PASCAGOULA — Defending Class 1A state champion Resurrection took yet another step towards a defense of its crown Thursday night at Lee Tingle Field.
The Eagles cruised past Ethel in game one of their best-of-three South State finals series 9-1, and in the process stayed unbeaten at 7-0 so far in the state playoffs.
In addition, the win was the 16th straight on the season for first-year head coach Aron Frederic’s crew, as they move to 24-9 overall on the season. The Eagles, dating back to last season, have now won 13 consecutive postseason games and 17 out of their last 18.
Resurrection got things going early Thursday against the visiting Tigers with an RBI-single from sophomore Max Askew in the bottom of the first inning to go up 1-0.
In the bottom of the second, RCS junior, Jesus San Miguel loaded the bases with a single. Center fielder Max Askew, junior Luke Schnoor, and senior Cole Tingle drew three straight walks to bring in the next three runs. Senior Nicholas Watts was able to advance the runners, bringing the Eagles’ lead to 5-0.
Ethel scored their sole run in the top of the fourth inning due to infield errors.
Resurrection added on four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to go up 9-1. This inning featured an RBI-double from Askew. The Eagles held this lead through the final innings to secure the dominant 9-1 victory.
In the winning effort, senior Levi Foshee was locked in on the mound, pitching all seven innings and recording 10 strikeouts. He allowed five hits and walked three.
Askew’s two hits and three RBIs paced PCS at the plate, while Schnoor chipped in a pair of hits and drove in a pair of runs to the winning nine hit attack and Carter McCammon added two hits also.
First baseman Nicholas Watts was ejected from the game in the top of the fourth inning while tagging out a runner at first base. The umpires explained tagging the runner was an egregious act, and the baserunner could have been injured on the play. Watts is still eligible to play in game two.
“Game one was big for us, it gets us one step closer to our goal,” Eagles head coach Frederic said, “Pretty proud of the guys, got a good pitching performance from Levi, [like] we’ve gotten the past couple of weeks. As the game went on, we got some timely hitting. Overall I was pleased with the performance.”
Game two in the series is set for Ethel at 7 p.m., Saturday night. A third and final game, if necessary, would be back in Pascagoula Monday night. The winner of the South State series faces the survivor the Vardaman-West Union match-up in the North State finals in the state title round.
