JASPER, Fla. — The Madison County Cowboys made it two straight district titles as they rode the pitching of Dilan Lawson (six innings, three hits, no runs) and used some early offense to defeat Lafayette 7-0 on Friday. 

The Cowboys led off the game with a double and scored one run in the first inning. They batted around in the third inning on their way to four runs and then added two more in the fourth to go ahead 7-0.  

Although the loss means the Hornets will have to start the postseason on the road Wednesday at Union County, Lafayette (14-8) coach Tim Hanson gave his team a positive message after Friday’s game.     

“I told them, ‘the season is not over.’ We came up short of our first goal which is to win the district. There’s still a lot to play for,” said Hanson, who led the Hornets to three straight district titles from 2014 to 2016, as well as the 2016 state title. 

“If we get hot the next few weeks, we go back down south. We’re very capable of it.”

Caleb Land was one of the bright spots offensively for Lafayette, finishing 2-3 to extend his hitting streak to seven games. Dylan Mock had a single for the Hornets and reached base twice.

LHS stranded two runners on base on three different occasions — the first inning, the fifth and the sixth.

“We didn’t get any hits at the right time,” Hanson said. “We started off pretty good, just didn’t capitalize on some things.”

Box score

								R	H	E
Lafayette	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2
Madison County	1	0	4	2	0	0	–	7	9	1

Land — 2-3 — 1 2-3 innings pitched,  4 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 strikeouts 

Mock — 1-2, HBP — 2 1-3 innings pitched, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 strikeout

Richardson — 2 innings pitched, 2 earned runs, 2 strikeouts