Sports Editor

The dirt around home plate got an extra good fanning as the Pike Liberal Arts Patriots faced off against the rival Dixie Rebels on the baseball diamond Tuesday.

In a game that saw 21 batters combined from both teams take a seat on strikes the Rebels handed the Patriots (1-1) their first loss of the season 7-2.

In the beginning it seemed the only way PLAS would be able to sit down the Rebels was by strike out. As the Patriots’ starting pitcher, Brad Egarton mowed down eight in his three innings pitched accounting for all the outs except one.

He left two men stranded in the first and second innings, but in the third Dixie went to work on Egarton sending seven batters to the plate and grabbing the lead 3-0 from the home-standing Patriots.

PLAS went down in order in their half of the third and with Layton Sanders taking over on the mound to start the fourth, the barrage began for Dixie.

After a lead-off walk, the Rebels belted two straight doubles and a single to score three runs early with no outs. Matt Floyd took over on the mound, but the Rebels milked one more run out of the inning and held a commanding 7-0 lead.

Floyd would help Pike Liberal in the later innings as they retired nine batters in a row to end the game, but the Patriots could only muster two runs total in the bottom of the fifth never really threatening the Dixie lead.

Egarton took the loss for the Patriots while Jason Currie got the win for Dixie in four innings of work. Sanders led PLAS at the plate going 2-for-3 on the day with a double. Scott Kirby was the only other PLAS batter with a hit.

Next up for the Patriots is a 3 p.m. matchup with SMCA at home on Friday.