By Daniel Rigdon / Sports Writer
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN — The West Lauderdale baseball team might have played 11 games this season. However, if you ask coach Jerry Boatner and the rest of the West baseball nation, the season started Tuesday night as the Knights beat down division foe South Jones 10-0 in Collinsville.
"We needed a big win and we got it tonight," said Boatner. "We've got a new season and a new beginning."
Caleb Melton supplied the offense for West and Wes Stokes shut down the Braves from the mound.
With both clubs struggling to produce any sort of offense, Melton got the Knights (6-5, 1-0) going in the bottom of the fourth inning blasting a three-run home run over the 330 sign in left-center to give West the spark it needed. Parker Davis would increase the lead to four runs later in the inning with an RBI hit.
After Stokes quickly retired the side in the top half of the fifth inning, Melton would step up and blow the contest open with bases-loaded bomb off of South Jone's Benji Sullivan. Davis would record his second RBI with a two-out double that plated Blake Thomas.
Lucas Leeper would seal the win with an RBI single three batters later.
"We got a couple of big hits when we needed them tonight ," added Boatner. "Parker Davis had a big game for us and Melton had 7 RBIs. We had been struggling the last three or four games, but we played West Lauderdale baseball tonight. We played with more hustle tonight and played great defense It was a total team effort.
"I'm glad to see everybody on the team play well tonight. We needed that."
Stokes pitched a complete game striking out 10, while giving up just one hit.
"Wes was overpowering and just awesome tonight," noted Boatner.
Jon Glaze took the lose for the Braves.
West Lauderdale will resume play when it travels to South Jones on Friday night.
