By Maurice Singleton/Sports Writer

POPLARVILLE — The Poplarville Hornets rode the arm of junior pitcher Luke Sones and huge pressure on West Lauderdale’s pitching on their way to a 9-1 win and a sweep of the Knights to advance to the Class 4A State Championship.

“It means everything,” said Hornets head coach Ashley Graeter, a former PHS standout player. “These kids worked so hard. This is year three. Sometimes you work hard, and it just don’t work out. But for it work out for us means everything. Those kids are believing in themselves, and they’re believing what we’re preaching. I’m just so proud of them.”

The Hornets scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning off of two hits, five walks and four errors by the Knights, who dug a hole too deep to overcome. And during the bottom of the first inning, the Knights would bring three pitchers to the mound.

“We just stayed grinding, and we took care of opportunities,” said Graeter. “That’s just kind of been our ‘MO’ all year: just apply pressure, apply pressure, apply pressure, and see what happens. And it worked out for us.”

Ty Keys got the Hornets started at the plate with a single deep in the infield. He would then steal second base Trip Jones would get on base on a walk. They would move to second and third on a pitch that got past the catcher. Jeff Smith loaded the bases on a walk with no outs. And from there the Hornets would score three runs.

Keys scored on a ball that got past the catcher. Chadwick Brown got on base on a walk, then Brayden Lee drove in two runs on a double to deep right field just inside the first base line to give the Hornets a 3-0 lead with no outs.

The Knights would tally four errors in the first inning, and the Hornets would go on to build their lead to 8-0 as they capitalized on the errors and a fifth walk.

And while the pitching woes for the Knights mounted, Sones was in a zone, retiring nine of the first ten batters he faced, including three strike outs during that stretch. He would go the distance, striking out six batters while giving up five hits on the night.

“We kind of took him away from catching duty because we wanted to keep his arm fresh,” said Graeter of Sones. “We’ve been able to keep his arm fresh. This is three or four outings, maybe five that he’s stacked up, been really good. Ty (Keys) comes out and throws a complete game in game one; we got Luke with the same right there, and we got Braxton who is one out away from throwing a complete one three games ago.

“Our staff has done a great job supporting as far as giving us a chance offensively,” said Graeter. “We’re in a really really good place right now.”

“You’ve got to give Poplarville credit,” said West Lauderdale coach Jason Smith. “They played really well the last two games. Their pitchers did what it takes to win games. I’m proud of our guys fight and stuff, but I can’t say enough about how well Poplarville played.”

After a week off, Poplarville will now face either Kosciusko or Mooreville in the state finals in Pearl next week. It marks the first trip to the state baseball finals for the Hornets in 52 years, since 1974.