Outlaws earn Sweet win over Vicksburg
Published 12:00 am Monday, August 4, 2003
Vicksburg resident Jonathan Sweet, center, gets a high-five from Louisiana Outlaws teammate Tyler Hawthorne after hitting a two-run homer against the Vicksburg Heat Sunday in the 11-12-year-olds’ Governor’s Cup semifinals. (C. Todd Sherman The Vicksburg Post)
[08/04/03] A couple of old friends teamed up to deny the Vicksburg Heat a shot at the Governor’s Cup championship on Sunday.
Vicksburg residents Jonathan Sweet and Blake Hynum each drove in four runs as the Louisiana Outlaws beat the Heat 12-6 in the 11-12-year-olds’ semifinals.
Sweet hit a pair of two-run homers and also pitched four innings, allowing three hits and two runs to pick up the win. Hynum blasted a two-run homer and had a pair of RBI groundouts.
Kurt Cooksey went 3-for-3 with two home runs and four RBIs for the Heat, and Brian Fitzgerald was 2-for-3 with a solo homer.
“They kind of liked that,” Louisiana coach Mark Hicks said of Hynum and Sweet. “They were hyped up. I think one of them cut one of them and they wanted to get them back.”
Hynum had played with the Outlaws on and off all year and decided to play with them in the Governor’s Cup, while Sweet joined the team later in the summer.
“I really wanted to play for (the Heat), then my friends (with the Outlaws) called me and said they wanted me to play for them,” Sweet said.
Hynum said he was friends with most of the players in the Vicksburg dugout, but neither he nor Sweet showed it by their play on Sunday.
After Landon Williams’ RBI single plated the first run of the game, Hynum homered to right in the top of the first inning to give Louisiana a 3-0 lead.
Vicksburg scratched a run across in the bottom of the inning, but Sweet hit his first homer in the third and Hynum added an RBI groundout as the Outlaws went ahead 6-1.
Vicksburg rallied in the third, scoring four runs on back-to-back homers by Cooksey and Fitzgerald. Cooksey’s blast was a three-run shot, and the surge pulled Vicksburg to within 6-5.
“If we got into a slugfest with them, they were going to beat us,” Vicksburg coach William “Boozer” Emerson said. “I thought we had taken their best punch and stayed with them, and it wasn’t meant to be.”
That was because Sweet had another trick or, in this case, another homer up his sleeve.
Another RBI groundout by Hynum increased the Outlaws’ lead to 7-5 in the fifth, then Louisiana exploded for five runs in the sixth to put the game away.
Sweet’s second two-run homer of the game highlighted the inning, and Dwight Hawkins and Williams each had an RBI single. Both Hawkins and Williams went 4-for-4.
Cooksey hit a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth to bring Vicksburg to within 12-6, but the Heat couldn’t get any more runs off Sweet. He coaxed three straight flyouts to end the game and put Louisiana in the championship.
“I think the second one was the better one ,” Hicks said of Sweet’s homers. “That put the icing on it.”
Oak Grove 11,
Louisiana Outlaws 2
Oak Grove finished its stampede through the 11-12-year-olds’ division by routing the Outlaws in the championship game.
Dillon Ferderinko hit a grand slam for Oak Grove in the first inning to set the stage for hard-throwing pitcher Rashun Dixon, who struck out the first seven batters he faced and pitched a complete game.
Hynum was 1-for-3 with an RBI single for the Outlaws, and Jason Hicks doubled and scored a run.
The story of the game and the tournament, though, was Oak Grove slugger Kaleb Barlow. In five games, the tournament’s offensive MVP was 13-for-16 with 12 home runs, including a solo shot in the championship game.
As a team Oak Grove hit 25 home runs, including eight in a semifinal win over Greenwood, and outscored their opponents 64-7.
Oak Grove coach Philip Coco said his team’s home field is about 250 feet deep in center field, about 50 feet more than the ones used at Halls Ferry Park.
“On this size field, everybody on our team can hit it out,” Coco said. “A lot of them would have been out on that (250-foot field), but some would have been long outs.”
The game was marred by a player ejection and a shouting contest among parents in the fifth inning.
After a Louisiana player was hit in the back by a Dixon fastball, he took two steps toward the mound and was immediately ejected.
“We had two strikes on the batter and a nine-run lead, we’re not going to intentionally hit a batter. And I would never throw at a kid anyway,” Coco said.
Vicksburg Heat 3, Greenwood Storm 1
Jason Pettway hit a two-run homer and threw a complete-game three-hitter to lead the Heat past the Storm in the consolation game. Pettway allowed one run and one walk, and struck out five in six innings. He also had a single, and drove in three runs.
Colby Mitchell singled and scored a run for Greenwood.
Oak Grove 11, Greenwood 4
Oak Grove hit eight home runs in a semifinal rout of the Greenwood Storm, including back-to-back-to-back shots by Rashun Dixon, Brent Chappell, and Kaleb Barlow in the fourth inning.
Barlow hit three solo homers for Oak Grove.
Daniel Allen and Taylor Young both singled and scored a run for Greenwood.
Oak Grove 10, Levell Woods 2
Kaleb Barlow was 2-for-3 with two home runs and five RBIs, Isaac Morgan added a two-run homer, and Charlie Sullivan hit a solo shot as Oak Grove rolled into the championship round with a victory over Levell Woods in pool play Sunday morning. Blake Robertson and C.J. Jordan each hit a solo home run for Levell Woods.
Louisiana Lynx 16, Enterprise Bulldogs 0
Jordan Hymel and Brett Loup both homered and singled for the Louisiana Lynx in a rout of the Enterprise Bulldogs during pool play.
Tyler Kliebert added two hits and a run, and R.J. Jackson went 2-for-4 with three runs scored. Loup and Hymel each had two hits.
Sunday’s championship game scores
7-year-olds
Delta Dodgers 12, Clinton Arrows 10
9-year-olds
Natchez Mudcats 13, Vicksburg Angels 3
11-12-year-olds
Oak Grove 11, Louisiana Outlaws 2
13-year-olds
Hattiesburg 10, Southern Rebels 9