By Brad Greer
Fresh off their victory over nationally-ranked Oxford Wednesday, the South Panola baseball team completed a four-game sweep of the Oxford Spring Break tournament with a pair of wins against Southaven and Olive Branch Thursday.
The 6-6 Tigers will carry a four-game winning streak into tonight’s Region 2-6A opener tonight as they host Tupelo beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are asked to paint the stands red in support.
The two teams meet again Thursday at 4 and 6 p.m. in Tupelo for the second of three meetings on the season. South Panola ends a busy week by traveling to Winona Friday with games starting at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
South Panola 7, Southaven 2
Led by a complete game pitching performance from Anderson Wilder, the Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings before cruising the rest of the way.
Wilder scattered six hits over seven innings of work on the mound while issuing one walk and striking out three batters. Southaven’s lone runs off the sophomore right-hander came in the fourth and fifth innings.
South Panola took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Cole Rotenberry led off the inning with a single and later scored on Mason Wilkerson’s sacrifice fly. The Tigers blew the game open two innings later by putting four runs on the board off three hits and two Southaven errors.
Noah Willis led off the inning with a single followed by Rotenberry’s bunt single that put runners on first and second. After Turner Rotenberry reached on an error that allowed Willis to score, Wilkerson walked before Chase Durham delivered a RBI single to drive in a pair of runs. Wilkerson would add the final run of the frame by racing home on a wild pitch.
South Panola added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to close out the scoring. Kyle Weaver crushed a solo home run in the fifth off Charger reliever Colby White before Turner Rotenberry double and scored in the sixth.
 The Tigers collected nine hits in the contest as Zach Hopper, Jacob Fennel and Chris Casiday provided singles. South Panola hit .330 (37-112) as a team over the four-game stretch with Cole Rotenberry leading the way with a .500 batting average and three stolen bases. Weaver drove in five runs while belting two home runs while Turner Rotenberry scored eight runs.
 SP 6, Olive Branch 3
Just as in their victory over Southaven, the Tigers took command early by plating all six of its runs in the first two innings to avenge a 6-5 loss to the Conquistadors two weeks ago.
Cole Rotenberry collected four singles and scored two runs as part of a 12-hit South Panola attack. Turner Rottenberry and Durham added two singles each. Fennel, Luke Daniels and Willis also contributed with singles. Wilkerson added a two-run RBI single in the first to South Panola to a 2-0 lead.
Daniels pitched four innings to earn his second pitching victory in as many days. Nathan Herron tossed the final three innings, giving up two runs off seven hits while issuing two walks. Daniels meanwhile surrendered one run off two hits with one walk and one strike out.