LONDON — Don’t look now, but Darren McWhorter’s North Laurel Jaguars are hitting stride.
North Laurel captured its second win in a row, and sixth out of its last seven games during Tuesday’s 13-3 win over 49th District for Jackson County.
The win pushed the Jaguars over the .500 mark at 12-11 while remaining undefeated against 49th District foes at 3-0. The loss dropped the Generals to 6-11 overall, and 0-4 against district foes.
Jackson County held a 3-1 advantage entering the bottom of the fifth inning when North Laurel exploded for 10 runs and out the game away. The Jaguars added two more runs in the sixth inning to seal the win.
“We will take a win anyway we can get one and to look at the score you would think it was an easy win but it was anything but that,” McWhorter said. “If you had told me after the game how many hits we had, I would have never said 12. We were in a dogfight for most of the game.
“Cunagin threw well for Jackson and kept us off balance most of the game,” he added. “We had a big fifth inning and scored 10 runs but were down 3-1 until the bottom of the 5th. EJ Allen threw well for us all six innings and we were playiing solid on defense. We weren’t able to score many runs until the fifth and that was a huge inning scoring 10. Again, we will take any win any way we can get one.”
Kyler Elza had a big day at the plate with two hits, four RBI, and one run scored while Noah Rush finished with two hits, three RBI, and two runs scored. Chase Keen delivered two hits, two RBI, and scored twice while Andrew Cupp finished with two hits, an RBI, and one run scored. J. Douglas Gilliam had a hit, and scored once while EJ Allen finished with a hit, and Blaize Jones drove in a run. Carter Kelly finished with a run scored.
Allen picked up the win, tossing a complete game while allowing three hits, and only two earned runs. He finished with five strikeouts.
Brayden Thomas had two hits, and an RBI for the Generals while Tydus Summers finished with two hits, and scored once. Noah Collett finished with a hit, an RBI, and two runs scored.
