Not only is the smell of grilled hamburgers and hotdogs in the air, but competitive baseball is in full force also.
All four of the area baseball teams, Carroll Academy, J.Z. George, Winona Christian and Winona High are fighting for playoff spots.
The Winona Tigers, winners of their last three of four district matchups, clobbered South Pontotoc Tuesday 11-1 behind Andrew Chesteen who pitched the entire game.
According to head coach Cole Surrell, the ultimate test for his baseball team is Friday when they host 18-4 Water Valley. The Tigers are currently 3-2 in league play, are coming off victories over Aberdeen, Nettleton and the Cougars on Tuesday. In the Nettleton contest last week, the Tigers defeated the Nettleton Tigers 13-3 and chalked up 15 hits.
Chief Brown and Adam Chamblee both went 3 for 5 in the contest and West Hammond had seven strikeouts. Jacob Carpenter added two hits as well.
As for Friday's contest, Surrell stressed the important of the game.
"We will love to have a nice crowd out and behind our players," he said. "We've been playing well since spring break and these guys know what this game means."
The Tigers only won one district game a season ago and Surrell calls Friday's contest, "the battle for second place."
"This is the biggest game we've played all year," he said.
Surrell said he feels after seeing quality pitching over the break, his Tigers can handle what the Blue Devils bring.
"We need a great atmosphere behind us Friday," Surrell said.
Game time is slated for 7 p.m.
Carroll Academy
The Rebels, with their win Thursday at Manchester, claimed a district title.
"That was one of our goals at the beginning of the season is to win the district," head coach Sim Shanks said.
On Tuesday the Rebels, 6-2 in 2-AA play, split games against Manchester. In game one, the Rebels gave up six runs in the seventh to Manchester and fell 7-6. In game two of the Rebels showed why they have been atop the district much of the year and defeated Manchester in game two.
Shanks said this year's team is a young team with no seniors.
"It took us a while to figure it out," Shanks said. "We've started hitting and the pitching is improving. We hit the weight room in the offseason and practiced in that cold, cold weather and now it's paying off. It's a good experience for us."
Shanks has had to shuffle the line up around as well as starting catcher Kyle Krauzyk went down with a knee injury.
"We had to shuffle around,," Shanks said. "But we've had players to come in and do an alright job at the spot."
J.Z. George
Nothing is different with the J.Z. George Jaguars, who lost to Hollandale Simmons 13-6 Tuesday night.
"We have to beat Eupora Friday, it's as simple as that," head coach Mark Austin said.
The Jaguars allowed seven runs in the first inning at Hollandale but managed to put six runs up before the game getting out of hand.
"We're still swinging the bats well, but we have to cut down on the errors."
The Jaguars had eight errors at Simmons Tuesday night.
"Our playoff hopes are still alive," Austin said. "We're in fourth right now."
The Jags defeated Ruleville a week ago and displayed a clinic to the Sunflower County crowd. The Jags put up 18 runs behind Joseph Johnson who had three singles and an RBI, and Brandon Purvis had a two-run homer and a single. D.K. Partlow tacked on two singles and three RBIs.
Kemp Haddon had a solo homer, and T'Quan Partlow had a triple. Verrance Cobbins had a double, and Cliff Daves and Blake Pollard had RBI singles.
Pollard got the loss in Tuesday's Simmons game.
The Jaguars host Eupora in the vital 4-2A matchup. Game time begins at 6:30 in North Carrollton.
Winona Christian
It looks as if the WCS Stars will go into playoffs as the number one seeded team in Class 3-A. Not only have the Stars demolished opponents in the past few weeks, but the bats have been explosive at the least.
The Stars defeated Immanuel 19-2 Tuesday and defeated Central Holmes in a 12-0 shutout behind a stellar game from Ryan Rogers. Rogers homered and singled twice before pitching the four-inning no-hitter.
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