Leake Academy baseball team drops series to Winston

The Leake Academy Rebels opened district play last week with rival Winston Academy in a three-game series.

Winston took game one of the series on Monday 12-2 but Leake bounced back and took game two 9-4. The Patriots then took the deciding third game 4-3 on a walk-off home run in the ninth inning to take the series.

Leake returns to play on Tuesday as they host Simpson County Academy on Tuesday and will travel to Mendenhall on Thursday for the return trip. Simpson comes back to Friday.

Winston 4

Leake 3

The Patriots got a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to take the series from the Rebels on Friday.

Leake led for most of the game as they scored two in the second and one in the third to go up 3-0. Winston then scored two in the fifth and one in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings. After a scoreless eighth, Winston got a walk-off home run from Trey Williamson to take the win.

Winston outhit Leake 11-5 in the contest. Riley Myers doubled and scored for Leake while Kade Marble singled and scored. Jake Freeny singled and drove in a run while Rhett Atkinson walked twice and scored a run.

Aiden Watkins started on the mound and pitched seven innings, giving up three hits on eight walks and four walks while striking out three. Whitt Welch pitched one inning and gave up three hits and one run to take the loss.

Leake 9

Winston 4

After falling behind early, the Rebels finished scored in four straight innings to take a five-run win over the Patriots to even up the series on Thursday. 

Winston scored two in the first and one in the third to lead 3-0. But Leake answered with two in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fifth and sixth to take the win.

Each team had seven hits in the contest while Leake took advantage of nine walks. Riley Myers was 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs to lead Leake at the plate. Whitt Welch singled and drove in two runs. Kade Marble also scored two runs.

Bishop Hardin started on the mound and pitched seven complete innings and gave up four runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out three in 115 pitches.

Winston 12

Leake 2

The Patriots took an early 7-0 lead and took a six-inning, run-rule win over the Rebels in the first game of the series on Monday. 

Winston scored two in the first and five in the second to lead 7-0. Leake scored two in the third while Winston answered with one in the third and fifth. Winston finished with three in sixth to take the win.

Winston outhit Leake 7-4 and took advantage of 11 walks. Bishop Hardin was 2-for-2 with a double and one run scored while Jake Freeny was also 2-for-2 with a run scored. Riley Myers also had two stolen bases.

On the mound, Bryce Watkins started and lasted only 1 1/3 innings and gave up seven runs on one hit and five walks. Matthew Nowell came in and pitched 3 1/3 innings and gave up two runs on one hit and five walks while striking out five. John Cross Beckham pitched the last inning and gave up three runs on four hits.