BOONEVILLE – Northeast's Justin Neal stole the show Saturday afternoon at Harold T. White Field, going 5-for-7 with three home runs and six RBIs to power the Tigers past Northwest in a pair of games, 6-5 and 7-1.
Northeast improved to 22-13 overall and 13-5 in the north division to open up a two-game lead. Northwest fell to 20-13 overall and 11-7 in the division, holding on to third place.
Sophomore Dylan Castoria did all he could to keep Northwest in it offensively, going 4-for-7 at the plate with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs.
In the opener, back-to-back bombs by Castoria and Jay King gave Northwest a 2-0 lead in the third and Castoria's two-run single in the fourth pushed the lead to 4-0 after four complete.
Cody Reed escaped jams in the first four innings as Northeast stranded seven, but couldn't work himself out of trouble in the fifth as the Tigers clawed back in it.
Northeast had five hits in the fifth, all singles, and pulled within 4-3 on an RBI-groundout by Chris Aichinger and two-out two-run single by Dalton Sims.
Heath Wood led off the sixth with a walk, was sacrificed to second and later scored off Will Robertson's single as Northeast tied it at 4-4. Neal then hit his first of three homers of the day a batter later off Reed, giving the Tigers a 6-4 lead. Jordan Barnes made a stellar effort at the wall and appeared to rob Neal's home run, but when he hit the top of the fence the ball popped out and over.
Northwest threatened in the seventh to try and extend the game, using back-to-back singles by King and Walt McCullough and pulling within 6-5 after an error by the first baseman. But with runners at second and third and no outs, Jonathan Morrison got a fielder's choice, strikeout and fly out to end the game.
Kyle Stephenson improved to 4-0 in six innings of work, scattering eight hits and four runs (two earned). Morrison picked up his first save by tossing the seventh.
Reed fell to 5-2 with the loss, his first since Feb. 23 against Rend Lake. He scattered seven strikeouts and tied a career-high with seven walks in a complete-game effort.
Neal's three-run home run in the first inning of Game 2 set the tone for Northeast as they ran away with a 7-1 win to complete the doubleheader sweep.
Castoria doubled and later scored off a wild pitch for the Rangers' lone run in the sixth.
Tanner Gaines went the distance for Northeast to improve to 6-1 on the year, scattering six hits, five strikeouts and just one run. Northwest used four pitchers, with Matt Ferguson taking the loss and falling to 5-2.
Northwest will look to snap a four-game skid Wednesday, welcoming Mississippi Delta to Senatobia for a 2 p.m. first pitch. The start time was moved up from 4 p.m. to try and beat the rain.
Live stats available here: www.sidearmstats.com/northwestms/baseball.
