PEARL — Coming into Tuesday it was all about Purvis’ offense.

 

Well, Ridge Brown had other ideas.

 

Brown pitched a complete game scattering three hits, one run and had five strikeouts as West Lauderdale edged the Tornadoes 2-1 in a pitcher’s duel in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 4A State Championship series at Trustmark Park Tuesday afternoon.

 

Game 2 of the series will be Thursday at 1 p.m. This was just the second time all season Purvis’ offense has been held to one run or less in a game. The last time was the second game of the season against Ocean Springs.

 

“Ridge has had to overcome adversity for four years, and for him to shine like that in the biggest moment is great. I am so proud of him,” said West Lauderdale coach Jason Smith “If you can win game one and get ahead in the series it’s an awesome feeling.”

 

Purvis scored first and their only run of the game in the top of the second on an RBI single to left by Tyce Shepherd. Later in the inning with the bases loaded and two outs Brown picked off Shepherd at second base to end the inning.

 

West Lauderdale answered with their lone two runs in the bottom of the third as Jacob Wooten delivered an RBI double to right to tie the game at 1-1 and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Xavier Thompson to give the Knights the 2-1 lead.

 

After that it was all about the pitching. Brown (11-3) threw a total of 107 pitches, and after the second inning he managed to allow just three base runners the rest of the game and left two of those runners in the scoring position.

 

“It was amazing and hard. I struggled my last outing, so just to come out here and do what I did is very special. It was a challenge, but I knew I had it in me to get the job done,” Brown said. “My slider was working today. Every time I was on the mound I thought I’m going to go out there and dominate. I’m going to pitch to those guys and not be scared of them.”

 

The Knights (29-5) only managed three hits as well.

 

“We were able to get a couple hits, a sacrifice fly and manufactured two runs,” Smith said. “We have all our pitchers available for the rest of the series, so Ridge doing what he did was huge.”

 

Cade Lawler (8-2) took the loss on the mound for Purvis. The Tornadoes fell to 27-7.

 

“Had opportunities in a really tight ball game and I was disappointed we get a guy picked off at second base with bases loaded,” said Purvis coach Tony Farlow. “West Lauderdale did a great job of pitching their way out of it. Give them credit. We go as our offense goes, and offense didn’t go tonight. We will see what happens Thursday.”