Sep. 16—RATTAN — The Tupelo Tigers split a pair of games Thursday at the Rattan Fall Classic.

The Tigers opened pool play with a dominant 8-0 victory over Boswell before the host Rattan Rams knocked off Tupelo 9-1 in Game 2.

The tournament wraps up today with games scheduled for noon (consolation), 2 p.m. (third place) and 4 p.m. (championship).

The split left coach Clay Weller's club, ranked No. 3 in Class B, at 14-8 on the year. Class A No. 3 Rattan improved to 17-4 and Boswell — No. 13 in Class B — finished opening day at 7-9.

"We pitched it well all day," Weller said. "Rattan can really hit it. We only gave up three earned runs. Getting behind takes us out of our game of bunting the baseball."

Rattan 9, Tupelo 1

The Rams led just 4-1 after five innings but exploded for five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to end the game early.

Keegan Robertson's walk-off, RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning ended the game via the run rule. It also capped a huge day at the plate for Robertson, who finished 3-for-3 with a home run, a walk, two doubles, three RBIs and a run scored. Logan Smith swatted a pair of home runs for the Rams and went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored. No other Rattan player had a hit.

Cash Wafford had one of three Tupelo hits in the contest and his RBI double in the top of the fifth inning spoiled a Rattan shutout. Taecyn Meek had singled earlier in the frame and scored all the way from first base on Wafford's big hit.

Peyton Bills had the other Tiger hit.

Colton Bourland struck out three, walked three and allowed three earned runs in 5.1 solid innings of mound work for the Tigers. Ben Ellis was the winning pitcher for Rattan. He struck out seven, walked one and allowed one earned run in six complete innings.

Tupelo was also hurt with seven errors in the contest.

Tupelo 8, Boswell 0

Tupelo hurler Davin Weller handcuffed the Boswell hitters with five dominant innings. He struck out 10 of the 17 batters he faced with two walks while allowing just one hit — a single by Kyler Cheshier with two outs in the top of the first inning. Nate Medcalf provided one scoreless inning of relief for the Tigers.

Tupelo collected five hits in the contest, including a 2-for-2 effort by Colton Bourland, who drove in a run and scored a run. Luke Foreman went 1-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored and Peyton Bills finished 1-for-1 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored. Brody McCollum ended the game 1-for-3 with two runs scored for the Tigers.

Cheshier absorbed the pitching loss for the Scorpions. He struck out five, walked six and allowed one earned run through five innings. Boswell was charged with four errors in the contest.