El Dorado takes win over Junction City

JUNCTION CITY – With El Dorado missing several members of its rotation due to injuries, the Wildcats have been looking for depth to help shore things up.

Enter Justin Dumas. A sophomore, Dumas turned in a superb effort on Friday by pitching a perfect game in El Dorado's 12-0 win at Junction City.

Of his 15 outs, nine were via strikeout and he needed just 55 pitches to complete his gem, throwing only 14 balls in his outing.

“Justin was great on the mound tonight,” El Dorado coach Cannon Lester said. “He had good run and command of his fastball, and his breaking ball was really sharp. He is solidifying himself as a conference pitcher for us.”

In each of the last two years, the Wildcats (3-3) and Dragons (1-6) have staged epic contests that ended with walk-off wins for each school.

The Wildcats made sure there was little drama in the third meeting between the Union County schools by scoring five runs in the opening inning.

Austin Jobe, who homered in Thursday's win against Crossett, had a triple and drove in two runs for the Wildcats, who had eight hits in the contest.

Tyler Johnson drove in three runs while going 2-for-3 with one run scored, and Dumas helped his own cause by going 1-for-1 with two walks and an RBI.

Shadarious Plummer, Landen Rainwater, Brennan Jones and Joseph Bolin each had one hit for El Dorado.

Preston Howard, Hunter Lawrence, Plummer, Rainwater and Jones all had one RBI for the Wildcats.

Coyt Sellers took the loss for the Dragons, allowing eight runs with only two being earned in three innings of work.

He gave up six hits, walked four and struck out six.

Junction City travels to Spring Hill Monday for their conference opener.

El Dorado will be idle until Tuesday when they host Hot Springs Lakeside to start league play.