North Pemiscot's Josh Tomlin delivers a pitch during Friday's Tri-County Conference baseball game at Cooter. Tomlin picked up the win, striking out eight and walking three in a complete-game victory. [Click to enlarge]

COOTER, Mo. -- Friday's battle between North Pemiscot and Cooter had all the trappings of a heavyweight championship fight. Two undefeated teams. Two standout pitchers that combined for 18 strikeouts. Two powerful offenses that combined for 15 runs and 17 hits.

Not bad for Round One, which saw the Mustangs defeat Cooter, 8-7.

"We'll see them again in the conference tournament," Cooter coach Alan Crawford said. "We play them again at their place later and then we'll see them in district. So we look at it as yeah you'd like to win, but it's just the same way if we beat them -- it's just Round One and you get ready for the next one."

The biggest punch Friday arguably came from the bat of John Jackson, whose grand slam in the top of the fourth inning put North Pemiscot up 7-6, a lead it never relinquished.

Jackson finished the day 3-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored.

"John's a leader for us," North Pemiscot coach Jamie Johnson said. "He made a couple of great plays in the seventh for us. When the pressure's on -- you just can't say enough about John Jackson -- he's a leader for us."

The Mustangs also got a good performance on the hill from senior Josh Tomlin, who struck out eight and walked just three in a complete-game victory.

"We went a little further than we want to go with Josh today," Johnson said. "But he's a competitor and he wants the baseball. Probably against my better judgment, we let him go the distance. Pitch count was way over what we wanted, but he's a competitor and he didn't want the baseball to come out of his hands. That's the type of attitude we like to have here."

Said Tomlin: "I've been waiting for this for a long time. I had to take a year off from injuries and stuff. I'm just glad to be back pitching and (I am) ready to push for districts."

Cooter (6-1) trailed 3-1 entering the bottom of the third inning, but rallied for five runs on four straight hits to take the lead.

The big blow came off the bat of senior Devon Barger, who three-run homer to leftfield snapped a 3-all tie and put the Wildcats up 6-3.

"Cooter's a great ballclub," Johnson said. "They're going to hit the baseball and they're going to do things right. They can get on you quick.

However, the Mustangs answered back in the top of the fourth inning, as Phillip Palmer and Grant St. Cin each connected for base hits to open the inning and a bunt single by Eric Fowler loaded the bases for Jackson, who sent the ball over the leftfield fence for the go-ahead grand slam.

"He's just a great hitter," Tomlin said of Jackson. "He's been keeping us going here lately. He's real hot right now. We just got to get everybody else hitting and go from there."

Tomlin scored a huge insurance run in the top of the sixth, drawing a one-out walk, advancing to second on a wild pitch and scoring on Parker Watkins' single to left.

That run proved to be decisive, as Cooter scored on a two-out walk and pair of errors in the bottom of the seventh to make it an 8-7 game. The Wildcats had the tying run in scoring position before Tomlin recovered to strike out Jonathan Boone to end the game.

"He does a real good job pitching," Jackson said. "He kept everything low. It was just a good job."

Watkins finished 2-for-3 for North Pem, while Brandon Quillin had two RBIs on a pair of sacrifice flies.

Barger paced Cooter with two hits and three RBIs. Aaron McCaig took the loss on the mound, allowing eight runs (seven earned) and 10 hits in six innings of work while striking out 10 and walking just one.

The Mustangs return to action Wednesday when they host a round-robin tripleheader with Clearwater and South Pemiscot. North Pem takes on Clearwater at 11 a.m., while South Pemiscot and Clearwater face off at 1 p.m. and the Mustangs take on South Pem at 3 p.m. to conclude the day.