Raiders take wet, slim win over Vols

By By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
April 10, 2002
Most teams decided the fields were too wet for baseball on Tuesday night, but the Raiders of Lamar School decided to play in the wet. It's a good thing they did.
Zach Moore delivered a game-winning hit in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Lamar a 6-5 victory over visiting Starkville Academy.
Monroe Mayfield hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to help the Raiders come back to tie the game and Drew Moffett came on in relief to shut down the Volunteers and give Lamar the chance to win with one run in the bottom of the last inning.
The game started out in Starkville's favor as the Raiders came out very flat. Parker Mullins started the game with a hit for the Volunteers. Andrew Pylate followed with a home run to left to give the visitors a quick 2-0 lead. A couple of errors gave Starkville runners at first and third with no outs. The Volunteers tried a double steal and the throw back to home was in the dirt allowing Brian Howell to score and give the visitors a 3-0 lead after one inning of play.
The Raiders scored two runs in the bottom of the first to cut into the Volunteer lead. Moffett hit a one-out home run to make the score 3-1. Mayfield followed with a single. After a fielder's choice and walk, Parker Payne delivered a hit to right to knock in a run and make the score 3-2.
The Volunteers scored another run in the top of the second. Chad Fulgham singled to start the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a single by Mullins to make the score 4-2.
The score remained 4-2 as Lamar's Mayfield and Starkville pitcher Preston Coats settled down and pitched well in the middle innings. Coats sat the Raiders down in order in the second, third and fourth innings while Mayfield retired the Volunteers in order in the third and fourth innings.
Finally in the fifth inning both teams got the bats going again. Mullins came through for Starkville by leading off the fifth with an opposite-field homer to stretch the lead to 5-2.
The Raiders came to life in the bottom of the fifth. Kemp Mosley fouled off pitch-after-pitch and finally battled for a walk. Nick Lisi followed with a single. With two outs in the fifth Mayfield came to bat. He blasted a shot down the left-field line that just stayed fair for a game-tying home run.
The Volunteers threatened in the sixth inning. Starkville used walks and sacrifice bunts to get runners at second and third with two outs. Mullins, who was 3-for-3 with a homer at the time, came to bat with a chance to put the visitors back in the lead. Moffett came on to pitch in relief and got Mullins to hit a ground ball. The play at first was very close but Mullins was out and the Volunteers left two important runners stranded.
Lamar couldn't get anything going in the bottom of the sixth and Moffett then set the Volunteers down in order in the top of the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh the Raiders finished off the game. Lisi singled with one out in the inning. Moffett followed with a single to right and Starkville intentionally walked Mayfield to load the bases for Moore. With two strikes, Moore fouled off a couple pitches before hitting a shot off of the pitcher's foot. The ball bounced away for a hit and Lisi came in to give the Raiders a big 6-5 victory over MPSA Class 4A Starkville Academy.
Lamar improves to 10-7 on the season. The Raiders will play again on Thursday as they travel to play Heidelberg Academy.