2016 Combined

Hebron Christian wins opening game of state title series May 17, 2016 10:46:04 PM

BY WILL NATIONS

Special to The Dispatch

BELZONI -- Hebron Christian's Payton Griffin might have a sore pitching shoulder, but the senior did not show any ill effect from the ding. He gritted his teeth and hurled the ball over the plate - time and time again -- as he kept bats consistently quiet. He became just too much for the Humphreys Rebels as the game progressed on Tuesday evening. Griffin's performance -- along with offensive gems from Landon Hill and Channing Tapley -- helped Hebron defeat Humphreys 17-3 in the opening game of the Mississippi Association of Indpendent Schools' Class A state championship series.

Hebron Christian can win the state title on its home field at 3 p.m. Thursday. A second (and potential third) game in the best-of-three series will be played at that time.

Griffin, an East Central Community College Baseball signee, tossed six frames, fanning 12 and walking four (two hit batters), in, possibly, his final high-school game on the mound. The right-hander scattered two hits and allowed three runs (two earned) on 111 pitches against 25 Rebel batters. Griffin made sure his team escaped several dangerous situations throughout to maintain Hebron's lead, executing a blazing fastball and curveball combination. "I was asked to do my best and shut them down," Payton Griffin said. "I don't want to blame my shoulder, but it was not its best tonight. I still throw strikes, and I was able to come back in ~any counts. I slowed myself down, and I made sure I filled up the strike zone." Hill and Tapley, both seniors for the Eagles, had near perfect nights in the batter's box. The duo, which was a strong connection on the football field in past seasons as wide receiver and quarterback, paced their team with big numbers on the diamond. Hill scattered four hits and collected four RBis on five at bats. Tapley connected on four hits for four RBis and reached first as a hit batter in his first plate appearance offive. The seniors scored six combined runs. "I think (Humphreys) knows we can come out and hit. We are going to be an aggressive ball club," said Tapley, who signed with Mississippi Delta Community College in January. "We got with it in the late innings. We had the mindset that we were going to be solid all the way through from one to nine." Michael McGee, who started on the mound for Humphreys, closed Hebron's advantage in the third. He blasted a two-run, two-out shot over the left-field fence. The game would never be closer than that situation. The very next frame, Hebron exploded for seven runs on four hits. Tapley slapped a single, scoring the first two runs in the rally. Elijah Parrish, an eighth-grader, plated a run with an RBI single with one out. An out later, Dash Turman -- a seventh-grader -- coaxed an RBI walk, and Thomas Gable repeated the