By STAN CALDWELL/Sports Writer

PETAL — Wyatt Pyron gave Biloxi everything the Indians could have wanted on the mound in a key early-season showdown between two teams with playoff aspirations in Class 7A.

The senior right-hander threw six shutout innings Tuesday night against Petal, allowing just one hit and striking out 16 batters. But the Indians didn’t give him much help at the plate.

And once Pyron moved to third base in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Panthers managed to scrape together enough offense to get the only run of the game in a walk-off 1-0 victory at Panther Field.

Biloxi dropped to 1-3 against a ferocious non-region schedule, while Petal improved to 5-1.

“He was outstanding tonight,” said Biloxi coach Hawtin Buchanan of Pyron. “From the jump, he commanded the strike zone; he attacked the zone.

“We tell our pitchers all the time that, especially in high school baseball, when you go out and smother the strike zone, you give yourself a chance.”

Pyron did just that. He struck out the first four batters he faced, and had at least two strikeouts in each inning that he pitched.

“I was really focused on locating my fastball, and I think I did a pretty good job of that,” said Pyron. “I was throwing my slider that I’ve been working on, my curveball. I was hitting my spots pretty well, and I mixed in a change-up to a few left-handed batters.”

The only hit Pyron allowed came with one out in the second inning, when junior Dawson Dykes singled to rightfield. He stole second and third, but was left there when Pyron got a strikeout to end the inning.

“Getting ahead in the count is something Coach preaches,” said Pyron. “As long as I’m doing that, I think I’m winning on the mound. I bang a curveball in there, that’s 0-1, then I locate a fastball and that sets up 0-2. Then I can throw anything I want after that.”

But the Indians could never get the clutch hit they needed to cash in on some good chances to score.

Biloxi squandered a leadoff double in the second inning off the bat of senior Will Parker, but Panther starter Kaleb Dillon got a popup in shallow rightfield for one out, then struck out the next two batters to leave Parker right where he was.

“That’s we just talked about that to our guys,” said Buchanan. “This is a Tuesday night game against another 7A opponent, and these are the kinds of game we can expect once we get to region play.

“So our job is to, when we get those chances, it becomes a game of who’s going to blink first. When you have good arms on the mound, it’s who’s going to capitalize when they have guys in scoring position. Usually one run, two runs are the difference in these games.”

After the second inning, Petal turned to its bullpen for four different pitchers, the last of whom, junior right-hander Jackson Collins was the beneficiary of the Panthers’ seventh-inning rally in getting his first win of the season.

“Absolutely, it’s a battle up there when you’re seeing a new arm every AB,” said Parker. “It’s just something you’ve got to acclimate to real quick.

“Clutch hitting is something we need to work on as a team. Everyone likes that deep double, but everyone also loves that bloop single that gets a run home. So we’re going to keep working at it.”

For his part, Petal coach Jake Mills didn’t like his team’s approach against Pyron.

“It was a frustrating night with our offense,” said Mills. “That’s something we pride ourselves on, and if you look at our previous scores, we’ve been able to swing it pretty well and put some runs on the board.

“Hat’s off to Pyron. He did a great job, but I feel like we put ourselves in a lot of situations, swinging at bad pitches with terrible count-situational hitting. Fortunately, we had a good night on the mound and it kept us in there.”

Indeed, the Indians had runners at second and third with just one out in the third inning against sophomore left-hander Brock Wren, the first reliever out of the Petal bullpen, but failed to score.

Pyron led off the inning with a single and sophomore Adam Rugg drew a walk. Wren got one out when he snagged a popped-up bunt, but then threw wide of first base trying to double up Rugg, and the runners advanced on the error.

But a fluke play on a comebacker to the mound off the bat of senior Tristen Haynes resulted in an out at the plate. Wren’s throw to get the runner coming from third hit Haynes, he was ruled out for batter interference, and the runners were moved back to their bases.

And Wren’s next pitch came right back to him for an easy throw to first to record the final out of the inning.

The Indians got a pair of walks after two were out in the fourth, but the lead runner was thrown out trying to steal third.

In the fifth, Pyron drew a leadoff walk and ended up at third after a wild pitch and a groundout to the right side, but the Panthers got two outs to get out of the inning unscathed.

Meanwhile, Pyron kept putting zeroes on the scoreboard. He pitched around a jam in the fourth inning, when a pair of hit batters and a groundout to first advanced the runners to second and third. But a called third strike got Biloxi out trouble.

“When he has this level of stuff and he’s locating his pitches like he was, he’s going to give us a chance every time out,” said Buchanan. “I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Petal’s game-winning rally came off sophomore right-hander Avery Tisdale (0-1).

After a groundout to open the inning, senior Jayden Madison, the 9-hole hitter, drew a walk, then sophomore Fischer Howell lined a single to rightfield.

Tisdale got a flyout to left for the second out, but senior Tanner Beliveau smacked a single into right-centerfield to drive in Madison with the winning run.

It is quite possible this could be a playoff preview in 7A South, and that’s one reason the two team scheduled this game.

“Biloxi is a good club, and any time we can play good clubs, we’re going to do it,” said Mills. “But in the back of your head, you can see that it’s a possible playoff matchup, whether it’s first round, second round or whenever.

“Those guys are going to be there, and I plan on us being there. But just playing a quality opponent is big for us. And, obviously, they showed tonight that they’re a good ball club.”

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for Biloxi, as the Indians hit the road this weekend for games Friday at Pearl River Central and Saturday at Vancleave.