By David Wheeler

Daily Journal

TUPELO - Opportunity knocked often on Saturday, and the Tupelo Golden Wave answered at just the right time.

The Wave scored three runs early, then made that lead stand up in knocking off the Amory Panthers 3-2 in an early afternoon meeting of traditional Northeast Mississippi power programs.

"The first four innings, we got up 3-0, and it was because we were trying to put a lot of pressure on them," said Tupelo coach Gary Enis, whose Wave (3-2) have already played in four one-run games. "Offensively, we've just got to continue to improve by making contact - by making hard contact."

Tupelo fell into a nice comfort zone early, as Collin Dexter led off the bottom of the first for the Wave with a double. Dexter then scored on a John Gatlin single for a 1-0 lead.

Gatlin continued to be key for the Tupelo offense, this time in the second frame. There, his two-out double scored a run to pad the Wave lead at 2-0.

Tupelo closed out its scoring in the fourth inning on a Robert Corbin RBI single.

That backed up the strong pitching of Jacob McGregor, who went six innings for Enis, allowing only four hits.

"Jacob gave us six strong innings, and got some big outs throughout the game," Enis said.

McGregor's only slip came in the sixth inning, where he allowed a two-out, two-run home run to Kyle Montet.

"We had limited chances, and we didn't do the little things right that you need to do against a team as good as Tupelo," said Amory coach Chad Williams, whose Panthers have also played in four one-run contests. "We came out and competed today."

Amory (6-5) starter Will Cox hurled four innings, giving up three hits in the first inning, but only allowing three the remaining trio of frames.

Next up for both teams are key games.

Amory plays at South Pontotoc Tuesday in a Division 2-3A contest. The Wave have a long wait until traveling to South Panola on Friday for a Region 2-5A game.

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