2016 Combined

WEEK.oF . 5- }5-/{o

Hebron Christian wins opening game c:A state title series - The Dispatch process in the next Eagle plate appearance. Hill bookended the frame with a two-run double, helping the Eagles lead 11-3. "The fourth inning is the type of response you expect from your team when the chips get put down," Hebron coach Todd Griffin said. "We had young men throughout the lineup who stepped up and gave us the cushion we needed to relax and play our style of baseball. Whether it was the one-hole guy or the nine-hole guy, it was time for them to step up, and they delivered in the clutch to pull away." The Eagles added another run in the sixth and expanded the lead to the final advantage during the seventh. Tapley paced the last offensive frame with his three-RBI single with two outs before getting out in a run-down. Clay Faulkner tossed the final scoreless frame, striking out two and coaxing a pop out. Hebron opened the game with a bang. The Eagles' first four batters reached safely and plated three runs. Hill brought home Faulkner who reached on a lead-off walk, and Griffin scored Hill and Tapley on his single. The visitors pushed its run-advantage to three when J .T. Weaver forced a throwing error that scored Tapley, who doubled in the second, to 4-1.

5118/2016

"This game makes me excited to return home. I want another ring. We have worked hard all season, and I think we are in position to get it," Tapley said.

Now the Eagles' attention turns to closing out the series for the school's first-ever, Mississippi Association ofIndependent Schools baseball title. The school won its first two titles in girls and boys basketball in February. The championship experience has the Hebron seniors ready to get another ring on their fingers.

"We want to leave a legacy at Hebron," Payton Griffin said. "In postseason action, people see us as 'a nobody.' 'Who's Hebron?' We want to leave a mark."

APPEARED IN: CARTHAGINIAN

NESHOBA DEMOCRAT ----- SCOTT COUNTY TIMES ----- WINSTON COUNTY JOUJDUU_ __ CLARION.. LEDGER -------

-------~ NEWTON COUNTY APPEAL --- SPIRIT OF MORTON

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MERIDIAN STAR

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