On a calmer day, it might have been just a deep fly ball, but Brandon Burns’ moonshot off a Jeff McGraw fastball had plenty of height – and with a little extra nudge from the wind cleared the left-field wall for a grand slam.

The bases-loaded blast opened the scoring in Shelby County’s first game of a doubleheader against Montevallo Friday in Columbiana.

The Wildcats won 13-8.

&uot;He’s just awesome,&uot; Shelby County coach Shane Beasley said of Burns. &uot;He’s just such a great athlete, and he’s been tearing the ball up lately.&uot;

Burns slapped another towering shot to left field in his next at-bat, but his second blast required no help clearing the fence.

Behind the two homers by Burns, Shelby County jumped out to a 6-0 lead by the end of the third inning.

Montevallo clawed back into the contest, scoring eight runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead.

But Beasley’s Wildcats quickly bounced back.

&uot;The guys didn’t give up when we got behind,&uot; Beasley said. &uot;I think we’re starting to play well together as a team.&uot;

Burns finished 3-for-4 with six RBIs. David Cofer had two hits and Aaron Howard scored three runs for Shelby County in the win.

Shelby County starter Matt Wilson struck out five before Howard came in to close the final three and one-third innings to earn the win.

Shelby County 10, Montevallo 6: The Wildcats (6-1) got another big game from Brandon Burns, who went 3-for-4 at the plate and closed for starting pitcher Justin Mallory, who got the win after fanning three and giving up no earned runs in four and two-thirds innings.

Thompson 11, Hoover 9: The Warriors put five runs on the board in the both the fourth and fifth innings to beat the Bucs at home.

Ryan Chase struck out six in four and one-third innings to earn the win. Chase also helped himself at the plate, going 2-for-4 with four RBIs.

Dustin Holmes had two hits, two RBI and two runs scored for Thompson.

Austin Lucas fanned four batters and was credited with the save.

Thompson 6, Mountain Brook 5: Ryan Chase’s RBI-double gave Thompson (8-3) the edge over the Spartans in Alabaster.

Chase (4-0) also pitched the final one and one-third inning to earn the win.

Richie Franklin was 2-for-3 with two runs scored for the Warriors. Nick Harris tripled twice and had three RBIs.

Thompson starter Austin Lucas struck out seven before giving way to Chase in the fifth inning.

Stanhope Elmore 7, Chelsea 5: Chelsea scored five runs in two innings before getting shutout the rest of the way by Stanhope Elmore in Sylacauga.

Walker Kent and Doug Pate each had one RBI for the Hornets. Pate struck out seven and gave up two earned runs in six innings of work.

Chelsea 9, Sylacauga 8: James Ward and Zach Richey each went 2-for-4 and homered for Chelsea (8-1) as the Hornets took down the Aggies at home.

Walker Kent was 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Coming in for relief of Chris Sturdivant, Richey (2-0) earned the win, striking out five and giving up one earned run on four hits in three innings of work.

Shelby Academy 9, Cornerstone 0: Shelby won

its first region game with shutout of Cornerstone.

The Raiders scored three runs early with hits from Cody Wright, Colby Green, Jake Ingram, and Kevin Lackey, then cruised to victory with Marcus Jones and Josh Kervin

combining to throw a one-hitter.

Green was 3-for-3 with 3 RBIs and two runs scored for Shelby.

Jon Ray earned the loss for Cornerstone.

Shelby Academy 10, Kingwood 2: In game one of a doubleheader, Shelby scored early and often as nine Raiders got hits.

Colby Green was 2-for-3 and Marcus Jones had a triple and three RBIs for Shelby. Andrew Scarborough added two RBIs for the Raiders.

Adam Irby was given the loss for Kingwood.

The Lions scattered six hits against Shelby pitchers Kevin Lackey and Jamie McClain.

Shelby Academy 9, Kingwood 2: The Raiders moved to 5-0 on the season in game two of a doubleheader against the Lions.

Shelby piled on six runs in the first inning and coasted behind the pitching of Jason Stokes, Josh Sharp and Jake Ingram.

Kingwood was held to only three hits in the loss.

Cody Wright went 2-for-3 and Marcus Jones had two RBIs for Shelby