The Tigers started things off on Monday with a rematch with the Hoover Buccaneers that ended much the same way the first game with the 6A Bucs did. The Tigers fell to the 17-7 Bucs 4-1 for their third loss of the season and first loss of the Hoover Bucs Classic Tournament.

Drew Stanford (6-0) got the win for the Bucs on the mound giving up one run on five hits. The Tigers lone run came in the seventh inning on a Jonathan Sommers RBI single. Bart Pettus (5-1) had to settle for his first loss of the season as he went distance giving up four runs on eight hits.

“There wasn’t much difference between this game and our first game with the Bucs,” DHS head coach James Moody said. “We still are not hitting the ball when we need to.”

But the Tigers bounced back in their second game of the day against 5A Hartselle High School as they took down the red and white Tigers 13-3 for their first win of the tourney.

Junior pitcher Devin Goodwin picked up his third win of the season as he is now (3-2) on the season. Goodwin went six innings giving up two runs on two hits with five walks, while earning 6K’s.

The Tigers were able to put bat-to-ball this time around as Goodwin, Chad Schroeder and Clarke Kerby all went 2-for-4 on the day. But the player of the game award would have to go to junior G. W. Washington, who went 1-for-4 with four RBIs.

“I was happy with our performance against Hartselle,” Moody said. “We responded well to the loss with Hoover. We played really well, but we need to learn to play like that against every opponent. But that’s why we are here I guess, to learn.”

Tuesday the Tigers drew the 6A Austin High Black Bears, one of the tournament’s top seeded teams, for a high noon showdown, and a showdown is what they got.

The Tigers went toe-to-toe with the (3-0) Black Bears for an exhausting 13 innings, but would fall 2-1 in the bottom of the thirteenth on a Tigers error that resulted in an unearned run for the Black Bears.

“That was a long day that ended bad for us,” Moody said. “But we had chances to put them away and just couldn’t get the job done.”

Colby Roberts got the start for the Tigers going 10 innings giving up 1 run on six hits with one walk, while earning 4K’s.

“Roberts did an excellent job for us on the mound,” Moody said. “It’s just too bad that we couldn’t give him enough help to pick up the win.”

Replacing Roberts was junior first baseman William Meador who went three innings giving up one unearned run on three hits, while earning 1K.

The Tigers found a way to hit against the Black Bears, but it wasn’t a very productive way. The Tigers managed to fly out on 14 separate occasions against the Bears. But as bad as that may seem, the Bears had an even worse number of fly-ball outs, as they collected 23 on the day.

Leading the way with the stick for the Tigers was Kerby, who went 2-for-5 with one RBI. Schroeder went 2-for-6, while Meador, Goodwin, Seth Basinger and Blake Butler all collected one hit apiece.

The Tigers fall to an (14-4) overall record and are now (1-2) in the tournament with two to play on Wednesday for a chance to propel themselves into a championship game on Thursday.

The Tigers will face the 6A Jeff Davis Volunteers at noon and the 5A Thompson Warriors at 3 p.m.