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Mississippi wins Pre-Majors World Series
Entering the final day of the tournament on Thursday, August 2, Florida appeared to be in the driver's seat with a 5-0 record including their first day win over Mississippi. Their opponents on the other hand had fought their way back through the losers' bracket from day one to enter the day 4-1. In the first of what would turn out to be two very hard fought contests neither team could manage to produce a run through the first four innings. In the fifth however Mississippi got on the board first scoring one in the top of the inning to take the first lead of the game. Florida was quick to respond scoring one of their on in the bottom of the frame to knot things again at 1-1. Obviously on a mission Mississippi pushed another one across in their next at bat and then held a potent Florida offense off for the final two innings to post the 2-1 victory. The win evened things up and forced another game between the two teams for all the marbles. Vito Perna, who came on in relief of Mississippi starter Chris Caves, was credited with the win in the first one. In 2 1/3 innings of relief work he gave up two and struck out one. Caves, who went 4 2/3 innings, allowed one run on four hits, two walks and one hit batsman while striking out one. On offense Mississippi was able to parlay two hits into two runs. Leading the charge with one bit each was Chris Caves and Tyler Fall. For Florida, it was Matt Gendron who suffered the loss on the mound. He went the distance in the game allowing two runs on two hits and four walks while striking out seven in seven innings. At the plate the Florida offense which actually out hit their opponents 5 to 1, was led by Brandon Patterson in the losing effort with two hits. He was followed by Matt Jones, Kevin Knuth and Josh Lucas with one apiece. With the win Mississippi forced a second and deciding game which started approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first one. As the second game got underway Mississippi gave the appearance of a team riding the momentum they had gotten in the first game when they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Florida responded with one in the top of the second to cut the lead in half. Things stayed that way then until the top of the sixth when Florida scored another run to even things up at 2-2. After Mississippi went down in order in their half of the sixth the stage was set for one of the two teams to step up and take the championship in their last at bat. It was Mississippi that answered the bell pushing one across in the bottom of the seventh to register the 3 - 2 win and claim the title. Pulling mound duty for Mississippi, Andrew Pierce pitched a seven inning gem to pick up the win. In the game he allowed two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out 10. On the flip side Josh Lucas, the second of two pitchers used by Florida, was tagged with the loss. In five innings of relief he allowed one run on three hits and one hit batter while striking out four. Starter Brandon Patterson preceded Lucas working two innings in which he allowed two runs on three hits and two hit batsmen while striking out one. Over on offense, Andrew Pierce led Mississippi's six hit attack with two hits while his teammates Brett Bailey, Catfish Gainey, Brandon Holley and Weston Stringer all contributed one.
Meanwhile for Florida, it was Daniel Rockhold leading the team in the losing effort with two hits while Brandon Patterson had one.
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