Pillow Academy moved one step closer to winning a conference championship Tuesday at home with a 4-1 victory over Washington School.
The Mustangs improve to 20-4 overall, 12-3 in the North AAA Conference standings. They are one and a half games ahead of Jackson Academy in the Division I standings. PA plays a doubleheader at Washington in Greenville Thursday.
Pillow can wrap up the top seed from the North in next week's state AAA playoffs and assure itself the best record in the seven-team league with a sweep of Washington.
"Our guys are excited about the opportunity to win a North AAA championship, but we know it will be tough to win two at Washington," said second-year PA head coach Bart Jenkins. "We're going to have to pitch awful well to pull it off."
Pillow, which according to the team's stat book came in with a hefty .390 batting average for its starting lineup, struggled at the plate against Generals' starter Adam Cummins, who allowed just five hits through seven innings.
"We got a little impatient at the plate. That kind of stuff can happen some times when you're hitting the ball as good as we have been," Jenkins said.
Both teams had a couple of scoring opportunities in the first two innings but were unable to capitalize as PA stranded three base runners in scoring position and Washington two.
In the top of the second, PA center fielder Pate Shackelford, a Delta State signee, made a nifty diving catch to steal a hit from Tyler Morgan and end the inning with a runner at second base.
"Pate does those kinds of things all the time in practice," Jenkins said. "He goes full speed all the time, and it pays off in games."
Senior right fielder Ross Homolik had two of his team's five hits, including a two-run homer over the center-field fence that put PA up 3-0 in the fourth. It was Homolik's fifth home run of the season.
The Generals scored their lone run in the fifth when a one-out error opened the door.
Blake Palasini reached base on an error, moved to third on a single by Tyler Morgan and scored from third when he beat a throw home from second base.
The Mustangs got that run back in the bottom of the frame when Michael Gant singled, stole second base and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Daniel Allen.
Allen (9-1) pitched a complete-game three-hitter as he struck out five.
"Daniel didn't have his best stuff, but he competed hard and came through for us again," Jenkins said.
