Loyd Star advances to South State

After being eliminated from the playoffs by Taylorsville the last three seasons, the Loyd Star Hornets broke the jinx Monday night with an 8-4 win at Smith Field to advance to the Class 2A South State Championship.

“I am so proud of the effort the guys brought tonight,” said Loyd Star coach Jared Britt. “I felt like we managed to capitalize on our two-out hitting which was clutch in a pivotal game three contest. This was a big mental challenge to overcome because Taylorsville has eliminated us from the playoffs for the past three seasons in a row. Tonight we will enjoy this win, but tomorrow we need to regroup and start focusing on the Madison St. Joe Bruins.”

The Hornets (23-8) will return to action Thursday when they travel to Madison to take on the St. Joe Bruins in a best-of-three series starting at 6 p.m. Loyd Star will host the second game Friday at 6 p.m. If a game three is needed, the series return to Madison for a 3 p.m. Saturday start.

Loyd Star 8, Taylorsville 4 

Loyd Star captured a 2-0 lead in the first two innings. Taylorsville rallied to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of third, but the Hornets reclaimed a one-run lead in the bottom of the third with a solo homerun by Tucker Watts.

In the fourth, both teams traded one run each as Loyd Star maintain a 4-3 lead. Taylorsville fought to tie the contest up at 4-4 in fifth.

The score remained the same until the bottom of the sixth, when the Hornets caught fire and pushed across four runs to capture a 8-4 lead. They were led by Konner Allen’s double, Bradyn Brister’s RBI double, Lamar Lang’s RBI single and Lane Rogers’ two-RBI double.

Cade Hodges was the winning pitcher for the Hornets in relief with four strikeouts and one walk. Levi Redd(5K, 1BB) started for Loyd Star.

Ashton White suffered the loss for Taylorsville with four strikeouts and six walks. Chandler Cline (0K, 1BB) pitched one inning in relief.

Tucker Watts powered the Hornets with a homerun and a double. Konner Allen contributed two doubles and a single. Cade Hodges and Levi Redd provided two singles each. Bradyn Brister and Lane Rogers had a double each. Parker Flowers hit a single.

Ashton White, Raven Arrington, Chandler Cline and Kason James paced the Tartars with a single each.