By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

BILOXI — The start to the second season of the Hawtin Buchanan era for the Biloxi baseball program was a little slow Thursday night.
But the defending region champion Indians snapped out of that mini-slump mid-way through the game.
Trailing 1-0, home-standing Biloxi scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take its first lead of the season and in the process break open the close contest as the Indians rolled on to a 9-2 win over West Harrison in the season-opener for both teams.

Forrest Wold’s bases-clearing three-run double was the big and final blow for the Indians in that decisive fourth frame. Biloxi also got some help from the Hurricanes, scoring three times on fielding errors in the inning as well as on a passed ball.
The Indians added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth frame on yet another West Harrison error to make it 9-2.
West Harrison took an early lead, as Hurricane lead-off hitter Jordan Stapleton walked and later scored on a balk by Biloxi starting pitcher Logan Fontenelle.

The Indians picked up the win with only three hits on the night, with two of them coming off the bat of Wold. Jack Mann had a triple for WHHS, which managed just two hits against a pair of Indian hurlers.
Fontenelle worked the first four frames and earned the win. Shawn Miguel Gollott threw the final three innings to close out the win.
Hunter Ross took the loss in relief of Landen Wallace.

Elsewhere, just like Biloxi, another member of the new Region 4-7A also picked up its first win of the season as Harrison Central shutout Vancleave 3-0 at Dub Herring Park in Poplarville on the campus of Pearl River Community College.
Tri Gaughf and Jayden Cooper split the four total hits in the game for the Red Rebels, while Gaughf and Jayden Taylor each drove in runs. One of Cooper’s hits was a double.
Trenton Bond started and pitched the first five frames to pick up the win for HCHS, while Tyler West took the loss for the Bulldogs. Five different players each had a single for VHS in the loss, which was the season-opener for the Bulldogs.
Harrison Central evened its record up at 1-1, after beginning the season with a 4-0 loss on the road at St. Stanislaus on Monday.