PURVIS – The Purvis Tornadoes rode the shutout pitching of Jacob Williams to a 6-0 win over the Lawrence County Cougars in Division 7-4A high school baseball action Tuesday night at Purvis High School.

Williams scattered four hits over seven innings, striking out eight and issuing just one free pass. Williams struck out six of the first seven LCHS batters. The Cougars’ only real threat came in the top of the third, when they got runners to second and third, with two out.

Offensively, Purvis was led by first baseman Johnny Ford, who drove in three of the Tornadoes’ six runs. Ford hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the second, and plated his team’s third run with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly.

Purvis, coached by Tony Farlow, improved to 10-5 overall, and 3-2 in Division 7-4A play. Lawrence County, under coach Cory Keyes, fell to 10-7 overall, and 2-3 in the division.

Ford’s two-run blast staked Purvis to a 2-0 lead, with both runs being unearned, as the homerun came after an error on what would have been an inning-ending groundout. In the fourth, two walks and a single loaded the bases for Purvis with none out. A sacrifice fly and an RBI groundout made it a 4-0 game.

The Tornadoes grabbed two insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth, with both runs scoring on Shelton Smith’s sacrifice fly to center.

Lawrence County remained competitive to the end, thanks to quality pitching efforts from starter Joshua Stephens and reliever Kody Smith. Stephens worked four innings, allowing four runs on four hits. Smith pitched the fifth and sixth, giving up two runs on one hit. LCHS pitchers did not record a strikeout in the game.

Stephens, Marcus Atterberry, Logan Greenlee, and Kewaun May had hits for Lawrence County.

Lawrence County and Purvis will conclude their home-and-home series Friday night at Jimmie Davis Park in Monticello.