Niceville edges Fort Walton Beach ( with VIDEO, PHOTOS)

By TRAVIS DOWNEY

Northwest Florida Daily News
315-4476 | travisd@nwfdailynews.com

NICEVILLE - First-year Niceville baseball coach Brad Phillips may still be learning some of the ins and outs of the Eagles' roster, but when the time came for a pitching change in the fourth inning of Thursday's District 1-5A opener against Fort Walton Beach, Phillips knew just where to turn.

Having just retaken a 3-2 lead with a three-run second inning, Niceville starter Hunter Phillips labored to start the fourth, putting on a pair of Viking runners. It was then Phillips went to the Eagles' bullpen in search of "some strikeout potential."

Enter Niceville senior Shawn McDorman.

McDorman struck out seven batters and walked two over four innings while the Eagles' patient lineup produced some timely hitting in the sixth inning to propel Niceville to a 4-3 win.

Click here to see more photos.

 "(McDorman) got us out of a jam," Phillips said. "We played like we were supposed to - small ball."

Niceville (2-1, 1-0 District 1-5A) registered seven hits against Vikings starter Alex Mora, and only three made it out of the infield. Danny Collins led off the sixth with a sharply hit single through the left side before coming around to score the eventual game-winning run on a one-out infield single by Chris Krenek., who had been hitless.

"That was a good at-bat because the previous at-bat was poor," Phillips said. "At that particular time we just needed some kind of contact and that's what he did - just enough to change the game."

After allowing three runs in the second, Fort Walton Beach's (1-1, 0-1) Mora settled into a groove, retiring nine straight at one point and ending the night with 10 strikeouts.

"He was the hard-luck loser tonight," Vikings coach David Garner said.

Garner could have easily referred to an incident in the sixth inning when David Hill was ruled to have been struck by a pitch despite appearing to have swung at the Mora offering following Collins' single. Garner burst out of the Vikings' dugout in protest but the ruling stood.

After a passed ball moved Collins to third base, Mora retired Ben DeVall on strikes for the first out before Krenek - who had struck out in each of his previous at-bats - came through with the game-winner.

Armed once again with the lead, McDorman slammed the door shut on any hopes of a Viking comeback.

"You have to tip your cap to McDorman," Garner said. "He clocked us."

FWB       200 100 0 - 3 4 1

Niceville 030 001 x - 4 7 3

WP: Shawn McDorman; LP: Alex Mora