FERRIDAY, La. &045; Even though there was nothing on the line as far as seeding goes in the upcoming MPSA District 7-A Tournament, Huntington head coach Mitch Ashmore felt his team needed to have some momentum on its side.

And the Hounds got that momentum thanks to a solid pitching performance by Will Moak in a huge 4-3 win over the Trinity Saints Thursday night.

Huntington improved to 7-9 overall with a home game against Claiborne Academy today and finished district play at 3-5 and will be the No. 4 seed in next week’s district tournament at Amite School Center.

Trinity finished the regulars season 6-10 overall and 4-4 in district play, good enough for the No. 3 seed.

Moak pitched a complete game, holding the Saints to just five hits while striking out eight and walking just two batters.

&uot;His breaking pitch was sharp,&uot; Ashmore said. &uot;We was able to locate his fastball better than he has lately.&uot;

But the outcome of the game wasn’t decided until the bottom of the seventh inning after Trinity scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 3-3.

With a man on second and one out, Jacob Bonnette was intentionally walked. Kyle Johnson then hit a ground ball to third for the second out, but the throw to first ended up going to the fence and Bonnette ended up scoring all the way from first base.

Ryan Rachal, who pitched the seventh for the Saints, was the losing pitcher.

But perhaps the thing that stood out the most was that Huntington committed only two errors in the game.

&uot;It seems like when we hold the errors down or have them scattered out, we’re able to compete,&uot; Ashmore said. &uot;The game was a well-played game. It was an exciting game.&uot;

Block 20, Newellton 0

JONESVILLE, La. &045; Block put on perhaps its best offensive performance of the season, pounding out 15 hits in a 20-0 win in just three innings over the still-winless Newellton Bears.

&uot;We hit the ball pretty good, but it was against weak pitching,&uot; Block head coach Denny Spinks said. &uot;It was one of our best hitting days of the season. We scored 16 runs against Tallulah (April 1).&uot;

Block junior pitcher Cody Johnson tossed a no-hitter, struck out eight and walked none in picking up the win as the Bears improved to 11-9 overall and 3-0 in district play.

Block scored four runs in the bottom of the first, then put the game out of reach by scoring 13 runs in the bottom of the second.

The host Bears then scored three more runs in the bottom of the third before the game was called.

Monterey 6, Epps 2

EPPS, La. &045; Just five hits didn’t set well for Monterey’s Wolves in this type of situation, especially against a team they’ve pounded over the years.

But a win is a win, and there’s no use bellyaching over a district win. The Wolves made good use of five hits to take the District 3-B win.

&uot;Just too many pop-ups,&uot; Monterey head coach Hank Zizzi said. &uot;We tell our kids we want to make two people handle the ball, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight. It seemed like when we hit it hard it went right at somebody.&uot;

The Wolves started off hot with two runs in each of the first two innings. Ryan Perkins doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly, and Layton Strebeck singled in Ryan Kemp for the first two runs.

Epps got two on a Josh Williams two-run homer, but Monterey got two more in the seventh.

That was plenty for Max Green on the mound as he struck out 14 batters and allowed five hits. He hit a batter and didn’t walk any.

Compiled by

Patrick Jones