Marshall powers past Oak Hill

Oak Hill Academy’s glimmer of hope was doused by Marshall Academy’s three-homer inning.

Blasts by Walker Sanders, Landon Houston and Matt Bourdon helped push a four-run lead to 10 and sent the Raiders packing an inning early.

The 13-3 win at home Friday in game two of the Class 4A state playoff series advances the Patriots to the final four.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen that in my career as a coach,” Bruce Branch said about the three home runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Sanders led off the inning to remember with a bomb over the left-field fence. It was his second solo homer of the game.

Houston immediately followed with a blast that exited the park quickly just inside the left-field foul pole. It was his ninth home run of the season.

A few batters later, Bourdon launched a three-run moon shot over the right-field wall.

Rusty Bolden’s single and RBI ended the game by the 10run rule.

“You want a challenge like what was presented to us in this game,” Branch said. “We knew Oak Hill wasn’t going to roll over. The kids stepped up and accepted the challenge.”

The Raiders had plenty of chances early to take the lead. They left the bases loaded in both the first and second innings.

MA scored two runs with two outs in the bottom of the first. Sanders homered, and then Jordan Bonds drove in a run with a double. Bonds leads the team in RBIs with 56 on the season.

The Patriots added a couple of more runs in the second, again with two outs. The lead was 4-0.

Oak Hill trimmed its deficit to one with a three-run third.

Marshall answered in the bottom of the fourth with three runs to push its advantage to 7-3. Sanders, Houston and Bonds each had an RBI.

Colton Foster pitched the first two innings of the game and got the win. He was relieved by Jackson Graves, who tossed three innings. Then, Colton Atherton came in and closed the door on an Oak Hill threat in the top of the sixth. He got a fly ball out and then struck out two.

The Patriots had 10 hits in the series-clinching win.

Other hits included a double by Jamie Graves and a single by Colton Neal.

The outcome of game one of the series on Tuesday of last week at West Point was never in doubt.

Marshall rode the left arm of Bourdon and a 12-hit night to a 15-0 win over Oak Hill.

In four innings on the mound, winning pitcher Bourdon struck out six, walked none and gave up just two hits.

“Matt challenged them with the fastball, and he was very effective,” Branch said. “He threw 43 pitches in four innings. That’s about as efficient as you want.”

Bolden threw one inning and preserved the shutout. He struck out two and gave up two hits.

Meanwhile, the red-hot offense produced four runs in the first, two in the second, three in the third, three in the fourth and three in the fifth.

“We battled at the plate — from the top of the lineup to the bottom,” Branch said.

Bolden led the way with three hits and four RBIs. He also stole two bases. Bonds followed with two hits, including a double, and three RBIs. Jamie Graves connected for a pair of hits, and he drove in two runs. Atherton had a double and a single and an RBI. Sanders also had two hits and an RBI. Jack Smith added a single and two RBIs.

The Patriots (29-6 on the season) will next meet district rival Kirk Academy in the north half championship series. Game one was scheduled for Tuesday at Marshall. Game two will be played Wednesday at Grenada at 6 p.m. If necessary, game three will be Saturday at 2 p.m. On the MA campus in Holly Springs.

Marshall is the defending north champ, having taken two of three from Kirk a year ago.

“It’s all part of a three-step process,” Branch said. “We won the district (step one), and now we get to play for the north. Kirk is a very talented team. We know we have to beat the best to get there. Winning championships is never easy.”

The winner of the Marshall-Kirk series will face the south half winner, either Wayne Academy or Riverfield Academy (La.) in the Class 4A state title series next week. It’s the same final four as a year ago.