Anna Green

The Pike Liberal Patriots took the Jonah McWaters baseball tournament by storm and clinched the win for the championship.

The Patriots beat the Northside Methodist Knights twice in a row for the title. The Knights lost to the Patriots in the second round of the tournament 3-2, but they made their way back up to face the Patriots again in the championship game. Unfortunately for Northside Methodist, the Patriots proved once again to be too much to handle as the Pike Liberal won 7-2.

Justin McLaughlin led the Patriots with 2-3 hits and a two-run homerun in the second inning, where Pike Liberal scored all of their seven points. Ross Hixon pitched for the Patriots and gave up two runs, five hits, and had six strike outs.

Butch Austin, the coach for the Patriots, said he thinks his team has a shot at the state championship this year.

“It was a good win, and I believe that we have won this tournament every year we’ve played in it. I think we have a shot at state,” Austin said.

Austin said his team won the earlier game against the Knights because of defense.

“We played a good defensive game,” he said.

Carol rallied the Patriots against the Knights and brought in two runs with his homerun. .

The Patriots took on Abbeville Christian Academy first on Saturday and won the game in five innings with a score of 10-0.

Bradley Floyd helped lead Pike Liberal to a decisive victory with a grand slam. Floyd and Carol both made the all-tournament team. McLaughlin was selected as most valuable player.