By Brad Greer

With radar guns and note pads in hand, some 15 or more professional baseball scouts gathered behind home plate to catch a glimpse of South Panola ace right-hander David Renfroe Saturday afternoon.

Whether or not the scouts got their money’s worth remains to be seen but visiting Grenada got the last word in as the Chargers took advantage of nine walks by Tiger pitching for an 11-5 win in the annual ‘Wes Smythe’ Classic.

Grenada (1-0) scored three runs in the top of the first inning off of Renfroe who issued a pair of two-out walks. Rafiel Johnson then crushed a 1-0 fastball down the right field line for a two-run triple. Renfroe later uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Johnson to score from third base for the final run of the inning.

South Panola threatened to score in the bottom of the second by putting runners on first and second with one out only to have Dane Broome ground into a 3-6-3 inning-ending double play.

Grenada picked up another run in the top of the fourth off reliever Mitchell Babb as Mycle Montgomery ripped a one-out triple to right then later scored on Raynard Conley’s RBI ground out to second base.

The Tigers, (0-1) finally got the bats going in the bottom half of the frame by getting three runs on four hits off of Grenada left-hander Hayden Horan. Wesley Gregg led off the inning with a single followed by Whit Whitten’s bunt single. Following a sacrifice bunt by Cody Bryant that advanced the runners, Corbin Moore and Broome produced RBI singles. Moore later scored on a Joseph Blair sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 4-3.

Grenada answered in the fifth inning by plating a pair of runs to increase the lead to 6-3.  After No. 9 hitter Ben Stewart reached on a leadoff walk, Brandon Sivley ripped a double into left to put runners on second and third. Babb then balked Stewart home and Andrew LeClair lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Sivley from third. 

South Panola added a run in the bottom of the fifth without the benefit of a hit as Renfroe reached on a error, stole second and third then scored on a throwing error by the catcher.

The Chargers put the game away in the sixth by plating five runs, one hit and four walks off of Babb who surrendered eight runs on three hits in three innings. The sophomore lefty also issued five walks and five strikeouts along the way.

South Panola loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the frame but came away with one run as Blair bounced into a double play that scored Bryant.

Grenada finished the day with six hits while committing three errors while South Panola registered five hits and made four errors. Turner Neeley picked up the win in relief of Horan by going four innings while giving up all five runs on five hits. The loss went to Renfroe who gave up one hit in three innings while walking four and striking out two. Belvin finished the day by pitching a scoreless seventh inning.

South Panola returns to action tonight as they travel to Cleveland with Junior Varsity starting at 5 p.m followed by the varsity at 7.