The Lewisburg Middle School Tigers ended the 2013 season on a positive note when they traveled to Columbia and defeated the E.A. Cox Cougars 10-5 in five innings to finish the year with an 11-1 record.

After E.A. Cox jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, the Tigers outscored the Cougars 10-4 over the next four frames before the game was called due to darkness at the end of the fifth inning.

'Good to win'

"It feels very good to win your last game no doubt. We would have liked to have been undefeated coming in, but that loss might have been good for us because it changed our attitude," said Lewisburg coach Frank Musgrave.

LMS mustered only five hits against E.A. Cox starting pitcher Cortland Phillips and reliever Austin Dillehay, but drew six walks to go along with a hit batsman and two E.A. Cox errors. Jay Howard led Lewisburg's offensive attack by going 2-for-3 with a walk, two doubles, 1 RBI, and a run scored, while Brayden Gentry added a triple, 3 RBI, and two runs scored. Ben Taylor (1 RBI) and Trent Richardson each notched a hit for the Tigers as well.

Lewisburg starting pitcher Logan Bailey picked up the win on the mound and allowed three runs in two and a third innings of work on four hits while recording four strikeouts. Howard then came on in relief and yielded two runs on three walks over one and two-third innings before Richardson gave up one hit in one scoreless inning.

Matt Wilson tallied two hits to pace the Cougars at the plate, while Nathan Massey (1 RBI), Matthew Joslin, and Phillips both had one hit.

Scoring burst

E.A. Cox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a RBI groundout by Massey, before the Tigers pushed across three runs in the top of the second on the strength of walks from Gentry and Knox Barnes, a RBI single by Taylor, a E.A. Cox throwing error, and a Howard RBI double to seize a 3-1 advantage.

Lewisburg then extended their lead to 6-1 by plating three runs in the top of the third with the help of leadoff double by Richardson, a hit batsman, a passed ball, a Barnes walk, and two wild pitches.

E.A. Cox scored three runs in the bottom of the third on two hits, a walk, and three wild pitches to narrow the gap to 6-4, but LMS responded with three runs in the top of the fourth to push their lead to 9-4. After loading the bases with no outs on a Howard double and a couple of walks by Brett McGehee and Bailey, Gentry cleared the bags by roping a three-run triple into the right centerfield gap.

Stretching lead

The Cougars notched a run in the bottom of the fourth to trim the deficit to 9-5 before the Tigers stretched their lead to 10-5 in the top of the fifth when Tristan Maxwell raced home on a wild pitch after drawing a one out walk.

E.A. Cox tried to mount another rally attempt in the bottom of the fifth and put runners on second and third with one out, but LMS right fielder Austin Wood turned a 9-6 double play by catching a Knox Hardison fly ball and throwing out Joslin at second base to end the game.