(228Sports Sports Director Curtis Rockwell, 228Sports Sports Writer Sam King and 228Spots Contributor Jeremy Forehand all contributed to this reports)
PASCAGOULA — The city of Pascagoula was a hotbed of prep baseball action over the past three days with a trio of games featuring a quartet of “Southern Six” squads.
Thursday night, the Richie Tilman era at Pascagoula High came to an end as visiting D’Iberville came in to complete Region 7-6A play with an 11-2 win over the Panthers.
The game was the first ever played on Richie Tillman Field and the Warriors completed their run to the region title with a 7-2 mark after sweeping PHS in the delayed three-game series.
“One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was turn off the lights for the last time! I love this field and Panther Baseball!” Tillman posted on Twitter.
The title marks the third straight for D’Iberville in the league, who finish this year with an impressive 7-2 mark and a full two games ahead of second-place Ocean Springs.
“It was definitely a goal that we had as a team,” first-year Warriors head coach Brent Martin said. “For these seniors, they’re a part of something special. It’s hard to win one district down here… much less our third one in a row. “We’ve got bigger dreams and we’ve got bigger goals that we want to accomplish.”
Through the first three innings, the Warriors jumped out to an early 7-0 lead while loading the bases four times.
Six of D’Iblerville’s runs were scored in the top of the second inning. The first run came on an infield error by Pascagoula. Junior Ellis Newman brought in the next two runs with a single. Senior Aiden Seymour followed by smashing a three-run homer over the left-field fence.
D’Iberville loaded the bases again in the next frame, but could not bring in another run.
The Warriors loaded the bases yet again in the top of the third. D’Iberville added to their lead as Senior Nick Hamby worked a walk to bring in a run, bringing the lead to 7-0 in the top of the fourth.
Versatile Pascagoula senior standout Keilon Parnell, a Mississippi State signee playing in his final game as a Panther and completing a star-studded career, then smacked a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth to put PHS on the scoreboard at 7-1.
The Warriors closed the game out with four runs in the top of the seventh, as Hamby added a two-run single, while Seymour and Trey Jaquet also each added RBI-singles resulting in the final count.
Tony Hill had a game-high three hits and Seymour a game-high four RBI’s for DHS, while Newman and Dalton Davis each added two hits apiece to the winning 14-hit attack.
Dennis Krabbe pitched six innings to pick up the win, striking out eight in the process. Braxton Jarrell started and took the loss.
In addition to Parnell’s solo homer, Angel Sollivan and Aiden Green had two hits apiece for the Panthers in their final game of the season, and of Tillman’s career. Fabian Garcia also added a run-scoring single.
“It’s kind of overwhelming, having the honor of this field where I spent so many days and nights named after me,” Tillman said. “I really don’t feel worthy, but it’s one of the biggest honors ever for me and I’m blessed.”
D’Iberville began its three-day staycation in Pascagoula on Tuesday with a 6-1 loss to home-sanding Resurrection.
Resurrection beat D’Iberville comfortably, 6-1, Tuesday night to get their seventh straight win.
The Warriors grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Senior Landon French knocked a lead-off single and Newman brought him home with an RBI-single. After giving up the run in the first inning, Senior RCS pitcher Levi Foshee retired six straight batters through the top of the second and third innings for the Eagles.
The Eagles got three straight singles from freshman Jesus San Miguel, senior Walker Frederic, and senior Max Askew to load the bases in the bottom of the third. Junior Luke Schoor hit an RBI-single to tie the game at 1-1. Two more runs scored on a fielder’s choice and an error to give the RCS a 3-1 lead.
D’Iberville had a chance to cut into RCS’s lead in the top of the fourth. Senior Aiden Seymour knocked a double to put two runners in scoring position, but the Warriors were unable to capitalize.
RCS added to their lead with an RBI-single from Max Askew in the bottom of the fourth to go up 4-1. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Walker Frederic hit a solo home run to stretch Resurrection’s lead to 5-1. RCS added another run with wild throws and infield errors to bring their lead to 6-1.
Junior Sug Reynolds came in to close the game for the Eagles. Senior Dennis Krabbe singled for the Warriors, but Reynolds was able to secure the 6-1 victory for RCS.
Foshee picked up the pitching win for RCS, while Hamby took the loss for DHS.
“It was a good win tonight… playing a team like D’Iberville, a good ball club.” RCS first-year head coach Aron Frederic said of the win “It was good for us to come out here and play these guys and compete.”
Also on Thursday night in Pascagoula, the defending Class 1A state champion RCS knocked off visiting Bay High 8-1 as both teams prepare for the state playoffs.
“We’re looking forward to the playoffs,” Frederic said, about winning Region 8-1A once again “it’s been several years now that we’ve been number one in our district, which we’re pretty proud of. We’re just trying to still compete, trying to get better, trying to get a little bit of competition, so when we do get in [the playoffs] we’ll be ready.”
The Eagles completed their two wins in three-day span by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the second stanza to take command. Both Michael Ryder and Jesus San Miguel registered two-run singles in the big rally, while Walker Frederic and Cole Tingle each added an RBI-single in the frame.
Max Askew, Tingle and Schnoor all had two hits apiece to pace RCS at the plate, and one of Schnoor’s hits was a double.
Walker Seymour and Ethan Kingston each collected a double apiece for the Tigers, while Braden Necaise drove in the only Bay run in the game.
Tingle started and picked up the win for RCS. Eli Bingham started and took the loss for BHS.
