Tough one for Byrd

Byrd had a chance to pull off a statement win Friday night in New Orleans.

Instead, the baseball Yellow Jackets were left heartbroken.

Rummel, long a Class 5A power, pulled off an eight-run seventh inning to erase a seven-run deficit and beat the Jackets 8-7 in the Westbank Optimist Classic.

Still it was a good learning experience for Byrd and another strong outing for Chris Cotton. Cotton, who is having a great start to the season, struck out seven and allowed one hit in six shutout innings.

Unfortunately for him, his bullpen could not hold it.

Hopefully for Byrd, this is a game in May they can look back on and say they learned from it.