Starkville Academy drops season opener

February 22, 2011

From Staff Reports

WESSON – Starkville Academy fell into an early deficit and couldn't recover as the Volunteers dropped their baseball season opener 7-4 to Brookhaven Tuesday night.
The game was played on the campus of Copiah-Lincoln Community College.
Hunter Bolin, Stephen Robertson and Drew Pellum each had two hits for the Vols, but it wasn't enough to bounce back from the Cougars' early offensive attack.
Brookhaven (1-0) scored three runs in each of the first two innings to build a 6-1 lead.
The Cougars stretched their lead to 7-1 in the middle innings.
SA (0-1) was able to claw back to within five at 7-2, then posted a two-run seventh inning rally to cap the night's scoring.
Ian Tharp was the losing pitcher for Starkville Academy.
Despite Tuesday's result, Vols head coach Neal Henry saw positives that his team can build on moving forward.
"It was good to see three sophomores (Bolin, Robertson and Pellum) really step up," said Henry. "(Pellum) also pitched really well in relief of Ian. And it was good to see us keep fighting and scoring runs late."
Starkville Academy returns to action on Friday with a 7 p.m. game at Hillcrest Academy.
The Vols open up the home portion of their schedule on Saturday against Winston Academy.
Saturday's action will begin with a junior varsity contest at 4 p.m. to be immediately followed by the varsity game.