It was appropriate that on St. Patrick’s Day, the team that dominated its game was the one wearing green.
Lamar Christian used an overwhelming first inning to defeat Hillcrest Christian 13-0 in four innings Tuesday at the LCS Field.
The Lions improved to 11-2 overall, and 3-0 in MAIS District 4-2A; Hillcrest remained winless.
Despite the lop-sided margin, LC head coach Matthew Parker wasn’t 100 percent pleased with his team’s focus with a big lead.
“Every game, you have to stay focused, whether you’re up big or down big,” Parker said. “Because you never know what could happen for the next game. That was the message there.
“Just because things went our way in the first inning, doesn’t mean they will for the rest of the game, or they will next week.”
Still, there was never any doubt about the outcome. The Cougars only suited 10 players, and didn’t arrive at the school until 25 minutes before the first pitch.
And once things got started, the Lions roared, at least in the first inning. Lamar Chrsitian scored all 13 runs in the bottom of the first inning after senior right-hander Blade Davenport struck out the side in the top of the inning.
LC batted around twice, sending 18 men to the plate, and ripped out 11 hits, teeing off on Hillcrest right-hander Jay Taylor, who couldn’t get out of the inning.
Taylor retired the leadoff batter on a fly ball, then didn’t get another out until Davenport –
the twelfth man to come to the plate – hit a sacrifice fly to score the tenth run of the game.
Junior Jackson McCrory drove in the first run of the game on a double, after senior Dallas Parker was hit by a pitch, then added another double later in the inning. Sophomore Kolton Buie had a two-run double, then got a second double to drive in another run later in the inning.
“They were ready to hit that first inning,” Parker said. “Then you get in that comfort zone – it’s just human nature – and that’s when you’ve got to stay focused and not let that happen.”
Taylor also issued three wild pitches, lost an out on a dropped third strike, and never came close to fooling the Lion hitters.
The second pitcher the Cougars brought in was a different story. Left-hander Gavin Latham came in with a slow curve that had the Lions off-balance, and with the big lead, they never adjusted.
“It was definitely slower than the first pitcher,” McCrory said. “But that’s no excuse. We just have to come out and swing the bats like we swung it against the first guy.
“We were glad to get the win, but we didn’t treat it as a very big game; it was just like another game. We needed to stay focused.”
The way Davenport went about his business on the mound, one run would have been enough.
Davenport gave up a one-out walk in the first inning, then struck out the next 10 batters he faced. Only the very last hitter he faced managed to put a ball in play, a weak ground ball between the mound and first base that Davenport fielded easily.
“Getting the first pitch in for a strike is pretty big, when you can just throw your fastball for strikes,” said Davenport. “Your first pitch kind of determines the rest of the at-bat. So I was walking out to start looking for first-pitch strikes.”
Davenport was rarely behind in the count, and besides the walk, only went to a three-ball count two other times.
“My mindset is to throw strikes and make them hit it,” Davenport said. “I don’t need to dominate on the mound as much as I would if it was a big game. I just allow them to hit the ball, and this game, they didn’t seem to hit it.”
Lamar Christian is coming off its most successful baseball season in school history, a 24-10 campaign in 2025 that ended in the MAIS Class 3A South State finals.
“We lost three seniors that were starters last year, but we had a lot of young kids that got a lot of experience,” said Parker. “That’s really helped them this year. And we had a couple of eight-graders who’ve moved up as freshmen, and one of them is starting on defense.
“Still, I told the kids at the start of the season, we lost, I think 70-something innings on the mound and over 100 runs scored combined. I said somebody has to step up and replace those guys.”
Lamar Christian makes the return trip to Jackson to face the Cougars on Thursday, then returns home Friday to host Perry Central.
“We’re just trying to win ball games and get back to South State,” McCrory said. “And maybe this time we can win it, and go on to State.”
