BRANDON — Brandon used two big innings to run past Oak Grove 11-2 to split their key Region 3-7A series at Mark Vinson Field.
Next week is the last week of the regular season and last week of region play as the Bulldogs (16-9) will face rival Northwest Rankin, while the Warriors (17-7) will face rival Petal both a two-game series. These two series will determine the playoff seeding in Region 3-7A.
On the mound, Oak Grove's lineup had few answers for Brandon's starting pitcher Walker Hooks.
“Walker was good tonight and he’s been getting stronger his last few outings. A lot of that is he’s missing more when he needs to miss and not living on the plate to make hitters not as comfortable in the box and that’s helped him,” said Brandon coach Daniel Best. “The other night we made mistakes and their guy shut us down offensively. Tonight, they made mistakes, and we made them pay for it.”
Hooks, an Ole Miss signee, tossed a complete game scattering four hits, two runs, and had seven strikeouts to improve to 6-2 on the mound.
“I had the fast ball going and a lot of change ups and curve balls, so not much of the slider because I felt like I was locating everything pretty well,” Hooks said. “Run support was great our offense was firing on all cylinders today. This win gives us some confidence and motivation for next week.”
Brandon scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning off a throwing error to take a 2-0 lead.
The Bulldogs plated three runs in the third to stretch the lead out to 5-0 as two of those runs scored on error by the Oak Grove center fielder who miss played a ground ball on a base hit by Brandon’s Jay McQueen and the ball rolled to the wall. The third run was scored on a sacrifice fly by Hooks.
Oak Grove cut the lead to 5-2 in the top of the sixth inning as Eli Wheat had a RBI single to left and Maddox Miller had an RBI groundout.
Brandon responded win the bottom half with six runs on two hits, a bases loaded walk, two runs scored on two wild pitches, and a throwing error to take the 11-2 lead.
Jay McQueen and Cam Keyes each had two hits to lead the Bulldogs offensively.
“Offensively we’ve been piecing it together after a slow start, but we’ve had some guys step up and we’ve been swinging it better as of late to make things happen,” Best said. “I told the guys it wasn’t the prettiest game, but a win is a win especially in this division and at home,”
E.J. Booth had two hits to lead Oak Grove, while Ryne Stevens took the loss on the mound for the Warriors.
“Walker Hooks is tough. When you get behind with him on the mound it is tough,” said Oak Grove coach Chris McCardle. “We started the game out bad on defense and when put relievers in they couldn’t throw strikes. This division is tough and you have to come ready to play every game and Brandon beat us.”
