Traveling to Carthage on Saturday for district tournament action, the DeKalb County baseball team advanced to the next round, beating Central Magnet 3-1.
The win also marked a special occasion for Coach Scott Odom as he reached a personal milestone in his coaching career, eclipsing 300 victories as the Tigers’ skipper.
DeKalb jumped out to an early led as Steven Howell led off with a towering home run to dead centerfield that measured about 355 feet.
Central Magnet answered back in the top of the second with a sac-bunt laid down with a runner on first. The fielder tossed the ball to first for the easy out. The runner on second then stole third. The throw to third was too high and the runner scored on the errant throw.
Play stayed even throughout the rest of the game as neither team would allow any runs until the bottom of the sixth when Steven Howell went up with the bases loaded and ripped the ball up the third baseline good for a two-run double. This hit gave DeKalb the lead for the second time in the game.
Central Magnent couldn’t find an answer for Puckett as he finished the game with only one run allowed on four hits, and also struck out six batters through seven innings to help preserve the win.
DeKalb was led by S. Howell with his three RBIs, a homerun and a double. Devin Summers finished with a single and a double. Hunter Graham had two singles. Seth Stanley knocked in two singles, and Cody Puckett had one single.
Along with the victory, four Tiger members were named to the district team: Steven Howell, Daniel Stanley, Cody Puckett and Hunter Graham. Congratulations to Coach Odom and the entire Tiger baseball team.
Odom earns 300th victory

