PURVIS – As Sumrall has done many times now in its rich baseball history, the Bobcats checked off one of their many high-end, and almost expected, goals after clinching Region 7-4A on Tuesday night.
And like so many times before, Sumrall has seen its fair share of memorable performances. The Bobcats’ starting pitcher Andrew Knight delivered just that as he threw a complete-game shutout in a 3-0 win over rival Purvis.
“It was a big game, and I knew I was going to have to step up if we were going to get the job done and that’s what I did,” Knight said. “It feels great (to win the region). There are always expectations for us every year. The ultimate goal is to win the state championship. We came up short last year, but we feel like we have a good shot of getting back and winning.”
Knight was like a machine, or as Sumrall coach Andy Davis might say an engine, as the senior struck out 10 batters and had a perfect game going until the fifth inning.
“I always talk about my pitcher as a motor, and (Knight) had a V-8 diesel tonight,” Davis said. “He has kind of struggled a little bit. He took last week off and got his mind right. He almost had a perfect game. He just stepped up. What a game. Big-time players step up in big games and he did.”
In the first three innings, Knight was in a pitching duel with Purvis starter Jacob Parker. In those three innings, only one hit was relinquished, which Parker gave up in the first.
However, a 30-minute lightning delay disrupted the game at the start of the fourth inning.
After Parker induced a flyout, the freshman walked three straight batters to load the bases. Reliever Walker Flatt walked in a run on the first batter he faced but minimized the damage by ringing up a pair of strikeouts.
“(Parker) was throwing pretty dang good before the rain delay,” Purvis coach Tony Farlow said. “He came out and walked three in a row, so I guess the delay hurt him. He pitched really well until that point.
“We walked four in a row against Sumrall, and you can’t do that.”
Unlike Parker, Knight continued to roll as he retired the Tornados in order in the bottom of the frame.
“It’s always tough when something like that happens,” Knight said. “You never know how anybody is going to respond. I just tried to stay hot as best as I could. I had my arm wrapped up in a towel and I had my jacket own and I was just moving around.
“I knew we weren’t getting a lot of run production tonight. I knew I was going to have to bring it to get the job done. (Purvis) is a good team and they brought it tonight, so hats off to them.”
In the fifth inning, Knight almost lost some momentum. After quickly striking out two batters, an awkward infield single by Flatt broke up the perfect game, but Knight responded by striking out the next batter to end the inning.
Finally, in the seventh inning, Sumrall added its needed insurance runs due to a pair of errors by Purvis (16-5, 6-3). With two outs, a routine infield play was nullified after first baseman Hunter Jackson stepped off the bag, which allowed Barrett Breazeale, who walked to start the inning, to score from second base. A failed pick-off allowed the runner to move to second, which set up an RBI single by Landon Holliman that pushed the Bobcats’ lead to 3-0.
“That was an 0-2 pitch,” Davis said. “(Holliman) is a kid that struggled hitting last year, but has worked hard on hitting and baserunning. He doesn’t lack in confidence, but he needed that.”
In 3.2 innings, Flatt allowed one hit, struck out four batters, walked two with both runs he gave up being unearned while Parker allowed one hit, struck out two and walked four in 3.1 innings.
At the beginning of the seventh inning, Knight gave up another infield single, but again retired Purvis’ lineup in order to finish the game. Knight’s only two blemishes of the night were the two infield hits as he gave up no walks.
“You have to have your best stuff and know that you can’t let him be better than you,” said Knight on how mentally handled the pitching duel. “The fastball was locating and I commanded it,” Knight said. “I could bring that curveball with it. I struggled with it sometimes but most of the time it was there.”
Both teams still have much to play for as Sumrall hosts Purvis on Thursday with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.
The Tornados still have a chance to clinch second place after Columbia defeated Poplarville on Tuesday.
“(Knight) was pretty dominant,” Farlow said. “We would have loved to put more balls into play, and see what would have happened, but we didn’t.
“(I told the team) ‘I’m proud of you and you showed up. Yeah, we would like to have a defensive play or two back, a few less strikeouts, but we competed.’ We are still playing for second place on Thursday night.”
For Sumrall, the Bobcats have a chance to stay undefeated as they improved to 22-0 and 9-0 in region play.
“We don’t want to lose,” Davis said. Ultimately (staying undefeated is) not our goal. Our goal is to win a state championship and if we go undefeated then so be it.”
