A tight race has developed for second place in the Dixie Youth League as the Braves and Orioles both recorded their sixth wins of the season. But, it was the Braves who won a head-to-head victory over the O's by a final score of 7-6.

The Braves jumped out to an early lead as Brady Newton lined a double and then scored on a basehit by Michael McDonald.

The Orioles came right back to tie the game at 1-1 as Conyers Poole led off the bottom of the first with a walk and then scored later in the inning on an error off the bat of Reco Johnson.

Neither team was able to get anything going in the second inning.

But, in the top of the third the Braves recaptured the lead. With one out, Justin Bozeman hit a single and Newton followed with a double to put runners at second and third base. McDonald drove in his second and third runs of the game with a triple to make the score, 3-1. Tyler Newton hit another triple later in the inning, scoring McDonald and giving the Sox a three-point lead.

But, the lead was not long-lived as the Orioles came back in the bottom of the fourth inning. Consecutive walks to Johnson and Will Farrar set up two-out heroics by Blake Conway who nailed a pitch over the straight-away centerfield fence for a three-run homer, tying the game at 4-4.

But, the Braves proved that they had some pop in their bats as well as they retook the lead in the top of the fifth on a two-run homer by McDonald, who accounted for five of the seven RBIs in the game for the Braves and lifted them to a 7-4 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth and facing defeat, the Orioles' Donovan Gulley led off with a single and Poole followed with a walk. With two outs, Farrar nailed a single to rightfield to score the two runners, cutting the lead to 7-6. But, the Braves escaped with the win as the final batter of the inning struck out.

Newton earned the win for the Red Sox, striking out 14 batters.

Tigers 23, Diamondbacks 0

The Tigers continued its dominance over the other teams in the league by blasting the Diamondbacks by a final score of 23-0.

The Tigers scored five runs in the first, highlighted by a three-run homer by Aaron Moore.

Moore also lifted the Tigers in the second inning as he hit his second three-run dinger in as many innings to give his team a 9-0 lead.

Meanwhile, he was also doing the job on the mound as he struck out four of the first seven batters he faced.

The Tigers added another run in the third inning as Ben Callen lined a single to bring Howard home for a 10-0 lead.

Things went from bad to worse for the D'backs in the fourth inning as 13 runners came around to score. Walks paved the way for the big inning as the first seven runners were given a free pass. With bases loaded Jake Newton lined a triple to bring in three more runs and give the Tigers a 17-0 lead. In all, the D'backs walked eleven batters in the inning to help the Tigers cruise to an easy 23-0 victory and maintain their perfect record.

Diamondbacks 15, Orioles 4

The Diamondbacks relieved some of the frustration of the shutout defeat by defeating the Orioles by a final score of 15-4.

The D'backs jumped out to an early lead as Scott Varnar led off the game with a walk. Lynn Lewis then nailed a triple to give them a 1-0 lead. Ben Coker followed with a basehit and Mika Jones hit a single to load the bases. A walk to Douglas Oliver brought in the second run and a single by Andrew Phelps scored another. After several walks, Rolandon Purifoy completed the scoring in the first inning with a basehit that scored Jonathan Spann to give the D'backs a 7-0 lead.

They added to that lead in the top of the second as Lewis

lined a triple and was brought home on a single by Coker. Two more walks to Jones and Oliver hurt the Orioles as Roderick Turk nailed a triple to bring in three more runners, making the score 12-0.

The Orioles got on the board in the bottom of the inning as Blake Conway hit a two-run homer over the leftfield fence to cut the lead to 12-2.

But, the D'backs stayed hot at the plate and were not going to let the O's back in the game. They put three more runs on the board as Lewis, Coker and Jones came around to score, increasing their lead to 15-2.

The O's came back with a run in the bottom of the third and another in the bottom of the fourth. But, the D'backs held on to their decisive victory, 15-4.

Lewis recorded the win on the mound for the Diamondbacks, striking out nine batters in four innings.

Braves 14, Reds 3

The Braves remained in second place in Dixie Youth with a 14-3 win over the Reds who are still searching for their first win of the season.

The Braves made short work of the Reds as they took the lead in the bottom of the first and continued to dominate until the game was called after four innings.

The Reds actually jumped out into the lead in the top of the first as Justin Hester put a ball over the fence for a two-run homer.

But, the Braves began the game even hotter as they scored five runs in the bottom of the first, courtesy of several errors and walks.

They added to their lead in the bottom of the second as Justin Bozeman hit a double, followed by a walk by Brady Newton. Michael McDonald got an RBI with a single and David Stephenson completed the scoring with a two-run single to give the Braves an 8-2 lead.

It was all Braves in the third as well as Jonathan Giddens, Corey Johnson, Jonathan Duke, Bozeman, T. Newton and Stephen Croley scored for the Braves. B. Newton drove in two runs with a double and McDonald and Croley hit back-to-back triples.

The Reds were able to get one back in the fourth as Jonathan Varnar scored their final run.

T. Newton earned the victory for the Braves and struck out six batters in four innings of work.