The East Coast Sox Prime put up a battle, but fell to Team Louisiana 4-2 on Friday in the opening round of pool play at the 2018 Perfect Game WWBA 17U National Championship in northwest Atlanta.

In the top of the first inning, Team Louisiana got on the board and took a 1-0 lead.

Team Louisiana extended their lead to 4-0 with three more runs in the top of the third inning.

The East Coast Sox Prime got a run back in the bottom of the fourth inning.

In the final frame, the East Coast Sox Prime tacked on another run, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Team Louisiana.

Andalusia’s Hogan Nichols (East Coast Sox Prime) had a strong day in the field and at the plate.

While playing catcher, Nichols threw out two runners attempting to steal.

Nichols went 1-for-2 at the plate.

The East Coast Sox will return to action today at 2 p.m., when they take on the EJ Sports Warriors.

They will then play the South Jersey Sand Sharks Hayes at 9:30 p.m.

“I’ve been playing with (East Coast Sox) for two years,” Nichols said. “Each year the Sox have several teams per age group and they pick the players that peformed the best throughout the summer to fill up the five best teams they can put together to go the the national championship.”

Nichols said it’s always fun to go up against the best talent in the country.

“This is the my third time playing in the WWBA National Championship,” Nichols said. “It’s an incredible feeling playing against the best competion in the country. Since I recently commited to Central Alabama, I’m going into this tournament with one goal and that’s a dawg pile. There’s no added pressure for me as far as getting recruited so I’m goin into this with a win at all cost attitude.”