HATTIESBURG – Sumrall sophomore Kros Sivley doesn’t like to pitch in cold weather. But with the temperature hovering in the low 50s Monday night, Sivley didn’t show any signs of the weather bothering him.
With the Hattiesburg radar gun clocking the left-hander in the low 80s, Sivley claims his velocity is a little down in that type of weather, but his arm felt great. He finished the night with five strikeouts and a walk in 6.1 innings of work, while allowing one earned run on six hits in the 3-1 win over Hattiesburg.
“Everything was working good, and our defense was pretty good, too,” he said. “It’s a lot easier because I can trust them.”
PHOTOS: Click for photos from Matt Bush.
Sumrall coach Larry Knight wanted to keep Sivley around 80 pitches, and after allowing a single to start the seventh inning, he got a pop out for the first out. His night was done after throwing 86 pitches, however. He could have finished the game, but Knight was thinking of the big picture.
“You know Kros. He’s so even-keeled,” Knight said. “He’s not going to say anything. He was like, ‘ugh,’ but he was at the point where that was the first inning of a little bit of stress on him. If they didn’t get anybody on base, then he probably would have stayed out there a little bit more.”
Senior Halen Sanford, who didn’t get any work in during Saturday’s jamborees, closed the door with two strikeouts. Sanford is expected to join Sivley as a go-to starting arm, so Knight wanted Sanford to get some early-season action.
“I really wanted to get him out there, and he did a really good job,” Knight said.
While Sivley was rolling on the mound, the Bobcats’ offense struggled to find the timely hit. Sumrall only had three hits in the contest, but five Hattiesburg errors and two balks allowed it to score the three runs.
Sumrall’s offense began the night with three strikeouts in the first inning, but it scratched across a run in the second, thanks to a Hattiesburg error. Junior Javan Williams led off the frame with a fly ball to center field that was dropped, then senior Hunter Barrett doubled to left to score the run.
The next two runs were the direct result of balks by the Hattiesburg pitchers, which was a major storyline in Monday’s game. Prior to those two, Knight argued twice for balks while Hattiesburg left-handed pitcher Jerry Burkett was on the mound. When Sumrall base runners tried to steal second, Burkett made a quick move to first base instead of throwing home.
“We work extremely hard on reading lefties,” Knight said. “You know, I was a left-handed pitcher, so I spend a lot of time on that kind of stuff.”
The Tigers had four different pitchers take the mound in the game, and all four did an excellent job of keeping the Sumrall hitters at bay. Burkett started the game and pitched three innings with five strikeouts, then Landon Rascoe pitched 2.2 innings with five more strikeouts.
Hattiesburg coach Joe Hartfield made a rare move with his pitchers, too. After Rascoe got the first out in the fourth, with the bases loaded, Hartfield put in junior Caleb Tart to face one batter. Tart recorded a strikeout, then Rascoe came back in and got a fly out to end the threat. Rascoe would go on to pitch the fifth and sixth innings as well.
Senior Jairus McFarland pitched the final inning and struck out two Sumrall batters to bring the team total to 13.
“Pitching, through the jamboree and all the way through tonight, has been tremendous,” Hartfield said. “Every guy has come in here and competed. (Hattiesburg catcher) Cam Lott has done a good job of playing catch with them, and if you can pitch and catch, you’re definably going to have a chance to win every day you go out there.”
The Tigers offense had seven hits, too, but it had multiple players run into outs on the base paths and they left six runners on base. Senior Keylan McKeller and Lott led the offense with two hits each.
“We’re so green,” Hartfield said. “It’s eight new guys at the plate, and they don’t have the at-bats or the experience from years past, so we’re going to have to find ways to get it done.”
Pitching was easily Hartfield’s biggest concern coming into the season, so Hattiesburg put a lot of emphasis on its pitchers leading up to Monday. That could have affected the Tigers’ offense, though.
“I think we may have put too much emphasis on that and forgot about the offensive side of the game, but we can work with the offensive side throughout the course of the year,” Hartfield said.
