By By Adam Robinson
Sports Editor
The W.S Neal Eagle baseball team opened their 2010 season with their own Eagle Classic Friday and Saturday.
The Eagles claimed second place in the tournament as they went 2-1 in the tournament.
The Eagles opened the tournament with a 13-8 win over Escambia County Friday. Saturday’s game found the Eagles taking an 8-7 win over Flomaton to start the season off with a 2-0 record.
In the championship game against Northview Saturday night, the Eagles lost 7-5 to fall to 2-1.
Northview finished as champions in the Classic with a 3-0 record followed by W.S. Neal at 2-1, Escambia County at 1-2, and Flomaton at 0-3.
W.S. Neal 13,
After building leads of 6-2 and 8-3, the W.S. Neal Eagle baseball team scored five unanswered runs after Escambia County tied the game at 8-8 to start the season with a 13-8 win.
With the game tied 8-8 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Eagles scored two runs in the innings and three in the sixth inning to take the win by five.
Of the 17 players on the Eagle roster this season, only two players are seniors followed by four juniors, three sophomores, seven freshman, and one eighth grader.
Reid Johnson was 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and Keith Bradley was 1-for-4 with an RBI. Christian Purvis was 1-for-2 and Logan Williamson was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Hunter Mullins added an RBI in the win and Brian Settle was 1-for-2 with a double and an RBI.
Josh Palmer was 1-for-1 with two RBIs.
Dylan Godwin got the start on the mound and the no decision as he went four innings and allowed four hits and struck out four.
Settle took the win in one inning of work as he allowed five runs on three hits and stuck out one and walked one.
Tyler Sawyer went the last two innings and allowed one hit and two strikeouts.
W.S. Neal 8, Flomaton 7
Just like in their first game of the tournament, the W.S. Neal Eagles had to hang on after holding a big lead to improve to 2-0 with an 8-7 win over Flomaton Saturday.
W.S. Neal held an 8-3 lead after the fourth inning only to see Flomaton score two runs in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth inning to cut the lead to 8-7.
W.S. Neal then got a double play from the Hurricanes in the top of the seventh and struck out the final batter to get the win by one run.
Bradley took the win on the mound as he went 4 2/3 innings allowing five runs on five hits, walked four and struck out two.
Sawyer went 2/3 of an inning and allowed two runs on two hits and walked one.
Gary McGraw earned the save as he went 1 2/3 inning allowing one hit, one walk and struck out two.
Purvis went 2-for-3 with a double and Bradley went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.
Johnson was 1-for-3 with an RBI and Mullins was 1-for-2 and Jeremy Myers was 1-for-1.
Dodson Herrington was 1-for-3 and Williamson was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
Bradley Brown was 1-for-2 for the Eagles with a homerun in the fourth inning.
Northview 7, W.S. Neal 5
In the championship game Saturday night between 2-0 Northview and 2-0 W.S. Neal, the Eagles turned the tables on themselves as they were down and staged a late rally only to come up short 7-5.
W.S. Neal trailed 5-0 after two innings and 7-3 after the fourth inning, as the away team, before scoring two runs in the top of the seventh to cut the lead to 7-5.
With two outs and a runner on third, the Eagles failed to score any more runs to drop their first game of the season by two runs and fall to 2-1.
McGraw took the loss on the mound as he went four innings allowing seven runs on five hits, struck out six, and walked three.
Settle went 1 2/3 of an inning allowing one hit and struck out two.
Purvis went the final 1/3 of an inning and allowed one hit and struck out two.
Johnson was 2-for-4 with one RBI along with Mullins.
Godwin was 1-for-2 and Cam Blackman was 1-for-1.
W.S. Neal will play in the Escambia County Tournament at T.R. Miller beginning Thursday at 6:30 p.m. against Flomaton.
The Eagles will play T.R. Miller at 6:30 p.m. on Friday before taking on Escambia County at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.