Perry Central is 0-5 against Poplarville since April of 2015 but things could change on Saturday. The Perry Central Bulldogs will be playing in front of their home fans against the Poplarville Hornets at 2:00 p.m. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Perry Central is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They were the clear victor by a 21-1 margin over Heidelberg on Friday. With that victory, the Bulldogs brought their scoring average up to 7 runs per game.
Eli Johnston
| 02/28/25 vs Heidelberg | 4 |
| 04/04/24 vs Heidelberg | 2 |
| 02/22/25 vs Sylva Bay Academy | 1 |
| 04/15/24 vs Lamar Christian | 1 |
| 02/27/24 @ Lamar Christian | 1 |
Perry Central let Eli Johnston and Cayson Backstrom run wild. Johnston scored three runs and stole four bases while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances, while Backstrom scored three runs and stole two bases while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. The dominant performance gave Johnston a new career-high in stolen bases. Another player making a difference was Dawson Little, who scored three runs and stole two bases.
Perry Central always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .759. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in three consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Poplarville had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Thursday. They blew past the Tomcats 12-4. That looming 12-4 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Hornets yet this season.
Luke Sones looked comfortable as he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.
On the hitting side, Brock Sheppard and Braylon Magee did most of the damage at the plate: Sheppard went 2-for-5 with one triple, one run, and one double, while Magee got on base in all four of his plate appearances with four RBI. That triple was Sheppard's first of the season. The team also got some help courtesy of Brayden Lee, who scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in two of his five plate appearances.
Poplarville pushed their record up to 6-2 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for Perry Central, they moved to 2-5 with that victory, which also ended their four-game losing streak.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Saturday as neither team is afraid to steal. Perry Central has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.1 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Poplarville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5.1 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Perry Central suffered a grim 13-7 defeat to Poplarville when the teams last played back in March of 2022. Can Perry Central avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
