Booneville, Miss. – Cody Bo Dillard's prediction on Tuesday came to fruition just two hours after he made it.
After a tough stretch to open the 2014 season, Dillard and the nationally ranked Northeast Mississippi Community College baseball team got all of its pieces into place and claimed a 6-3 decision over Calhoun (Ala.) Community College in the second game of a doubleheader at Harold T. White Field.
"We've got a great team and I think we've just got to bring it all together and we're going to be great," Dillard said following a 5-0 shutout loss to the Warhawks in the opening contest of the afternoon.
The Tigers did just as Dillard thought they would in the nightcap to pick up their initial victory of the campaign, but things did not look good early after Calhoun scored three runs in the first inning off Northeast starter Ethan Taylor.
However, Taylor (1-0), an Arkansas Tech signee, got out of his early trouble and threw an additional 3.1 innings of scoreless ball to earn the win in his first career start as a Tiger.
Dustin Allen and Tyler Nelms combined for 2.2 frames of relief and allowed zero runs. Nelms entered with two outs in the seventh and sat down the only batter he faced to clinch his first save of the year.
No. 20 Northeast got its offense into motion and scored four runs in the bottom of the first to jump ahead for good and knock Jake Nelson (0-2) out of the game. The Tigers added an insurance run three frames later when Ben Foster connected on a solo home run.
The New Albany native's long ball was the first of 2014 for Northeast (1-3) and put the Tigers up 5-3.
Heath Wood continued the fast start to his sophomore season. The Kossuth High School alumnus is now batting .462 after a 3 for 4 performance in game two with a run scored.
Josh Peterson added a double for his inaugural extra base hit at Northeast while the Tigers were errorless in the two-game series.
"I thought we improved from our first doubleheader in some spots," said Northeast head coach Kent Farris. "We've just got to keep competing and we want to get better every time out."
Dillard (0-1) was the hard-luck loser in the day's opening contest. The freshman left-hander gave up two earned runs on five hits in three innings.
The Tigers hit the ball hard on multiple occasions, but right at Calhoun (3-5) defenders who turned three double plays.
Calhoun took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a bases loaded walk and a RBI fielder's choice by Tripp Jamieson. RBI hits from Robert Harris, Jacob Newton and Justin Friend accounted for the remainder of the Warhawks' runs.
Northeast threatened in the sixth after Jack Hurdle led off with a double to right field. But a hard hit line drive off the bat of Luke Stanley turned into a double play to end the Tigers' best scoring chance.
Frazier Taylor (1-2) kept Northeast off balance with a nice breaking pitch and got the win with six strikeouts in six innings.
The Tigers are back on the diamond this Friday, February 21 when they visit Hinds Community College. First pitch of the doubleheader, which was originally scheduled for Booneville but moved due to weather concerns, is set for 1 p.m. at Joe G. Moss Field.