Coming off a 4A state championship season that saw severalmajor contributors graduate, few would argue that it’s a rebuilding year of sorts for the Demopolis High School baseball team.

But the strong performance of Demopolis Middle School’s team of seventh and eighth graders means it may not be long before the Tigers are again a powerhouse on the diamond.

After five games, the team is 7-3 on the season. Tuesday, the team travelled to Selma to play a doubleheader against Martin Middle School.

The Tiger came home with two victories, a 6-4 thriller and a 14-9 slugfest.

DMS head coach Brian Bradley

said he was very proud of his team’s performance this year.

“The boys have been doing a great job and we’re having a lot of fun,” Bradley said as the players gathered baseballs and stuffed bat-bags after practice Wednesday.

“They’re doing everything I ask of them and everything they know they need to do to win. And we’re having a lot of fun and winning some ballgames.”

The middle school Tigers will face Choctaw County on the road tomorrow at 5 p.m. The team will host Choctaw at 4 p.m. March 27, though Bradley said the site has not yet been decided.

Bradley credited the play of eighth-graders Cameron Barger, Austin Holley, Trey Jones, Larry Dunn, William Hill, Ben Pettus, A.J. Kemp, D. James and Caleb Grant for the 7-3 campaign, “plus a great group of seventh-graders.”

“When they play, they’re doing all the fundamentals,” Bradley said of his team. “And while they’re doing it, they’re having fun and lifting each other up.”