FLOWOOD — Northwest Rankin used a steady offensive approach along with the pitching of Dawson Muenzenmay to race past Oak Grove 10-0 in a run-ruled six innings in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 6A first round playoff series at Wesley Scarbrough Field.
The second game of the series is set for Friday night at Oak Grove at 7 p.m. If necessary, Game 3 will be back at Northwest Rankin on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The winner of the series will face Biloxi in the second round.
“I thought Tucker Jones set the tone for us tonight with the leadoff home run and that was just the start for a big night for him and I’m proud of him,” Northwest Rankin coach K.K. Aldridge said. “Lately we’ve been hitting the ball well, but we’ve been snake bitten a little bit hitting the ball at people or getting the big hit to score runs and tonight we finally hit the ball that found some holes and gaps.”
The Cougars couldn’t have asked for a better start as Tucker Jones lead off the bottom of the first with a solo home run to left center to take a 1-0 lead.
Northwest Rankin added a run on a sacrifice fly by Powell Ingram later in the inning to extend the lead to 2-0.
In the bottom of the second the Cougars scored five runs on one hit to extend their to 7-0. The one hit was a two-run single by Brady Saxton, while the other three runs were scored off an error and a wild pitch.
Langston Cotten hit a two-run home run to left in the fifth to increase the Northwest Rankin lead to 9-0. The Cougars scored the final 10th run off an error in the sixth to inherit the 10-run rule.
“The big thing with our guys is when we can get it going offensively and find barrels we have a pretty good offense. Tonight, overall we had a very good offensive approach,” Aldridge said. “Dawson did a good job feeling up the strike zone and keeping them off balanced and did a good job of staying ahead in the count. We’ve got to have this same intensity and same approach on Friday.”
Muenzanmay (7-1), a Hinds CC signee, got the win on the mound for Northwest Rankin tossing a complete game three-hit shutout with no walks and four strikeouts.
Jones had three hits to lead the Cougars (19-6-1) offensively. Cotton and Saxton each added two hits for Northwest Rankin.
“Coach told me before this game it all starts with me and that was in my head when I was swinging,” Jones said. “We knew we had to jump on the fast ball early and got the job done.”
Brodie Wedgeworth (1-4) took the loss on mound for Oak Grove. The Warriors (16-10) could only manage three hits on the night.
