Since getting four starters back from basketball, Columbia Academy has turned the corner and outscored opponents 54-15 during a four-game winning streak.
The Cougars (4-4, 3-0) finished off a sweep of Amite School Center in their first District 4 series Friday night, besting the Rebels in both games of a road doubleheader.
In Game 1, Robert Johnson led the Cougars with a three-run homer and a sacrifice fly for a 4-RBI day in a 13-3 CA victory.
Kyle Herring had a double, a single and 2 RBI, Peyton Rowell drove in a pair and Slade Wilks walked four times. Mason Dilmore got the win on the mound, striking out eight and allowing three unearned runs on three hits and three walks over six innings.
The nightcap was the Ras Pace show as the senior led the Cougars to an 18-2 shellacking. He ripped his first homer of the season (seventh of his career), drove in two runs, walked three times and picked up the win on the bump in a dominant performance. The right-hander struck out 10 batters while allowing just one earned run on three hits in six innings of work.
Colby Thompson roped a double and a single to drive in three runs, while Ethan Stringer had a three-run double. Johnson drove in a pair with two singles, Tate Duncan and Patrick Gill each had 2 RBI and Wilks, Hays Carley and Kyle Herring each plated a run.
“We’ve been finding a lot of barrels and been hitting the ball really well. Even when we get out, we’ve been hitting the ball really hard,” head coach Keith Stanley said. “I’ve noticed with these guys we find a way to hit the ball extremely harder than the other teams even when we pop out, line out or ground out.”
The Cougars kept up the momentum Monday at West Marion, beating the Trojans 9-4 while Duncan and Wilks combined to throw a no-hitter.
“In that Amite series, Mason and Ras threw well. We’re still walking a few more than I would like — we walked eight (Monday) night in the no-hitter — but it’s slowly getting better with the morning these guys get under their belt,” Stanley said.
Columbia Academy was supposed to begin a two-day tournament at Parklane Academy Tuesday, but the first day of action got rained out. As of deadline Tuesday, Wednesday’s action was still up in the air. The Cougars will return to the field Monday at home against Parklane.
Stanley said a lot of CA’s errors come down to lack of repetitions with rain oftentimes keeping the Cougars off the practice field. He added in CA’s upcoming games he wants to see the Cougars throw more strikes and play better defensively.
“I told the guys (Monday) night that we have a chance to be a really talented group if we can just do the small things correctly and make the routine plays,” he said.
Pictured Above: Columbia Academy’s Slade Wilks celebrates his fifth home run of the season and 49th of his Cougar career with Robert Johnson and Ras Pace Monday night at West Marion. The Southern Miss signee, who is projected to be a top MLB draft pick, needs just 12 more long balls to break the Mississippi high school home run record for a career. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
