Hunter Barrett made up for some lost time Monday night. Following a year where he barely saw the field due to a hip injury, Barrett opened the 2018 season in style, helping Sumrall beat Hattiesburg, 4-3.
The junior got the start on the mound for Sumrall, pitching four innings and only giving up a run. He also drove in three of the Bobcats’ four runs, including a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning which proved to be the difference.
“That’s tough when you have to sit out the whole year and come back. Lot of pressure on you,” Sumrall head coach Larry Knight said. “But he [Barrett] is very competitive and nothing bothers him.”
Overall, that was the case for Sumrall facing a nationally-ranked Hattiesburg team which figures to be a force in Class 5A. Coming off a disappointing showing in a Saturday jamboree, Knight says his Bobcats were ready to bounce back, regardless of who the opponent was.
“Saturday, we didn’t have a good day. We had a bunch of walks. Probably 14 batters walked,” Knight said. “So we had a bad taste in our mouth, and I’m actually glad it happened, because we got to address some things from a pitching standpoint.”
Because of a high pitch count, Barrett left the mound for Sumrall after only four innings of work Monday night. At that point, the Bobcats led 3-1 after his two-run single in the first inning and Billy Garrity’s solo home run in the third.
But Hattiesburg was not done. The Tigers tied the game up at 3-3 in the fifth inning after Dexter Jordan recorded an RBI triple and eventually came around to score on a fielder’s choice, which credited an RBI to AJ Stinson.
In Sumrall’s half of the inning, it was all up to Barrett, who Hattiesburg preferred to face after opting to intentionally walk Garrity. And all Barrett did was pick up a walk of his own with the bases juiced, bringing home Zane Berry and giving the Bobcats a 4-3 lead.
“He [Barrett] was ready for this game tonight,” Knight said.
With the lead and six outs away from the win, Knight leaned on his bullpen, and it delivered. After allowing those two runs in the fifth inning, Grant Ready pitched a flawless sixth. And in the seventh, Garrett Robbins, with a runner on and heavy hitters like Jordan and Joe Gray due up, shut down any hope of a Hattiesburg comeback.
“I tell you what, one thing that’s different about us this year, Garrett Robbins coming in,” Knight said. “Last year he really had a little bit of tendinitis and couldn’t do it. But he hit 89 [mph] in the last inning. If he’s the guy we’ve got in our back pocket to come in and out of the pen like that, that’s going to be huge for us.”
