After a loss to Brantley to open the season, the Greenville Tigers righted things with a sweep of Luverne in a Thursday doubleheader.

“We had a slow start against Brantley,” said pitcher Raymond Moody, referring to the 6-4 loss.

“We had to come on strong in this game,” agreed Josh Ray, who had an outstanding day for the Tigers.

The second inning of the second game was a big one for the Tigers as Ray had a two-out double to bring in Jeremy McGinty.

Then Nathan Branum laced a triple down the left field line to score McGinty, and Branum later came in on a wild pitch to put Greenville ahead 3-1.

Pitcher Rush Nimmer ran into some hard times in the third inning, but he worked his way out of trouble with Luverne only putting three runs on the board.

Greenville roared back in the fourth inning, when Ray got a single, Luverne committed an error and McGinty scored from first.

Ray later scored on an error with two out to give Greenville a 5-4 lead.

The Tigers blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth with five runs.

After two strikeouts to start the inning, Branum singled and Ryan Smith and Hunter Harrell scored on errors.

Raymond Moody put the icing on the game with a two-run blast to left field after brother Stuart reached base.

“That was my first home run since JV,” Moody said. “I’d had three strikeouts before that, so it felt good.”

Both Ray and Branum finished the game 2-3 with an RBI, and Smith went 2-2.

Nimmer came through with six strikeouts.

In the first game, Greenville won 7-1 with a big fourth inning to drive the win.

The Tigers got five runs in the inning, including a two-RBI double by Ray.

Ray also got an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.

“Josh Ray came through for us all night,” said head coach Brad Horn.

Besides Ray’s offense, Horn also talked about the defense of catcher Hunter Harrell.

“I’m really proud of Hunter,” Horn said. “He threw out several batters at second and third base.”

The Tigers had a game scheduled against Selma Friday night, but results were unavailable at press time.

“We really needed some wins heading into the Selma game,” said Rush Nimmer.

Horn agreed, and said the Tigers have some momentum.

“It’s big to get quality wins over two of the best pitchers we’ll see all year,” he said.