cougar starter Jake Russell pitchedhis way out of the inning.

“That was a tough inning,” Keyes said, “one that will get usbeat on a lot of nights. We looked like we had never practicedthere for a few minutes. Jake (Russell) really found the rangeafter that, though.”

Russell would not allow another Tiger baserunner. He retired thelast 11 hitters he faced, 6 by strikeout.

The combination of Cougar hits and Tiger defensive strugglesadded up to more Lawrence County runs. In the third, the Cougarsscored 5 runs on three hits, with the aid of 2 McComb errors.

In the fourth, the Cougars scored 3 runs of 4 hits, the big blowa booming 2-run homer to left, off the bat of Taebyus Smith. Twomore McComb miscues pushed the inning along. Jeremy Williamsdoubled and scored the final run of the night on a wild pitch, inthe fifth.

Williams and Jackson led Lawrence County with 3 hits each.Thompson had 2. Russell, Smith, Joseph Evans, Trent Hartzog, andJohnathan Stephens each had 1. Harris, Sargent, Laney Sullivan, andCass Coon had hits for McComb.

McComb starter Justin Hay battled tenaciously, but the Tigermiscues were too much to overcome. Eleven of Lawrence County’s 16runs were unearned in the game.

“We didn’t hit a lot of real smashes,” Keyes said, “but our guysdid a pretty good job of putting Justin in play. He shows you a lotof different arm angles and hides the ball really well. He’s nottoo easy to deal with. I thought our guys battled him. Those 2-outRBI hits were huge.”

Lawrence County defeated McComb 10-0, in 4 innings of juniorvarsity play.