Paul, Golden lead Diamond Leopards’ shine on the road to top De Queen, 11-6
“LAST NIGHT AGAINST DE QUEEN WAS AN INCREDIBLE GAME. WE HAVE BEEN PREACHING TO OUR KIDS TO CONTINUE TO FIGHT AND PLAY EVERY PITCH LIKE IT IS GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES....”
DE QUEEN — In an impressive bounce back performance on the road Tuesday, the hometown Malvern Leopards showcased their productive talents to secure a five-run victory 11-6 against De Queen to close out their league series match-up in conference play.
Diamond Leopards’ Logan Paul and Tyler “TG” Golden led the execution for Malvern against De Queen. The pitching duo of Paul and Golden kept the strike zone in full effect from their work on the hill. Paul earned the victory striking out five batters, and throwing 53 strikes while displaying four and one-third innings of hometown excellence on the mound against De Queen. Golden also followed up with a productive outing on the rubber and struck out two batters to shut down the De Queen offensive attack at the plate. Golden pitched two and two-third innings, gave up no
—JORDAN KNIGHT MALVERN BASEBALL HEAD COACH
hits, no earned runs, and threw 20 strikes.
Paul also connected two hits at the plate and drove in three runs for three RBIS. Diamond Leopard teammates Dalen Weaver sparked with four QABS and Patrick Doss ignited three QABS. Hunter Adams and Doss each drove in a run for an RBI with Jerrod Barber and Jase Wise to create some productive offense in the batter’s box. Adams, Golden and Evan Myers each had an RBI. Adams, Weaver, Myers, Tyson Cooper, Barber and Doss all hammered at the plate for a hit. Myers and Coopers led the scoring attack and soared to home with two runs apiece. Adams, Weaver, Golden, Paul, Wise, Barber, and Case each sparked the Leopards’ offense to score a run.
The Diamond Leopards rallied from a 4-1 deficit and sparked with three runs scored in the top of the fourth, then routed four runs in the fifth inning and put the game out of reach with three runs scored in the top of the seventh. Malvern sparked with 11 runs on eight hits to outplay De Queen for the entire seven inning contest/. De Queen managed to score six runs on seven hits.
Malvern’s victory ended a six-game losing skid.
Malvern Leopard baseball head coach Jordan Knight was proud of how the team regrouped from a tough time of defeats in their previous match-ups.
“Last night against DeQueen was an incredible game. We have been preaching to our kids to continue to fight and play every pitch like it is Game 7 of the World Series,” Knight said.
“I am proud of the buy-in we had from our kids with the game plan and mentality we preached to them Monday and Tuesday.”
Knight continued on to say, “We responded, being down 4-1 and 5-4 to come back and take control of the game. It was great to see our pitching staff and defense step up at the end of the game to close it out in the final two innings. I am proud of the growth that we have shown and the ability to continue to show toughness and character of the will.”
Even from last week’s tough losses, Knight admired some fight and tough mentality play from his team to continue their fight of combat on the diamond.
Knight stated, “Unfortunately Thursday’s game did not turn out the way we wanted it to.
I am proud of Tyler Golden stepping up and competing on the mound. He gave us a chance throughout the game—as a team, we allowed the last inning to get away from us and that balloons the score into what it was. Walks and HBP’S will hurt any team in America, so as coaches we have to be able to continue coaching our kids on mechanically and mentally competing in the strike zone and not giving up the freebies.”
The Leopards have secured conference wins against Mena, Fountain Lake and De Queen thus far this season.
UP NEXT
The Diamond Leopards are set to continue league play Friday on the road and aim to sweep their league series match-up against Fountain Lake.