Gulfport remains the cream of the crop in Region 4-7A baseball after taking two of three games from rival Biloxi this week.
The Admirals (12-6 overall, 5-1 in 4-7A) beat the Indians (9-9, 1-5) on Friday 10-7 to win the series.
After dropping the opener to the Indians 1-0 on Tuesday, Gulfport came back to even the series with a 5-2 win Thursday at home before clinching the series Friday afternoon in Biloxi.
Coach Jamie McMahon said he’s pleased with the way his team bounced back after the tough series-opening loss.
“Anytime you can take two out of three is a good series,” said McMahon.
McMahon said his pitching has been a real strength for his Admirals so far this season.
“Our starting pitching gives us a chance every time out,” he said. “We gave up one run in the first series (a sweep of D’Iberville) and had three quality starts again for this one.”
Gulfport’s starting pitching has been outstanding.
Senior Nico Williams tossed a no-hitter in the series opener but came out on the losing end of a 1-0 ballgame. Joel Smith fanned 11 Indians in Game 2 of the series and allowed just two hits over five-plus innings while surrendering two walks in the 5-2 victory.
On Friday, Prince Cottonham gave up six runs on four hits in five innings but earned the win thanks to two innings of scoreless relief by Thomas Stennis, who fanned four batters and gave up one hit.
Davis Ormes had a two-run double for the Admirals to open the scoring in the first inning. Gulfport added four more runs in the second inning, highlighted by Williams’ three-run home run to left to make it 7-1.
The Indians pulled within 7-4 in the third inning when Jackson Irvin belted a solo homer to left.
Gulfport added a pair of runs in the fifth to go up 9-4 before the Indians attempted to mount a comeback in the sixth inning with three runs, capitalizing on a pair of Gulfport errors to pull within 9-7. But Gulfport capped the scoring on Ethan Garner’s RBI single in the seventh.
Wyatt Pyron took the loss for the Indians, allowing seven runs on four hits and striking out four.
Yaviel Lopez and Ormes led the 10-hit Gulfport attack with two hits apiece.
Irvin paced Biloxi with three hits while Tristan Haynes drove in a pair of runs and Connor Lofton and Logan Fontenelle added run-scoring hits.
Biloxi coach Hawtin Buchanan was pleased with the way his team battled.
“Was really proud of the way our guys competed today even though we came out on the losing end,” said Buchanan. “It would have been really easy to lay down after an early deficit, but we kept scratching away and kept fighting.”
Biloxi will begin a three-game region series at D’Iberville on Tuesday and Gulfport will play at St. Martin on Tuesday in the first game of a three-game region series. The games will start at 7 p.m.
