Albert Martin never thought one run would be enough to beat Porters Chapel. As the innings went by though, he kept stacking up zeroes and made sure that it did.

Martin, a senior right-hander, fired a masterful three-hit shutout Monday night as Tallulah Academy made an unearned run in the first inning stand up for a 1-0 victory over PCA.

Owen Clark and Wade Walker each went 2-for-3 with a double for Tallulah (4-2), accounting for half of the eight total hits in the game. PCA pitcher Montana McDaniel scattered five hits, walked one and struck out nine in seven innings, but was the hard-luck loser.

“I thought it was going to be a battle of offense,” said Martin, who walked one and struck out seven in a game that lasted just 90 minutes. “It was great pitching on both sides. They’ve got a good young pitcher over there.”

McDaniel certainly pitched well enough to win. He pitched out of jams in the third and fourth inning — Tallulah left a runner at third base each time — but was foiled by one errant throw in the top of the first.

After Owen Clark led off with a double to left, McDaniel struck out the next batter and got Cody Landrem to hit a two-hopper to third. First baseman Joe Borrello was unable to handle the low throw from Reed Gordon, though, and Clark came in to score.

“Montana gave us every opportunity to win the game. That’s all we can ask of him,” PCA coach Randy Wright said. “I thought he did a great job throwing strikes. We don’t make that throwing error in the first inning and it’s 0-0.”

While McDaniel pitched around whatever trouble he got in, Martin hardly got into any at all. No PCA runners advanced beyond second base until the fifth inning, when a leadoff walk and a two-out error put runners at second and third. Martin struck out McDaniel to end the threat and set the Eagles down in order in the sixth and seventh.

“We just started off cold and never got on the bats. We never could get on against that pitcher,” McDaniel said.

Wright was more succinct in his assessment of the Eagles’ offensive woes. After scoring 21 runs in their first two games, the Eagles (2-2) have plated only two in their last two outings. Of PCA’s 21 outs against Tallulah, 18 came via a popup, flyball or strikeout.

“Their pitcher did a great job. We were terrible,” Wright said.

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com.