FMS Rockets fly past Lewisburg

The Forrest Middle School Rockets (14-3) earned a split of the regular season series against county rival Lewisburg Middle School by whipping the Tigers 15-4 at the Jonathan D. Hollingsworth Memorial Field on Monday night to avenge a 6-3 loss to LMS earlier in the season.

Forrest finished with seven hits and five walks against two Lewisburg pitchers while the Tigers aided the Rockets' cause by committing a season high nine errors.

"Forrest is a solid team and doesn't need any help. You can't make that many mistakes against a good team and expect to win," said Lewisburg coach Oakey Gaskill. "It was probably our worst defensive performance of the season."

Boone Sweeney went 2-for-5 with a triple, 4 RBI, and three runs scored to lead FMS' offensive attack, while Ryan Yelensky and Jesse Pruitt each added a hit and 3 RBI. Landon Jones, Marshall McKee, and Jacob Jones each notched a hit for the Rockets as well with Jones driving in one run.

Although Forrest committed four errors in the field, the Tigers struggled at the plate for much of the day and mustered just four hits and two walks against two Rocket hurlers.

FMS starting pitcher Alex Brewer turned in a dominating performance on the mound en route to earning the victory, as he racked up 13 strikeouts in four and two-third innings of work while allowing three unearned runs on two hits and two walks. Yelensky then came on in relief of Brewer and yielded one unearned run on two hits over the final two and one-third innings.

"There were some aspects of the game where we could have played better, but overall we played pretty well. They made some mistakes and we got some timely hits," said Forrest coach Bart Joyce. "Brewer has pitched well all season and did an excellent job today. The only reason why we pulled him was because his pitch count was getting high and we have our postseason tournament coming up soon."

Will Johnson notched two hits and a RBI to pace the Tigers at the plate, while Wilson Limbaugh and Madison Peete each had a hit and a RBI. LMS starting pitcher Ethan Poteete suffered the loss after giving up seven runs, only two earned, on one hit and four walks over four and one-third innings.

The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning by tallying two runs in the frame on a bloop single by Johnson, two Rocket errors, and a Limbaugh RBI single.

Lewisburg's lead would prove to be short lived, as Forrest crossed home plate five times in the top of the third with the help of two walks, a hit batsman, three LMS errors, and a two-run single by Sweeney to seize a 5-2 advantage.

The Rockets then extended their lead to 8-2 in the top of the fifth by scoring three more times in the inning on the strength of an error, a walk, a hit batsman, a Pruitt two-run double, and a RBI groundout by Brayden Gentry.

LMS plated two runs in the bottom of the fifth thanks to two Forrest errors and a pair of RBI singles by Peete and Johnson to narrow the gap to 8-4, but the Rockets pushed across two runs in the top of the sixth behind a Yelensky single, two passed balls, an error, and a double by Jones to forge a 10-2 advantage.

FMS then tacked on five more runs in the fifth with the aid of two Tiger errors, a walk, a Sweeney triple, and a couple of singles by McKee and Jones to cap their 15-4 triumph.