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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALABASTER – While Ma’Kale Holden has one eye on his future as a University of Alabama baseball player, he had both feet firmly on the rubber at Thompson High School on Tuesday, March 18 as he delivered a statement performance to power a big win for the Thompson Warriors.

Holden finished the day with 15 strikeouts in six innings along with a 2-for-4 day at the plate with four RBI, including a two-run home run, in Thompson’s 8-3 victory over the Oak Mountain Eagles.

Holden accomplished the feat while surrendering just two runs, three hits and four walks across his six innings of work.

He got to work early, striking out the side in just 11 pitches in the top of the first inning before providing his own run support in the bottom half of the inning.

Facing a two-out hole after Anderson Harris’ lead-off single, Holden stepped to the plate as the clean-up man and ripped a two-run shot to left off a 1-1 pitch to give his side the 2-0 lead.

That home run proved crucial as it also kept the inning alive long enough for Thompson to keep stacking base runners.

Cooper Mills and Gabe Romero drew walks on each of the next two at-bats to put two on for Logan Watson. After they reached scoring position on a wild pitch, an error in the infield brought Mills home. Collier Smith scored during the ensuing at-bat off a passed ball to put Thompson up 4-0.

Holden continued dealing from there, striking out three batters in the second before two more fell on strikes in the third and one struck out in the fourth.

Another Oak Mountain miscue in the bottom of the fourth put the Warriors back in business. A sacrifice bunt and Harris advanced Brody Sabo to third before Austin Barnett hit into a sacrifice fly to score the runner.

While that reduced Thompson to two outs, an error kept the inning alive and put runners on the corners for Holden. He once again stepped up with a big play, this time with a two-run double off an 0-2 pitch to put the Warriors up 7-0.

The Eagles responded in the top of the fifth, taking advantage of a one-out Ben Heath single to set up a two-run home run from Xander Hughes, cutting the deficit to 7-2.

A hit by pitch and a walk put Holden back in trouble with two on and one out, but he struck out the next two batters on six pitches to get out of the jam.

Holden struck out three more batters while dealing with a pair of walks in the top of the sixth, finishing off his day with his 15th punch-out of the game.

Wyatt Williams helped the Warriors add to the lead in the bottom of the sixth after he came up with a two-out triple. Holden then hit a ground ball into the infield that led to another error and Williams coming home from third to make it 8-2.

Gabe Jones picked up an RBI double in the top of the seventh to score Sam Prier from first, but Caden Wooten finished the job on the mound to take the 8-3 win.

In addition to Holden’s success at the plate, Watson went 2-for-3 and Harris was 2-for-4 with two runs.

Hughes led the way for the Oak Mountain offense with a 2-for-3 day highlighted by his two-run home run.

Thompson improved to 14-9 with the win while the Eagles fell to 10-8 after facing the tough test from the Warriors.

Thompson will be in action on Saturday, March 22 for a doubleheader at Hoover High School. The Warriors will first face the Hoover Bucs at 12:30 p.m. before a matchup with Mississippi’s Tupelo Golden Wave at 2 p.m.

Oak Mountain is off until the Buccaneer Classic, which runs from March 27-29 at the Hoover Met Complex and will see the Eagles face the Cullman Bearcats, Leeds Greenwave, Tennessee’s Houston Mustangs and the Auburn High School Tigers.