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By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

TROY – Having a flair for the dramatic, the Oak Mountain Eagles made the most of bringing the energy to each of their four games at the Sykes Invitational at Troy University and Charles Henderson High School.

Oak Mountain brought home three wins in four games from March 6-8, putting in valiant efforts to take games against the Wicksburg Panthers, Bibb County Choctaws and Etowah Blue Devils, but fell to the Homewood Patriots.

The Eagles kicked off their time in Troy on the right note, defeating Wicksburg in a 9-5 contest on Thursday, March 6 at Riddle-Pace Field.

Owen Edwards made contact right from the jump in the top of the first, hitting a fly ball into left field and getting all the way around to third base on an error. Sam Prier followed that up with a walk before Gabe Jones legged out a triple to center field, scoring both runs to put his team up 2-0. On the next at-bat, Noah Eady grounded out, but knocked in Jones to extend the lead out to 3-0. 

Oak Mountain struck again in the bottom of the fourth inning when Xander Hughes sent a fly ball to deep left field, watching it go over the fence for a solo home run to make it a 4-0 game.

The Panthers responded in the top of the fifth inning, trading an out for a run on a ground ball to the left side to cut the score to 4-1. However, in the bottom of the inning, the Eagles responded back with a five-run frame to break things open at 9-1, highlighted by a two-RBI triple from Hughes. 

Wicksburg attempted to make things a game again in the late stages, scoring on a passed ball in the top of the sixth before scoring three on a solo home run, a walk and a ground out in the top of the seventh, but could not fully mount a rally and allowed Oak Mountain to walk away with a 9-5 win.

Garrett Edwards earned the win in the team’s opening game, pitching four innings  and giving up zero runs on two hits while striking out four and walking one.

The Eagles came back the next day and used the momentum they gained in their first outing to push them through game two, defeating Bibb County 6-5.

This time however, it was Oak Mountain who felt a sense of pressure early on. In the bottom of the first inning, a two-RBI double made it 2-0 in favor of the Choctaws, who were hoping to make a name for themselves in this game.

The Eagles did not let that lead last for long though. In the top of the second following a triple from Cole Kelly, Zach Fitzgerald sacrificed and reached on an error, allowing him to eventually move all the way around to third base and score Kelly to make it 2-1.

Then, in the top of the third inning, Owen Edwards and Prier earned back-to-back walks before Jones laced a two-RBI double of his own to tie the game. Immediately after him during Eady’s at-bat, Jones scored on a passed ball before Eady hit a sacrifice fly, extending Oak Mountain’s new lead to 4-2.

The Eagles struck again in the top of the fifth, as after Prier singled with one out, Jones doubled on a line drive to center field  and scored Prier to make it 5-2. Bibb County responded to make it 5-3 in the bottom half of the inning though, scoring on an error by Hughes.

The Choctaws then tied the game up miraculously in the bottom of the sixth. They scored their first run on a double play that drove in a runner on third before a single a couple of batters later scored in another run to make it 5-5.

Neither team could win it in the seventh, so the game went to extra innings, and in the top of the eighth after a single from Jones, Kelly hit a double into left field to drive his teammate in, making it 6-5. Bibb County could not do anything to follow, and Oak Mountain escaped victorious.

Fitzgerald earned the win in game two, closing things out with 2.1 innings pitched, giving up no runs on one hit and striking out three while walking one.

The luck did not hold up in game three for the Eagles after changing locations to Charles Henderson High School, falling to Homewood 5-0.

Oak Mountain got one final chance to respond in game four the next day, and did so with a rallying win over Etowah, 4-3.

The Blue Devils got things going quickly in the game, and in the top of the first, began things with two walks and a double to load the bases before scoring on a passed ball and a ground out to make it 2-0 early. Etowah then laid down a bunt and reached on an error by Will O’Dell, allowing another run to score to make it 3-0.

The damage had been done, but the Eagles responded to it. After a single by William Yoder, Eady got to the plate a couple of batters later with two outs and hit a single into center field, making the score 3-1 with his RBI.

Eady then went out to make a statement in the bottom of the third, hitting a solo home run out to center field and helping make it a 3-2 game.

Things died down until the bottom of the sixth, when Oak Mountain made a final push for a win. Kelly started things off with a single before Fitzgerald was hit by a pitch, allowing Hughes to hit a single of his own to drive in a run and tie things. Brooks Braswell then came up and hit a sacrifice fly deep enough to left field to break the tie and put the Eagles on top 4-3, as the Blue Devils could not do anything more in the seventh.

Jones earned the win for Oak Mountain, pitching six innings on the mound and giving up three runs on three hits in the process while striking out eight and walking four.

Following the invitational, the Eagles sit at 9-5 on the year and will next make the trip down Highway 119 to take on the Briarwood Christian Lions on the road on Tuesday, March 11 at 4:30 p.m. at Briarwood Christian School.