COLLINSVILLE — For the second time in the last three seasons West Lauderdale is headed back to Trustmark Park.

 

Xavier Thompson hit a walk-off infield single with the bases loaded to lift the Knights over rival Newton County 9-8 to claim the MHSAA Class 4A North State Championship at Jerry Boatner Field on Sunday night.

West Lauderdale (28-5) will face Purvis for the Class 4A State Championship at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Game one will be on Tuesday at 4 p.m., while Game 2 will be on Thursday at 4 p.m. Purvis beat West Lauderdale in the 2023 4A state title series.

 

“Our theme work has been a Greek word Niko that means to overcome, prevail and victory, and our boys never gave up,” said West Lauderdale coach Jason Smith. “They battled and Newton County played an outstanding game and an outstanding series in a great atmosphere. I cannot say enough about our players of how proud I am.”

 

Newton County jumped out to a 1-0 lead as Cooper Johnson led the game off with a home run on the first pitch of the game.

 

Caleb Potter extended the Cougars lead to 2-0 with a solo home run to left.

 

West Lauderdale tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third as Kayden Peoples hit an RBI single and Hunter Russell scored on a balk.

 

Newton County regained the lead at 4-2 in the fourth as two runs scored off an error.

 

The Knights cut into the lead at 4-3 as Braydn Warren scored on a fielder’s choice.

 

The Cougars scored four runs in the fifth to extend their lead to 8-3 on a two-run double by Grant Keith, Potter drew a bases loaded walk, and a run scored on a fielder’s choice.

 

After a 15-minute delay due to the lights going out, Russell scored on an error in the fifth cut the Newton County lead to 8-4.

 

The Knights scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game 8-8 on Russell sacrifice fly, a two-run double by Peoples, and a RBI single by Carter Horton.

 

In the bottom of the seventh Landry Maxwell led the inning off with a single, Rylan Kennedy followed with a double, and Jacob Wooten was intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs. After a strikeout Thompson hit a sharper grounder to second base and the throw home was dropped as the winning run scored to win it for the Knights.

 

Peoples had three hits and three RBI’s to lead West Lauderdale.

“Just a lot of adversity all game, and we worked really hard and believed in ourselves. We battled every pitch and turned out great,” Peoples said. “We just never gave up. Now it’s onto Purvis they’re a talented team, but so are we. We got a lot of heart and don’t back down for any competition and just keep battling. We got to compete and very excited.”

 

Carter Horton got the win in relief for West Lauderdale. Kennedy added two hits for the Knights.

 

“Xavier has been big for us all year and all through the lineup we have tough outs, and just proud of how they battled,” Smith said. “It was a really well played game. Purvis will be a great team to play against, and we got to battle and believe. It’s been a tremendous season.”

 

Landen Huber took the loss in relief for Newton County. Huber and Johnson each had two hits for the Cougars (19-16).

 

“Hats off to them. They’re a great team and well coached. It’s baseball and it sucks. A month ago no one thought we’d be here, but these guys bought in and believed in each other,” said Newton County coach Jordan Smith. “These kids worked hard and changed the program. We got a bright future, and we will be back with a vengeance next year.”