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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Oak Mountain Eagles wasted little time making a statement on offense as they breezed past the McAdory Yellow Jackets in six innings, taking a 13-3 win on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at Oak Mountain High School.

After Nolan Alexander struck out the side in just 11 pitches in the top of the first, a walk and a Jones single put two on with one out for William Yoder. Disaster then struck for McAdory with an error at third base, and the Eagles capitalized with the first two runs of the game.

Xander Hughes then drew a walk to leave runners on the corners for Kelly, who hit a bunt single to bring Yoder home. Noah Eady doubled on the next at-bat to make the lead 4-0.

The Yellow Jackets suffered another blow thanks to a catcher’s interference call that loaded up the bases. On the next pitch, Zach Fitzgerald used a sacrifice fly to bring another run home and give his team a 5-0 lead heading into the second inning.

McAdory responded in the top of the second by capitalizing on a pair of Oak Mountain miscues. A lead-off walk and an error put two on and allowed the Jackets to score off a sacrifice fly and an error at home plate, cutting the deficit to 5-2.

Another infield error in the top of the third put a runner on third for McAdory to send home on another small ball play, this time an RBI ground out to make it a two-run game.

The Eagles got another chance to respond in the bottom of the fourth after back-to-back walks and an error loaded up the bases with no outs. Owen Edwards and Sam Prier scored off a wild pitch to take the lead to 7-3.

Two batters later, Oak Mountain came up big with a pair of run-scoring hits, first a Cole Kelly RBI single before Eady sent Kelly home on an RBI double after the left fielder stole second base.

Now sporting a 9-3 lead, the Eagles added to it in the bottom of the fifth after Edwards turned a one-out triple into a trip to home as he scored on the throw to make it a seven-run lead.

Oak Mountain got a trio of free base runners after that before the Jackets pulled the plug on the mound. However, Kelly ripped a two-run double to right on the first pitch that McAdory’s new pitcher threw to put his team up 12-3.

While the Eagles couldn’t get to a 10-run lead by the end of the fifth to immediately trigger the run rule, Yoder drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to put the capper on the 13-3 win.

Kelly went 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs while Eady finished 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBI. Yoder earned three RBI during a 1-for-3 day with a walk and two runs.

Alexander got the win with seven strikeouts in 3.1 hitless innings against three unearned runs and four walks.

Oak Mountain is now 4-3 with the win and will play games on back-to-back days starting on Thursday, Feb. 27. That will bring a matchup against Pell City before a Friday, Feb. 28 game against the Tuscaloosa County Wildcats. Both games will start at 4:30 p.m. at Oak Mountain High School.