The Loyd Star Hornets captured a huge 11-9 victory over the Richton Rebels Tuesday night in game one of the best-of-three series in the third round of the Class 2A baseball state playoffs.

“The boys played hard and did a great job fighting after falling behind early in the first inning,” said Loyd Star coach Jared Britt. “Our bats came alive early to help give our pitchers a much needed run support that we needed to win. Overall, I was proud to get the win, but we must continue to stay motivated as we prepare for another tough game on Thursday.”

The Hornets (20-6) will return to action Thursday as they travel to Richton to take on the Rebels in game two. The game is set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Loyd Star 11, Richton 9 

Loyd Star and Richton’s baseball fans witnessed an offensive show on Smith Field as both teams came out hitting in the first inning.

The Rebels opened the first inning of action with a bang as they jumped on the Hornets early to grab a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the first inning, Loyd Star answered with a four run surge to take over the lead at 4-3.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Hornets continued their strong hitting attack as they pushed across two more runs to extend their lead to 6-3.

In the top of the third and fifth innings, the Rebel battled into the contest plating one run in each inning to cut into Loyd Star’s lead at 6-5.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Hornets managed to put together a string of hits to score five runs to increase their hold on the lead at 11-5.

In the top of the sixth inning, the Rebels answered with a four run surge to cut down Loyd Star’s lead at 11-9, before heading into the seventh inning.

In the top of the seventh inning, Richton was looking to tie or take over the lead, but Loyd Star’s ace pitcher Caleb Yarborough came in and pitched the save in relief to give the Hornets to win in a offensive marathon in game one.

Levi Redd was the winning pitcher for the Hornets with five strikeouts and four walks. Cade Hodges (0K, 3BB) and Konner Allen (0K, 1BB) also saw action on the mound in relief. Yarborough collects the save for Loyd Star with three strikeouts and no walks.

Noah Mills suffered the loss for the Rebels with four strikeout and three walks in two innings of work. Kyle Earwood (3K, 2BB) pitched the remainder of the contest in relief.

Brett Calcote was the offensive leader at the plate for Loyd Star with a double and two singles. Levi Redd contributed two doubles. Caleb Yarborough provided a double and a single. Cade Hodges had two singles. Hitting safely were Bradyn Brister, Lamar Lang and Konner Allen.

Tyler Pittman paced the Rebels’ offense with two singles. Parker Thoms, Colton Henderson and Tommy Kid provided a double each. Andrew Roberts and Noah Mills hit safely.