After a last-minute rainout on Friday night, the Selma Cloverleafs started their series with the Ozark Patriots with a loss. The Patriots shut out the Leafs 5-0 in

the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. But turnabout is fair play, and the Leafs used the second game to shut out the Patriots 8-0 in front of a crowd of 313.

The pitching staff for Ozark, led by right-handed starter Nick Vandergriff, allowed Selma only five hits for the first game.

The game moved quickly through three innings with neither team scoring. But Ozark drew first blood with Nick Collins’s home run in the fourth that brought the score to 2-0. An off-the-wall double shortly thereafter by Dameon Smith gave the Patriots the 3-0 advantage. But Selma rallied defensively, when a shot to left field sent the runner on second towards home, but third baseman Desmond O’Quine tagged the runner out and then flung the ball to second base, effectively turning a double play and getting out of the inning. The Patriots rounded out their score in the top of the sixth with a two-run homer by Junior Braddy off of relief pitcher Lucas McCullom that gave Ozark the 5-0 lead and final score.

Selma pitcher Bryan Rushton drew the loss in the game, giving up five hits and three runs and striking out three.

At the plate for the Leafs, O’Quine went 2-for-3 with two singles, while teammates Bartkawski Cowan, Brock Lowell, and Joe Whitmer all went 1-for-3 with a single. Cowan added a stolen base to his day, and Jose Colon, who reached first on an error, also stole one base.

The second game of the doubleheader was much better for Selma’s hometown pros. The game, in which hometown pitcher Terry Waters got the win, went much more smoothly, with big defensive plays abounding. Leafs player Colon had an outstanding game, hitting one home run and making two big defensive plays. One was a throw-out to first from right field that should have been a hit for Ozark, and the second was a diving catch in the sixth inning that wowed the crowd. Joe Colvin also added a home run for the Leafs in the game.

Manager Merritt Bowden credited the win to good pitching.

“It was another great outing by Terry,” he said. “We tried to save him from throwing too many pitches, because his arm was still sore, but it was just an excellent game for him.

The win and the loss keep the Leafs’ record at an even 13-13 for the season. The players will have a two-day break to recuperate from a tough schedule, and then they take on the Pensacola Pelicans, the number-one ranked team in the league, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.