By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

VANCLEAVE — The Biloxi High baseball team came into Saturday afternoon’s meeting with Vancleave on a bit of cold spell at the plate.

After all, the Indians hadn’t scored a run in a pair of meetings earlier in the week with a 1-0 loss to Petal and 4-0 loss to Pearl River Central.

However, after getting off to a slightly better start in its third straight road game facing some pretty stiff competition, Biloxi finally figured out the puzzle at the plate.

The Indians exploded for eight runs in the top of the fifth frame and four more in the sixth stanza, overcoming a 7-4 deficit in the process and coasting to a 16-7 win over the Bulldogs Saturday.

“Just really proud of our guys and how we bounced back against a good Vancleave team to finish the week on a high note,” Biloxi third year head coach Hawtin Buchanan said. “We talked going into the game about our ability to handle adversity and respond, and our guys did a great job of doing that exact thing on Saturday.”

Trailing by those three runs halfway through the game in the home of the defending Class 5A state champions didn’t seem to be the likely spot where the Indians would break through, but that’s exactly what happened.

Biloxi sent 11 batters to the plate in that decisive fifth inning, plating those eight runs. Wyatt Pyron’s big two-run single tied things up at 7-7, while Tristan Haynes had a key two-run single as well in the Indian uprising to put BHS ahead for good at 9-7.

Will Parker gave notice of things to come, as he doubled to lead off the inning.

After rallying to take a 12-7 advantage, Haynes added a two-run double in the next frame to key the four run insurance ending.

Biloxi banged out 12 hits in the winning attack, as Haynes, Parker, Adam Rugg, and Lleyton Gunter led the way. Connor Lofton also had an RBI-single as did Jackson Irvin.

Tyler Pope, the middle of three Indian hurlers, picked up the pitching win. Biloxi now stands 2-4 overall on the young season.

Tony Craven, the third of five Bulldog pitchers, took the loss.

Aidan Tapp had a double for Vancleave, while Jaxon Albert registered a pair of hits and Hunter Harper had a game-high three RBIs for the Bulldogs including a two-run single.

Vancleave dropped to 5-2 overall with the loss.