How Game 1 of Class 1A series was decided between Resurrection and Tupelo Christian
The Resurrection baseball team hasn’t lost consecutive games all season, and the Eagles will need to keep that run going if they want to keep their hopes of a Class 1A state championship alive.
Tupelo Christian (24-10) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning with the help of a pair of RCS errors and held on for a 5-2 victory in Game 1 of the 1A title series at Trustmark Park.
RCS (27-6) committed four errors total, including two in the sixth.
The Eagles averaged a little less than two errors a game throughout the season, and the two extra mistakes in the field on Tuesday played a significant role in the outcome.
“We’ve been good on defense all season,” RCS pitcher Cole Tingle said. “This game, I think we got ahead of ourselves a little.”
As he has been all season, Tingle was solid on the mound for the Eagles.
The sophomore right-hander threw all six innings, striking out six and walking two while giving up six hits. He tossed 99 pitches total.
“(Tupelo Christian) had three to four balls they hit hard and they got some that dropped in when they needed them,” RCS coach Johnny Olsen said. “We didn’t make some plays. Our motto all year has been, ‘Don’t give them more than three outs in an inning.’ In those two innings, they had more than enough opportunities, and they took advantage of them.”
Nick Watts scored on a wild pitch in the third inning to cut the Tupelo Christian lead to 3-1.
In the fourth, the Tupelo Christian lead was cut to one when RCS had three consecutive one-out singles by Miller Kay, Joe Scarborough and Tingle, who knocked in Kay.
Tupelo Christian starting pitcher Daniel Reddout held RCS scoreless over the next two innings. He finished with two earned runs allowed on six hits in six innings, striking out four and walking two.
“He mixed his pitches up well and threw inside on us,” Tingle said of Reddout.
Cooper Davis retired all three batters in the seventh inning to pick up the save for Tupelo Christian.
“We had a couple of chances to score in the game, and we left some guys on,” Olsen said.
RCS plans to go with another sophomore pitcher, Max Askew, in Thursday’s 1 p.m. Game 2 at Trustmark Park.
“He’s been our No. 2 guy the whole year. He always gives us a good outing,” Olsen said. “We hope we can go deep with him. We’ve got to score runs. Baseball is baseball. You’ve got to score runs, and you have to keep them from scoring.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 4:27 PM.
