For the first time since 2009, West Marion topped Columbia on the diamond with a 2-0 home win Friday night despite being no-hit by the Wildcats.
Trojans starting pitcher Jayden Duncan was even more impressive than Columbia’s arms, capping a shutout performance by striking out the side in the seventh inning to spark a wild celebration in Foxworth.
“It was nice to finally get the monkey off our back against Columbia,” Trojans head coach Derrick Jerkins said. “I definitely felt like we had the team that could beat them, but it was getting it done. It was a big sigh of relief to finally get over that hill.”
Duncan struck out seven in the complete game, scattering four singles and one walk. The sophomore right-hander escaped a couple of jams, including facing runners on second and third with two outs in the top of the sixth. But he coaxed a popout into foul territory that he caught himself to end the threat.
Jerkins said he talked to Duncan as soon as he got to school Friday morning and asked if he was ready to go. Duncan’s response let Jerkins know he was ready.
“He told me he wanted the ball. I could tell then he wanted to prove himself a little bit,” he said. “He’s thrown a lot of innings for us over the last few years, but he hasn’t really pitched a game that big. He wanted the ball and he’s a competitor. He proved that.”
The Trojans scraped two runs across in the bottom of the third thanks to several defensive miscues by Columbia. Duncan knocked in the first run on a sacrifice fly to score Tre’ Broom, and Noel Parrett later scored on an error. Jerkins said that even though the Trojans got no-hit, it wasn’t necessarily a terrible offensive performance.
“We hit a lot of balls hard and right at them. We only struck out twice, so we put a little pressure on them,” he said. “They made a couple errors, we took a couple walks, we stole a bag that inning and put a bunt down in the inning that we scored. We’re not swinging it real good right now, but we’re still trying to do whatever we can to score some runs.”
Aiden Singley pitched well for Columbia, giving up just two unearned runs in four innings that included three walks and one strikeout. Landon Sanders pitched two scoreless innings in relief for the Wildcats.
“When we pitch well and don’t put on runners, we usually find a way to win those games. It just so happens that game we didn’t fare as well on Friday,” CHS head coach Greg Owen said.
Owen said he felt like the Wildcats handled the first game well when they beat West Marion 2-1 April 2 at home and played with a lot of intensity, but that intensity was missing in Game 2.
“We kind of relaxed a little too much and didn’t match our same intensity and focus,” he said. “With that being said, we still ended up losing a 2-0 ball game throwing a no-hitter. Any time you have a rival game, there’s crazy things that will happen and you wouldn’t expect anything else from West Marion and Columbia.”
Prior to that one win in ’09, the last time the Trojans beat Columbia was in 2005 when Jerkins was playing. Jerkins said he knows the Wildcats have a bright future ahead of them, but he hopes finally getting over the hump will help West Marion make it a more even series.
The win puts the Trojans (12-8, 6-2) a game up on Columbia (9-7, 5-3) in the district standings.They split the season series, and both squads had two district games remaining on the schedule as of press deadline Tuesday.
The Trojans played host to Jeff Davis County Tuesday night, but results were unavailable at press time. They will travel to Leakesville Thursday to take on Greene County before concluding Region 8-3A play Friday at Jeff Davis. West Marion will host Columbia Academy Saturday afternoon and East Marion Tuesday night.
Head coach Derrick Jerkins said if West Marion wants to make any kind of run in the postseason, its bats are going to have to wake up a little bit. “Sometimes you have three or four kids that go cold at the plate, but the majority of the team right now is not swinging it very well. Hopefully over the next five regular season games going into the playoffs the bats will wake up,” he said. “If they don’t I don’t think we’ll be able to make the run that we want to.”
Jerkins added that while Columbia and Seminary have good arms that shut down the Trojans lineup the past two weeks, West Marion saw a lot of really talented pitchers early in the season and should have been prepared. He said it’s possible the Trojans were pressing a little bit, but he thinks they ran into some bad luck as well with some hard-hit balls right at somebody.
“Hopefully the bats wake up and some of that can be some balls that find some holes. Maybe when we hit the ball it won’t be right at somebody,” he said. “Hitting is a lot about momentum. Sometimes you get a bloop here and there, and things kind of turn around for you. We’re going to keep fighting it until we find it.”
Columbia began its series with district-leading Seminary (10-7, 7-1) Tuesday night at home, but results were unavailable at press time. The Wildcats will play the Bulldogs on the road Friday night.
Head coach Greg Owen said a sweep of Seminary would be big for the Wildcats, but it would be more about playing good baseball heading into the playoffs rather than the district standings.
“More important than any kind of positioning in the playoffs, that would put us winning three out of our last four (district games) going into the playoffs. It’s nice to be in regardless with a chance,” he said. “All you have to have is a ticket. Once you’re in the playoffs, anything can happen. You do want to be playing your best, and that’s what two wins would do for us.”
The Wildcats will close the regular season with a road game Saturday at Forrest County AHS and a home contest against Perry Central Tuesday. The postseason begins April 18.
Pictured Above: West Marion's Jayden Duncan drives in a run with a sacrifice fly Friday night. | Photo by Charlie Smith
