TAYLORSVILLE – The Loyd Star Hornets’ magical season came to a heart-breaking end Thursday night with the team falling to the Taylorsville Tartars 14-4 in Game Two in the Class 2A South State Baseball Championship.

With the win, Taylorsville completed the two-game sweep over Loyd Star and will advance to the State Championship in Pearl next week.

“We did not play our best ball tonight,” said Loyd Star coach Jared Britt. “We fell behind early and just could not refocus ourselves.

“I am proud of the boys for the year that they had and having to play through the adversity of losing one of their friend/teammate earlier in the year,” continued Britt. “This has been a great group of young men to coach. The seniors will be missed, but as a coach we could not be more proud of the job they did while playing here. Hopefully, next year classmen can build on things from this season.”

The Hornets conclude their season with a 21-8 record overall. Loyd Star finished No. 1 in the Region 7-2A race with a perfect record of 10-0.

Taylorsville 14, Loyd Star 4 

The Taylorsville Tartars came out and quickly overpowered the Loyd Star Hornets in the first two innings of action to secure an early 4-0 lead.

The Hornets managed to get on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning and they scored one run to cut into Taylorsville’s lead at 4-1.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Taylorsville added two more runs on the scoreboard to extend their lead to 6-1.

In the top of the fifth inning, Loyd Star battled back into the contest as they put together a three-run surge to cut down Taylorsville’s lead once again at 6-4.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Tartars worked hard to keep a sizeable lead over Loyd Star as they scored two-runs to push their lead out to an 8-4 advantage.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Taylorsville’s offense continued their strong hitting streak as they managed to put together a six-run explosion to win the contest on a 10-run rule.

Joseph Gately was the winning pitcher for the Tartars with four strikeouts and two walks.

Levi Redd (6-2) suffered the setback on the mound for the Hornets with one strikeout and four walks. Dylan Smith (2K, 2BB) also pitched in relief.

Lamar Lang was the top offensive hitter for Loyd Star at the plate with a double and a single. Hitting safely were Levi Redd, Konner Allen and Hayden Brownlee.

Andrew Pankratz powered Taylorsville’s offensive attack with a double and two singles. Ashton White and Raven Arrington contributed a double and a single. Gately provided two singles. Conner Cline and Tyler Boykin had a single each.