The Luverne Tigers baseball team is off to a solid start this season, and they hope to keep it going during this weekend’s Third Annual Brantley/Luverne Pool Play Tournament.

So far, the Tigers are 4-1 on the season with their only loss coming to Charles Henderson.

“I feel like the Charles Henderson game made us better,” said head coach Andre Parks. “Our players have really responded and played well. Charles Henderson is a very good team.”

Luverne has taken down Highland Home 15-1 and 12-1 in a doubleheader, and Corey Hale had seven RBIs combined in the doubleheader, while Evan Richardson and Hunner Moody were the winning pitchers.

However, Parks would call Luverne’s 12-2 win over Brewbaker Tech their best win of the season.

The Tiger were ahead 5-1 in the seventh inning before exploding for seven runs.

“The bottom of our lineup led that rally, and that’s always good to see,” Parks said.

Parks also said he has high hopes for this year’s team after last year’s squad was the most successful in school history.

“We’re pretty senior-laden,” he said. “We hoped to win a championship last year, but we’ve got high expectations for this year with seven seniors on the team and a lot of guys returning.”

The Tigers will have to deal with Straughn in the area, who Parks said is in the same position they were last year – talented and young, with a lot of juniors.

“They’re going to be one of the best teams in the state,” he said.

Luverne’s strength will be in its pitching staff, Parks said, and the Tigers feature several strong pitchers.

Luverne will take on Opp at 2 p.m. on Friday in the opener of the Brantley/Luverne Pool Play Tournament, followed by a showdown with Andalusia at 7 p.m in Luverne.

Brantley will face Enterprise at 2 p.m. and Pike County at 7 p.m. in Brantley.

The championship games are set for Saturday in Brantley.