Purcell got off to a fast start in last weekend’s Dibble Tournament white-washing Lexington 9-0 behind the two-hit pitching combo of Brody Walkup and Kash Knowles.

Led by Cash Cook’s 2-3 outing at the plate, the Dragons touched Bulldog pitching for six hits in the contest.

Bryce Blair, Izak Auz, Connor Lund and Layton Percy all got hits in the game.

Blair, Percy and Cook all doubled in the fracas with the Bulldogs. Blair’s smash was a two-run scoring two bagger. Cooper Selman also had a pair of RBIs against Lexington.

Despite not getting a hit or hit by pitch, Deaken Dobbins registered two RBIs in the victory and had three stolen bases.

The Dragons scored two runs in their half of the second frame, one in the third and blew the game open with a four-run fourth.

Walkup started the game and got the win.  He fanned seven Bulldogs in four inning of work with three walks.

“Brody pitched really well. I thought he commanded the strike zone all day and challenged their hitters all game long,” head coach Cole Sharp said.

“Kash Knowles closed out the game pitching two innings with a K and a walk,” the coach said.

Sharp said even though his club didn’t score in the first inning they forced Lexington starter James McMillan to throw over 30 pitches.

“Overall we played probably our best game of the season,” Sharp said.

But after that Purcell came up short in an 8-0 loss to Latta and 4-2 at the hands of Dibble, despite out-hitting the Demons 7-1.

Selman was 2-2 against the Panthers and Percy had the other Dragon hit.

Starter Deaken Dobbins was saddled with the pitching loss.

“I thought Deaken pitched pretty well. We had him on a pitch count so we can have him for our district games on Monday and Tuesday,” Sharp said.

“Latta was the best team we’ve played up to his point in the season,” the coach said. “We just weren’t ready to play. Latta got after us early and never let up.”

Purcell issued nine free passes to first base in the loss to the Demons last Saturday, walking nine and hitting another player.

Cook went 2-3 at the dish with Dobbins, Knowles, Walkup and Selman all getting hits.

“We just gave away too many free passes,” Sharp confirmed. Also, mistakes in the field and not getting timely hits were critical. We have to be better in those moments to win close games.”

Cook took the pitching loss in relief of starter Preston Kane. Carter Bennett and Easton Resendiz also saw duty as relievers in the game.

“I thought the freshman Easton Resendiz came at a big moment of the game and pitched pretty well. “He got us out of a big jam in the fifth,” Sharp said.

On Monday Tuttle pinned a 2-0 loss on the Dragons with Knowles taking the pitching loss.

“I thought Kash threw his best game of the year so far. Even though we lost, he took control on the mound,” Sharp said. “He commanded his fastball and challenged the Tuttle hitters all game.

The Dragons stranded 11 base runners. Tuttle pitching limited the Dragons to five hits, led by Dobbins with a pair of hits.

Tuttle was also held to five hits but came through with the timely hit the Dragons could not come up with.

“I was very proud of the way our guys competed and never backed down. They kept fighting every inning.  We will need that type of effort going forward,” Sharp concluded.

Purcell was taking a 10-4 record into Tuesday’s second district game with the Tigers at home with the first pitch at 5 p.m.

The Dragons are scheduled to travel to Vanoss Thursday and travel to Sulphur next Monday before hosting the Bulldogs next Tuesday. Both are district games.