Warren upends Dragons
JUNCTION CITY - In most circumstances, when a pitcher gets two strikes on a batter, he has the advantage.
However, that was not the case for Warren’s Gage Reep, who drove in three runs with a pair of two-strike hits to lead the Lumberjacks to a 5-3 win over Junction City on Friday in Class 3A-4A District 12 action.
Warren (7-7) had leads of 3-0 and 5-2 only to see the Dragons (11-8) fight back.
Down three runs in the sixth, the Dragons scored a run to inch closer before Hayden Lassiter fanned Bryce Ware with the bases loaded in the seventh to end the game.
“We just didn’t play well enough to win,” said Junction City coach Joe Paul Hammett. “Give Warren credit. They played a good ballgame. They threw strikes and made the plays in the field. They got the timely hits. We didn’t do any of those, so that’s the reason we came up on the short end.”
The Lumberjacks chased Dragons starter Brock McGoogan in the second.
With one out, Nathan Hairston was hit by McGoogan’s 1-2 pitch.
McGoogan then got ahead of Leighton Curry 1-2, but Curry laced a base hit to right to put runners at the corners.
A walk to Kendall Pope loaded the bases, prompting a pitching change.
Logan Disotell was summoned to try and halt the Lumberjacks’ rally, but he hit Logan Smith with his first pitch to force in a run.
With the bases reloaded and only one out, Warren had the makings of a big inning, but a great defensive play by Keelan Hodge saved a run.
After Smith’s painful RBI, Luke Gorman hit a ground ball that looked to be earmarked for left field for a base hit, but Hodge went far to his right to corral it and throw out Pope at third.
Curry scored on the play to make it 2-0, but Disotell was able to retire Cade Reep on a grounder to shortstop to end the inning.
Warren padded their lead in the third thanks to the first of Gage Reep’s twostrike hits.
Lassiter led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on Treylon Burks’ comebacker to the mound.
Disotell was able to get ahead of Reep 0-2, but the Warren designated hitter lined a base hit to center to score Lassiter to make it 3-0.
The Dragons squandered scoring chances early on against Pope, who was Warren’s starter.
Hodge doubled with two outs in the first, but was stranded there after Disotell grounded out to shortstop.
In the second, the Dragons tried to engineer a double steal with runners at the corners and two outs only to see Clay Jolley get
thrown out before Ware could cross the plate for the run to count.
But after being turned away, the Dragons sliced Warren’s lead to a run in the third with a two-out rally.
Charles Hoof led off with a base hit to left, but was erased from the basepaths on Robbie Roberson’s fielder’s choice.
Roberson stole second, but Joe Lowe fouled out to the catcher.
But just when it seemed the Dragons were going to strand their third runner in scoring position in as many innings, Hodge rifled a double to left to score Roberson to make it 3-1.
A wild pitch sent Hodge to third and Disotell walked to put runners at the corners.
Hairston then took over for Pope, but McGoogan greeted the right-hander with a base hit to left to cut Warren’s lead to 3-2.
The score remained unchanged until a critical miscue paved the way for the Lumberjacks to get some breathing room in the fifth.
Cade Reep led off with a single, but Disotell got Lassiter to hit a tailor-made double-play grounder to shortstop.
However, the throw to second was dropped for an error, and the Lumberjacks had runners at first and second with nobody out.
Burks advanced the runners a base each with a ground out to third, and Gage Reep followed with the biggest two-strike hit of the day by lacing Disotell’s 2-2 pitch for an opposite-field tworun single to right to give Warren a 5-2 lead.
After scoring their two runs in the third, the Dragons couldn’t take advantage of a leadoff walk to Jolley in the fourth, and Hairston recorded a 1-2-3 fifth, but Junction City crept closer in the sixth with a two-out run.
Jolley was again at the forefront of the rally.
The junior snapped Hairston’s string of retired batters at eight by ripping a double to the fence in left, and Jolley scored moments later when Jack Smith’s flare down the left-field line fell for a single to make it 5-3.
With the aid of a double play, Hodge was able to pitch around two singles in the seventh, and the Dragons went to work on trying to cap their comeback.
Lassiter, who got Hoof to ground out to first to end the sixth with a runner at second, quickly found himself in a bind after Roberson’s grounder to first was misplayed for an error.
The right-hander struck out the next two batters, but Disotell drew a four-pitch walk and McGoogan was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
That set the stage for the dramatic ending, as Ware couldn’t check his swing on a 2-2 breaking ball from Lassiter to end the game.
“We’ve been struggling at the plate lately,” Hammett said. “Even in our wins, we’ve been struggling a little bit. When you’re struggling offensively, and you make a few errors, they seem to magnify because they made us pay for our errors that we had.”
Pope scattered five hits and two runs in 2 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out one.
Hairston turned in a solid performance out of the bullpen, allowing three hits and one run in three innings of work. He walked one and struck out one.
Lassiter walked one, hit a batter and struck out three to pick up the save.
Reep was 2-for-4, as was Gage Reep, who added the aforementioned three RBIs.
McGoogan took the loss after working just 1 1/3 innings. He allowed two runs, one hit, walked one, hit two batters and struck out one.
Disotell allowed four hits and three runs in 3 2/3 innings with one walk, one hit batsman and four strikeouts.
Hodge allowed two hits and struck out two in two scoreless innings.
Junction City begins a threegame road swing on Monday when they play at Hamburg.
Game 1 Smackover 15, Lake Village 0
SMACKOVER - The Bucks sent 14 batters to the plate and banged out nine hits as part of an 11-run third inning to seal the victory.
Nick Jennings went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Baylor Brumley was also 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
Tucker Evans, Cade Schibler and Brennan McKnight were each 1-for-2 with an RBI, while Beau Burson was 1-for-2 with two RBIs and Weston Smith was 1-for-1 with two RBIs.
Burson and Smith each had two-run singles in the third, as did Brumley, who later scored the walk-off run when the Beavers attempted to pick off Jennings.
Schibler allowed one hit in three scoreless innings. He didn’t issue any walks and struck out six.
Game 2 Smackover 21, Lake Village 0
SMACKOVER - In sweeping the nightcap in Class 3A-4A District 12 action, the Bucks (7-11) scored 12 runs in the first and nine in the second.
The Bucks had eight hits in the opening inning with Burson leading the charge.
Burson had an RBI double in his first at-bat before crushing a three-run homer in his second trip to the plate.
Clay Stringer, who was 2-for-2, had a three-run double.
McKnight had two doubles and an RBI, while Schibler was 1-for2 with an RBI and Evans went 1-for-1 with an RBI.
Smith fired a one-hit shutout, issuing one walk along with five strikeouts.