On a cold Simpson County night, the Trojans' bats were as cool as the temperature outside as Aiden Moffett of Taylorsville took Magee to task after a rough first inning on the mound.
Entering play, the Trojans' record stood at 2-0 after besting county rivals Mendenhall and Simpson Academy in the season's opening weekend. The Tartars came into the game with a 1-4 record with tough losses to powerhouse programs such as Petal, Sumrall, and Oak Grove, but a 9-0 thrashing of Sumrall in their most recent contest.
To start the game on the bump, Magee tabbed Adam May to match up with Moffett. May did his job on the mound for the majority of the outing with several grounders and weak contact from multiple Tartars, but defensively the Trojans struggled on the night to make routine plays. In the top of the first, May coaxed a groundout from Kelby Jordan on the first pitch of the game. May's fortunes quickly turned as Ky Buckley and Karson Evans tallied back-to-back singles to put men on the corners ahead of the meat of the order. Kason James helped Taylorsville grab the early lead with a hard grounder to left that netted James an RBI double to put the Tartars up 1-0. After getting his counterpart Moffett to line out to Josh Sanders in left, May had an opportunity to minimalize the damage and escape with only a lone run being surrendered. A passed ball early in Walker Gable's at bat allowed Evans to score from third and James to advance over to third. Gable went on to draw a walk from May, putting men on the corners yet again. Gable baited the Trojans into turning their attention to him going for second, allowing James to score from third and Gable made his way to second. Tyler Booth then reached on an error by Kaden Harper that allowed Gable to score, pushing the lead to 4-0. May managed to finally get the Trojans out of the inning by getting Dereco Crosby to groundout to Brennon McNair. In the bottom half of the frame, the Magee offense showed a spark early as the team battled to close the deficit. Sanders got the ball rolling with a stellar at bat against Moffett that saw Sanders battle from an 0-2 count to draw a base on balls after an eight pitch at bat. Cayden Bridges then sent a frozen rope that seemed destined for extra bases down the right field line. Unfortunately, James made a spectacular diving stab to retire Bridges for the first out. During Bridges' at bat, an errant throw by Moffett on a pickoff attempt at first allowed Sanders to scurry all the way to third. Chandler Pittman followed up with a base on balls and stolen base to get men on second and third for the Trojans' cleanup hitter McNair. McNair drove in the first Magee run of the contest with an RBI groundout. Back-to-back walks issued Jordan Magee and Hayes loaded the bases for Mason Booth. Booth slapped a seeing eye single past the Tartars' second baseman that allowed Pittman and Magee to score to cut the lead to 4-3 prior to Harper striking out to end the threat.
After allowing Magee to get back into the ballgame in the bottom of the first, the Tartars' offense widened the gap in the top of the second. Cedrick Beavers started off the inning reaching base via an error by McNair at shortstop. After Kelby Jordan fell into an 0-2 hole, Beavers swiped second to move into scoring position. Jordan then reached on a throwing error by May on a comebacker that allowed Beavers to score. Early in Ky Buckley's at bat, Jordan stole second, before advancing to third on a wild pitch. A groundout by Buckley to Magee at third allowed Beavers to cross the plate to run the Taylorsville lead to 6-3. Evans then returned to the plate and sent a ringing double to right. James followed with a fly out to Pittman in center who turned on the jets to hawk down the long fly ball. After hitting Moffett with the 2-2 delivery, the Trojans defensive woes continued after Moffett advanced to second with a stolen base, Gable grounded to McNair who made an error on the play allowing Evans and Moffett to score. Another Magee error on a grounder back to May allowed Tyler Booth to reach base and Gable to score to increase the lead to 9-3 for the Tartars. With two outs, May got Crosby to hit a lazy popup to Magee at third for what appeared to be a surefire third out. As the ball came into his glove, Magee began to head toward the dugout and the ball fell to the ground allowing Crosby to reach and extend the inning. After walking Beavers, May's night was done on the mound as the Trojans turned to McNair to relieve the tough luck starter. Unfortunately for May, the baseball has a way of finding the man who is down on his luck. The first batter to face McNair hit the ball to May at second. May made an error on the play allowing Booth to score before Buckley grounded out to McNair to end the inning the following batter. Down 10-3, the Magee dugout was eerily quiet as the mood of the team echoed a somber silence. After a rocky bottom of the first, Moffett settled into a groove as he retired the Trojans with little trouble in the bottom of the second.
The third inning saw both offenses go relatively quietly as the teams advanced to the fourth with the score still 10-3. After their loan scoreless inning, the Taylorsville offense came back to life in the top of the fourth. Crosby got things started with a hard grounder past Magee at third for a base hit. Beavers then followed up with a base hit to put men on first and second. Jordan launched a long double deep to right over the head of Ty West, allowing both Crosby and Beavers to score. Early in Buckley's at bat, Jordan advanced to third on a past ball before scoring on a sac fly by Buckley to give the Tartars' a commanding 13-3 lead. McNair was then able to get through the rest of the inning without any further damage, but the 10-run lead left the Trojans' hopes for victory slim.
In the top of the fourth, Moffett continued to roll along as he struck out the side in order. In the top of the fifth, Gable led things off with a double on a liner to left followed by a single from Booth to put men on the corners for the Tartars. Crosby then drove Gable in from third on a single to give Taylorsville a 14-3 lead before McNair retired the next three batters in order. The 11-run lead meant that the Trojans needed to score two runs in the bottom of the fifth to extend the game another inning and avoid the dreaded run rule. Pittman started the inning with a single. McNair followed with a groundout to second, but an error on the back end of the play allowed Pittman to move to third. After Magee struck out looking, Pittman managed to score on a passed ball early in Hayes' at bat. Unfortunately, the Magee rally to be did not come to fruition as Hayes flew out to center to end the game.
The Trojans' returned to the win column after vanquishing Richland Saturday by a score of 4-3 in a makeup of the contest that was postponed on Tuesday. With divisional play lingering in the distance, will be on the road until opening divisional play against Yazoo County on March 17.
