By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

BILOXI — Tupelo only got started with Battle at the Beach action only a few hours before Picayune did Wednesday afternoon.
But that short period of time to adjust seemed to be all the Golden Wave needed to roll past the Maroon Tide 6-1 in the ninth annual affair here at the Biloxi Sports Complex.
Knotted up at 1-1 going into the bottom of the third frame, Tupelo busted open the contest with a five run rally in that inning to take command over Picayune en route to the win. The Golden Wave moved to 9-3 with the win after splitting a pair of games on the day. In the previous contest, Tupelo fell to Arlington, Tenn., 15-12 thanks to a 10-run fourth inning eruption by the Tigers.

Tupelo struck first in their second outing of the day, as Lake Reed doubled in the first frame and scored on an RBI-single from South McCoy.
Picayune bounced back to tie things up at 1-1 on a run-scoring single from leading hitter Kyler King.
But the fateful third frame proved to be the Maroon Tide’s undoing, as Reed, Gavin Puckett and Davis Miller all drove in runs for the Golden Wave and Picayune committed several errors in the inning to aide the Tupelo cause as well.
McCoy went the distance on the mound to pick up the win for Tupelo, scattering three hits and striking out six while walking just one.
Braxten Carter, one of a trio of Picayune pitchers, took the loss as the Maroon Tide dropped to 6-4 on the young campaign.
The Golden Wave is one of the only team teams to beat powerful Jackson Prep this season also. Tupelo nipped the Patriots 5-4 several weeks back.

Jackson Prep then didn’t lose again until falling to home-standing Ocean Springs on Monday night 3-0 in its first action at BATB. The Patriots then finished up play on the Gulf Coast with three straight wins, including a 7-2 victory over Sumrall at The Biloxi High Sports Complex in the game preceding Tupelo’s loss to Arlington.
In that one, Jackson Prep got a solid pitching performance from All-American senior standout Konnor Griffin in the win as he hurled six one-hit shutout stanzas while striking out 12 and walking three in picking up the pitching win as the Patriots moved to 18-2 overall on the season.