Southside’s postseason hopes took another hit on Wednesday.

Catholic’s Evan Hiatt didn’t use his strong arm to beat the Southside Mavericks; he used his bat.

Hiatt went 5-for-5 with a two-run homer and five RBIs as the Rockets cruised to a 12-5 victory at Forsgren Field.

The Mavericks left eight runners in scoring position through the first five innings and were guilty of five errors.

Southside right-hander Mack Moody didn’t get many breaks. But he also created some, too, by hitting the first two hitters to open the Rockets’ second. By the time the inning was over, the Mavericks were down 7-0.

“We can’t get anything to fall for us offensively, and when we do square a ball up it seems to find a glove,” Southside coach Dale Harpenau said. “And the proverbial big inning, we haven’t been able to stay out of that. We got down, and had a comeback, and then we hit some atom balls right at them. But that’s baseball; it can be a cruel game at times.”

Already down 2-0, after allowing two unearned runs in the first inning, Moody hit Robert Bavon and Miles Montgomery to open the second.

One out later, Jordan McCuin slapped a single to right for a 3-0 lead, and Eric Moll followed with a two-run single to make it 5-0.

The Mavericks’ Braiden Partin and Landon Chaffin opened the Mavs’ second with back-to-back hits, and one-out later Mason Love doubled to make it 7-1. A passed ball and throwing error cut the lead to 7-3.


But Catholic right-hander Matthew Gephardt caught a break when Moody laced a liner that third baseman William Plafcan speared for the second out.

Luke Melton, who later singled and scored the final run on Colton McBride’s RBI single, lined out for the final out of the second.

Southside reliever Braeden Myers pitched well before tiring in the seventh.

He allowed Hiatt’s two-run homer in the fourth, but was steady until the seventh when Catholic struck for three runs.

The bottom of the Mavericks’ batting order, Partin, Chaffin, Nick Martin and Love finished a combined 7-for-15 with four runs and two RBIs.

The loss leaves the Mavericks in seventh place with a 1-6 7A-Central record.

Southside will host Conway today.
