In the Tomahawk Cup game, which launched the annual Battle at the Beach week, the Biloxi Indians defeated the D’Iberville Warriors 6-3 at Shuckers Ballpark.
Biloxi pitcher Will Miles turned in a gutsy performance on the mound to earn the win for the Indians. Miles scattered 10 hits and tallied 7 strikeouts, surrendering only two earned runs over six innings on the mound. It was a performance his coach raved about afterwards.
“All the credit in the world goes to Will Miles,” said Biloxi Head Coach Hawtin Buchanan. “He went out there and gutted through six innings. No matter what happened – behind on the count, base hits, base runners – he persistently fought back and attacked. And the fact that he continued to do that and hold them down proved to be the key to us getting the lead, competing, and winning.”
Dalton Davis sparked a Warrior rally in the second with an infield single to shortstop, then stole second—one of his game-leading three steals that night. He scored when Warrior catcher Bransyn White laced a single to left, making White 3-for-3 for the night with three RBIs. Miles then struck out the next batter to end D’Iberville’s rally.
Biloxi employed small ball tactics and capitalized on the Warriors’ mistakes over the next two innings, scoring six runs with only one ball safely reaching the outfield. Forrest Wold led off the third by getting hit by a pitch, followed by Tristain Hayes beating out a bunt single. After Logan Fontenelle earned a walk, Wold scored on a passed ball and other runners advanced. Robbie Hokamp knocked in Hayes on a sacrifice fly to center, with Fontenelle advancing to third. He later scored on another passed ball giving Biloxi a 3-1 lead after three innings.
In the top of the fourth, history repeated itself as Indian right fielder Chase DeLaughter beat out an infield single to third to start the inning. Wyatt Pyron tried to move him over with a bunt but ended up beating the throw for an infield single, leaving runners at first and second. Then Connor Lofton hit a seeing-eye groundball double to center field, bringing home DeLaughter. Wold bunted but reached on an error, scoring Pyron. Then Lofton later scored on a double steal, giving the Indians all they needed behind Miles.
White knocked in his second run of the game for D’Iberville in the fourth, ripping a single to center, scoring Davis who had walked. Then Miles settled down, striking out the next two batters to end the inning. Carter Naron took the loss for D’Iberville.
“We’re trending in the right direction,” stated D’Iberville Head Coach Brent Martin, a former Biloxi assistant. “We knew we were going to be young and even our older guys didn’t have a lot of experience. As the season has been going, it has been one inning every game that’s getting us. Biloxi didn’t hit the ball hard, but they put pressure on us getting bunts down and we didn’t make the plays. I like our fight. I like our grit. We’re never out of a game and so that mentality will take over, and we will be ok when we get into division games.”
Coach Buchanan, a former Ole Miss Rebel pitcher, introduced a tradition from Oxford in which the Rebels award a “shirt of the game” to the night’s MVP. It’s a nice bright pink shirt, and Coach Buchanan said there was no doubt Miles earned it tonight.
“They got two guys in scoring position, and Miles didn’t blink and continued to make pitches,” he said. “We made some plays behind him defensively to get out of it, but the fact that Miles competed kept us in the game all night.”
And of course, with the win, the “Tomahawk Cup” will remain at Biloxi High School for another year.
“It was a team win,” said Coach Buchanan. “We forced the action and made the ball move. Our guys executed well over those two innings, where we didn’t really hit the ball hard but we got some bunts down, ran the bases well, and pushed runs across.”
