Knights tumble to Purvis

By By Alan Hinton / The Hattiesburg American
May 9, 2004
PURVIS Purvis' 7-3 victory over West Lauderdale in the Class 3A South Mississippi baseball championship series didn't play out as expected, but the Tornadoes didn't mind.
And West Lauderdale (28-7), known throughout Jerry Boatner's 31 years as coach as a running, bunting, scratching, clawing, sound defensive team, did little of that.
West Lauderdale's first two runs came on solo homers by University of Southern Mississippi signee Bo Davis and Parker Temple, but it was the Purvis sixth inning that was surprising. The Tornadoes (29-4) scored five runs on four hits, a couple of them ground balls past a drawn-in infield, a stolen base, a balk and three West Lauderdale errors.
In the bottom of the sixth, Micah Bounds hit a line drive that hit West Lauderdale pitcher Ricky Gardner in the chest, and was safe. Kyle Lindsey walked, then a balk was called. Ryan Hudson singled in a run and so did Nathan Smith.
The third run of the inning scored on a ground out and another scored on a fly ball that dropped in short center field. The fifth run scored on an error.
By the time the damage had been done, the Tornadoes led 7-2 and needed only three outs for the win. And they got them.
West Lauderdale tried its running game early, but Purvis catcher Bounds nailed a would-be base stealer with a perfect throw in the second inning and Purvis left fielder Matthew Bounds nailed a Knight trying to go from first to third on a base hit in the fourth.
It all was needed as Purvis excelled at the little things that won the game.
Miller (8-1) struck out the first batter he faced, in the fifth inning after West Lauderdale tied the game 2-2, and the last batter he faced, after the Knights had scored one run in the seventh and hot two more runners on base, and two more in between.
Purvis ended with nine hits, including two singles by Hunter Dunaway.
West Lauderdale finished with six hits, including Cody Freeman's double.
The second game of the best-of-three series will be played at 7 p.m. Monday at West Lauderdale. The third game, if necessary, will be at 7 Wednesday at Purvis.