It was a perfect afternoon for baseball on Tuesday afternoon as Our Lady of Mercy hosted Landmark Christian in a 5-A region matchup. The Bobcats had one region win coming into the game, while Landmark Christian was undefeated in region play. Those results would stay the same as the War Eagles defeated Our Lady of Mercy 5-0.

The pitching matchup featured Mercy's Jared Boccella against Landmark's Tommy Kinney and both pitched scoreless first innings. In the second inning, Landmark's Tyler Chapman reached on an error and scored when Brad Miller hit an RBI double. The score would remain 1-0 in favor of the War eagles through four innings and Boccella would get four strikeouts in those innings.

Landmark would add three runs in the fifth inning due to some shaky Bobcat defense. Tyler Tidwell, Miles King and Kinney would all score in the inning with Kinney and Trey Strickland earning RBIs. They would add the final run in the sixth inning. Mercy would scratch out three hits on the day to Landmark's six. Boccella finished with seven strikeouts on the day while Kinney had five.

"We didn't take advantage when we had opportunities," said Mercy coach Lee McDermott. "We hit into two double plays and the errors we made led to runs for them. That's baseball." McDermott credited Boccella for throwing another terrific game for the Bobcats. "He pitched great and really keeps us in games."

Landmark coach Kevin Nix felt it was a team effort in securing their fifth region win. "In a game like this, 90 percent of it is pitching and defense," Nix said. "They made a few errors and we were able to take advantage of them. Nix praised the efforts of Trey Strickland who is beginning to hit well and also the return of Blaine Gable, who was the designated hitter for Landmark and set up their final run.

The Bobcats hosted Galloway yesterday after the paper went to press and Landmark is off until a game at Whitefield Academy next Tuesday at 5 p.m.