PURVIS – TJ Davis continues to have a breakout season on the mound for Lamar Christian.
The junior put together another dominant outing in the Lions’ 3-2 victory over Prentiss Christian, the defending MAIS 2A state champions.
In 5.1 innings, Davis had six strikeouts, gave up two runs off one and walked three. This season, Davis has pitched 31 innings through seven games and holds a 1.58 ERA while giving up nine hits, 18 runs and 20 walks, with 49 strikeouts.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Lions struck first, as Davis was hit by a pitch with bases loaded, driving in Jacob Baxter. In the next at-bat, Jude Baxter hit a two-RBI double to left-center field, driving in catcher Austin Esser and Williamson to take a 3-0 lead.
Jude Baxter leads the Lions in batting average on the season with a .368 through 14 games played. Baxter is tied for second on the team with 14 hits and second in RBIs (12) behind Davis (14).
“We got a very timely hit by Jude (Baxter),” first-year Lamar Christian head coach Jason Oxenrider said. “We give them a lot of credit; they are the defending state champions. This was a great baseball game, and they are a very well-coached team with a lot of experience all over the field. This is a big win for our program, and with this being my first year here, all of the kids are buying in, and we are playing well.”
In the top of the sixth inning, the Saints got on the board as Esser mishandled a strike that would have ended the inning but allowed Dan Sinclair to go home instead. The next at-bat Esser missed a second wild pitch allowing Jordan McPhail to steal home.
Lamar Christian (9-6, 1-0) shut down a late comeback attempt with a critical performance from reliever Ethan Williamson as he first struck out Keegan May for the final out of the inning, leaving Jack Crisswell on third base.
In the bottom of the sixth, Sinclair pitched a nearly flawless inning as he struck out the side and staved off the Lions.
In the top of the seventh, Prentiss (7-1, 0-1) made one less comeback attempt, set up by Williamson walking Scooby Thompson with two outs. The next at-bat Sinclair hit a hard ground ball to left field for a double, as Thompson moved to third. Williamson ended the Saints’ attempt at a comeback with three straight strikes, sitting down McPhail to win the game.
“I felt our guys are competing and making the routine plays, and that’s all we ask of them,” Oxenrider said. “We tell them to have short memories, and if things do go bad, to just move on to the next play. They have been doing that this season, and we have seen a lot of steady improvement. They are 9-6 to this point, and that’s a historical achievement to this point in the year.”
Willamson picked up the save, pitching 1.2 innings with four strikeouts while allowing two walks, two hits, and giving up no runs.
“Davis threw well but got a little tired in the sixth inning,” Oxenrider said. “He has been a bulldog for us all year, throwing at least five or six innings every chance he’s hit the mound. He did a great job allowing his defense to work for him. Williamson didn’t have all of his stuff tonight coming in for relief and threw some breaking balls in the dirt that got past, but I thought he did a great job despite that.”
The losing pitcher was Brantley Breeland, who surrendered three runs over 4.1 innings, giving up one hit, seven walks, and striking out 10.
“I give their pitcher (Breeland) a lot of credit,” Oxenrider said. “He was pitching well with a lot of strikeouts, but his pitch count got high, and we were able to take advantage of that for some timely walks.”
Lamar Christian travels to Prentiss Christian on Friday at 6:30 p.m. to face off against the Saints in the divisional rematch.
