Andalusia and Opp split in doubleheader action on a cold and windy Tuesday night at AHS.

The Bobcats scored five runs in the last two innings to win the first game, 7-4. Andalusia bounced back from the first-game loss to top its rival 7-3 in the night cap behind good pitching and improved defense from the field.

AHS (8-2) travels to face Hillcrest-Evergreen tomorrow night to start area play. Opp visits Red Level on Friday for a doubleheader in regular season action.

Andalusia 7, Opp 3

Bulldogs pitcher Quinton Maddox struck out six batters and allowed three runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings of work to earn the win.

Opp struck first win one run in the first inning on an RBI single from Jacob Johnson with two outs and the bases loaded to take an early 1-0 lead.

Andalusia answered in the second with a big hit from Todd Wright, who scored Justin Scherzinger all the way from second base.

The home-town Bulldogs tacked on three more runs in the third inning to take a healthy 4-1 lead, thanks in part to an RBI single from Grayson Campbell and an error.

Maddox retired the side in the top of the fourth and hit an RBI single to score Hunter Earnest in the bottom half of the frame for a 5-1 lead.

However, the Bobcats weren’t about to give up any time soon.

OHS scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning on a two-run single from first-game savior Landon Hughes to cut the game to 5-3.

“We wanted to cut it to two and play it to the seventh,” OHS coach Michael Cassady said. “We wounded up walking some kids and they strung a hit together and got up by four.”

In the bottom of the sixth, Brandon Smith hit a pop-up to score Earnest, and Campbell walked to score Jud Rogers to bring Andalusia’s lead to 7-3.

Andalusia’s Daniel Henderson, who came back from a long layoff due to injury, got the save for the Bulldogs.

AHS coach Jonathan Rasberry said the momentum went back and forth between his team and Opp, like always, during the two games.

“They’ve got a good ball club,” Rasberry said. “They work hard. I thought we answered back and showed a little character (in the second game) and thought Quinton Maddox did a pretty good job. Daniel Henderson, coming back from a long layover with an injury, came in and pitched got the save. That’s big.

“We’ve got to do stuff like that in order to win,” he said. “We’ve got to get better. We’ve got a lot of things to work on.”

Rogers went 3-for-3 with two singles; Smith and Zach Ward went 2-for-4 each; and Scherzinger and Campbell went 1-for-2 each.

Johnson went 2-for-3 to lead Opp.

Opp 7, Andalusia 4

Andalusia committed six errors in the field and Opp scored five runs combined in the sixth and seventh innings to pull out the come-from-behind victory.

Trailing 4-2 in the top of the sixth, Opp cut the game to 4-3 on an outfield error to start the four-run inning for the Bobcats.

Hughes later scored on an RBI single from Holt Hall, and Zane Hollinghead added an RBI double to tie the game at 4-all later in the sixth.

Dakota King then hit an RBI single to score Hollinghead for the lead, and Opp’s Ethan Davis rounded second base during the score, but was called out on a throw to third base from Ward out in center field for the last out of the inning.

Hughes came in the game at the start of the fourth inning and allowed one run on four hits while striking out two to earn the win on the mound.

“That was the worst defensive game we’ve played all year,” Rasberry said. “We had four defensive errors going into today. We doubled our errors in one game alone. You can’t do that and expect to win.”

Jo Jo Jones, King and Davis went 2-for-4 each for OHS. Hall went 3-for-4 with a double and two singles; and Hollinghead went 1-for-3 with a double.

“I was proud of the first game at how our kids hit the ball,” Cassady said. “Our two pitchers gave ourselves a chance to win. Landon Hughes did an excellent job coming in there.

“Then, we started getting the bats hot,” he said.

Smith went 3-for-4 with three singles for AHS.

Andalusia scored one run in the first inning on an RBI double from Maddox, and added two runs in the third off of Opp errors to lead 3-1 after the Bobcats tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third.

The Bobcats tallied 14 hits in the win, compared to Andalusia’s seven.