The Greenville Tigers downed visiting Selma 11-1 in five innings in a region bout, bringing their record to 3-0.
One more region win will assure the Tigers a spot in the region playoffs.
Coach Brad Horn said the Selma batters couldn’t handle the pitching of senior Raymond Moody, who had a “great performance.”
“His velocity was just something they couldn’t seem to catch up with,” Horn said.
Out of 18 batters faced, Moody struck out 15.
The Tigers started slow, but things picked up in the second, with Rush NImmer and Harper Vinson making it home to put the Tigers up 2-0.
Selma’s first three innings went poorly, three up, three down. Greenville began to run away in the bottom of the third, scoring five runs thanks to almost the entire Greenville batting lineup.
Horn said, however, that his 4 and 5-hole hitters, Jeremy McGinty and Ozell Carter, had rough games, but that this is going to happen sometimes.
“Part of baseball is how you deal with failure,” Horn said. “A professional player batting .300 isn’t getting a hit 7 out of 10 times, and he’d be considered an all-star.”
Moody’s only earned run came in the top of fourth. After getting deep in the pitch count, a fastball lead to a triple, getting the first Selma baserunner on base. One more batter later, Moody gave up his second of two hits for the day, allowing one run to score, before closing out the final two batters with two more strikeouts to get himself out of the inning
The Tigers need only one more run to hit the 10-run requirement to end the game prematurely. Moody, who hit three for three for the night, doubled, and Brandon Smith got sent in as a pinch runner.
McGinty stepped up, and Horn said that despite having a rought night, he came up and got the job done, hitting a sacrifice fly to send Smith home and end the game.
Several Tiger players had good nights at the plate, with Rush Nimmer batting 2 for 2, Harper Vinson, 2 for 3, and Tijuan Rudolph going 1 for 1.
The Tigers returned to Selma Friday for a double-header, with the first game being a region matchup. Game results were not available before press deadline. Horn said early Friday morning that if they can win the first match, the second could be used to give some players rest, since a playoff spot would be secured. After that, the Tigers need only prepare for a showdown against Demopolis, who are also 3-0 in the region.