Both the Pike Liberal Arts Patriots and Ariton Purple Cats were in action in the Terry Sikes Memorial Baseball Tournament in Troy on Thursday. 

The Ariton Purple Cats (8-1) suffered their first loss of the season with a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Bibb County on the campus of Charles Henderson High School. Aven Cook went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Cats with one RBI, while Hayes Hammock scored the lone AHS run. Defensively, Ariton committed four errors. Parker Wimberly pitched four innings and struck out a pair of batters, while giving up two hits and one earned run. Hammock pitched three innings and fanned one batter along with giving up five hits and three earned runs.

For Bibb County, Bodie Giddens went 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs. Macain McMillian pitched all seven innings and struck out nine batters, while giving up four hits and no earned runs. 

The Pike Liberal Arts Patriots (6-6) also lost 10-3 to Robertsdale on Thursday at Butch Austin Field on the campus of Pike Lib. Pruitt Vaughan and Jack Bowen scored one run each, while Jack Baggett earned two RBIs. Pike committed five errors defensively. Luke Barron pitched three innings and struck out one batter, while giving up three hits and three earned runs. Dawson Bradford spent two innings on the mound and fanned a pair of batters along with giving up four hits and four earned runs. Charlie Fountain gave up four hits and one earned run with two strikeouts in two innings of work.

The loss on Thursday moved Ariton to 1-1 in the tournament. The Purple Cats will play Chilton County on March 8 at 6:45 p.m. at Riddle-Pace Field on the campus of Troy University. Pike Lib is currently 0-1 in the tournament and will next play Etowah on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Riddle-Pace Field. Charles Henderson will also play Oneonta at 7 p.m. at Riddle-Pace Field. 

In non-tournament action, the Pike County Bulldogs (1-6) lost a shootout with the Elba Tigers by a score of 19-12 on the road. 

Mark Griffin went 2-for-4 for PCHS with one RBI and one run, while Daniel Collins went 3-for-3 with three runs. Ben Patterson also earned two hits, two RBIs and one run. Antonio Patterson stole five bases and scored two runs. Britt Albritton also hit a double and scored one run. Michael Gabel, Jakori Green, Zaikeilen Adams and Jakobie McKinney scored one run each. 

Gabel pitched two and 1/3 innings and struck out four batters, while giving up six hits and eight earned runs. Griffin pitched one and 2/3 innings and gave up two hits and four earned runs. 

For Elba, Earl Tolentino went 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs and two runs. Powell Bane pitched four innings and gave up six hits and four earned runs with five strikeouts.