By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Editor

BILOXI — Day one of the annual Battle of the Beach got into full swing quickly as a trio of games took place at The Biloxi Sports Complex on Thursday.
A trio of “Souther Six” squads saw action in the opening day. The nightcap of the tripleheader was the featured contest of the day as host Biloxi knocked off Long Beach 4-1.
The Indians moved two games above .500 with the win at 5-3 overall, while the Bearcats are still searching for their first win of the season falling to 0-8.
Biloxi jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first frame, when Logan Fontenlle scored on a Bearcat throwing error.

Long Beach tied things up at 1-1 in the top of the third when Colin Lyons singled home Wayne Ulrich.
But Biloxi bounced back immediately to take the lead for good with a three run rally in the bottom of the stanza.
Robbie Hokamp delivered the big blow in the frame, when his two-run triple to right field returned the lead to the Indians at 3-1. Will Parker then plated the final run of the contest when his run-scoring double to right plated Hokamp to make it 4-1.

Hokamp and Parker each had a game-high two hits apiece in the winning effort for the Indians, and Hokamp’ pairof RBIs was a game-high as well.
Lyons accounted for half of Long Beach’s four hits, all of which were singles.
Fontenelle started on the hill and picked up the win for BHS, working almost six innings while scattering a trio of the singles, striking out nine and walking four. Shawn Miguel Gollott came on to get the final four outs, including three on strikeouts, to earn a save.
Noah Williams started and took the loss for the Bearcats.

In the first game of the day, St. Martin fell to Mountain Brook (Ala.) 4-1, dropping the Yellow Jackets back below the .500 mark at 4-5.
The loss snapped a three-game win streak for St.Martin, which started the current campaign off a bit slow at 1-4 before reeling off the three-game win streak to move above the even mark at 4-3.
Cameron Romero drove in the only run for St. Martin in the loss, while Will Roebuck and Caleb Lawrence each had a double apiece at the plate for the Yellow Jackets.
In the middle game of the day, Mountian Brook moved to a solid 9-1 overall on the year with an 8-0 shutout of Booker T. Washington out of Pensacola, Fla.
In day two of the BATB on Friday, Biloxi is scheduled to once again be a part of the featured match-up of the day as the Indians move over to host neighboring rival D’Iberville in the annual “Battle for the Tomahawk Cup” at MGM. Par at 7:30, weather permitting.
Prior to that, Pass Christian is set to face BTW at 5 p.m., to begin the action at MGM, and at the same time, Mountian Brook is slated to face in-state rival Orange Beach in St. Martin.