Panthers split games in Grove, Okla.
■ Siloam Springs is scheduled to host Farmington on Friday.
GROVE, Okla. — The Siloam Springs baseball team split a pair of games Saturday at Grove, Okla., as the Panthers defeated Locust Grove, Okla., 9-6 early in the day and later lost to host Grove 9-3.
Siloam Springs 9, Locust Grove 6
The Panthers picked up their eighth win of the season Saturday morning with a five-inning victory over the Pirates.
The game had a time limit of 1 hour, 45 minutes and ended after the bottom of the fifth inning.
Starting pitcher Chandler Cook (1-1) got the win, pitching 32/3 innings with three earned runs allowed, two hits, four walks and six strikeouts.
Cook allowed two of those runs in the bottom of the first inning as the Pirates took a 2-0 lead.
The Panthers tied it up with two runs in the top of the second.
Josh Hunt got the rally started when he was hit by a pitch. He stole second base and scored on a Baron Meek double to make it 2-1. Meek later moved to third on an error and scored on a groundout off the bat of L.T. Ellis.
The Panthers got their offense going with four runs in the top of the fourth.
Tanner Broyles reached on a one-out error, and Ellis and Taylor Pool walked to load the bases. Cook grounded into a fielder’s choice, which scored one run to give the Panthers the lead, 3-2. Another run scored on an RBI hit by Eli Hawbaker.
Two more Panthers scored when Dawson Armstrong reached on a Locust Grove error to make it 6-2.
Locust Grove got a run back to make it 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth, as Josh Hunt relieved Cook on the mound.
The Panthers scored three more runs in the top of the fifth. Hunt reached on an error and Meek walked.
Broyles singled and Ellis walked to load the bases.
Pool cleared the bases with a three-run double to make it 9-3.
The Pirates scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to set the final score as Chance Junkermann got the final outs to end the game.
Grove 9, Siloam Springs 3
The Panthers took the early 1-0 lead in the top of the first against the host Ridgerunners, but Grove scored at least one run in every turn at bat and picked up the 9-3 victory.
Chandler Cook singled to open the game in the first and Hawbaker followed with a single. Cook was thrown out at home plate on a fly ball by Dawson Armstrong, but Chance Junkermann singled to score Hawbaker and get the Panthers on the board.
Grove answered in the bottom half, scoring two runs off Panthers starter L.T. Ellis.
The Ridgerunners scored two more in the second to go up 4-1.
The Panthers got a run back in the third when Cook hit a triple and scored on Hawbaker’s groundout.
Grove scored single runs in the third and fourth and two more in the fifth to go up 8-2. The Ridgerunners made it 9-2 with a run in the sixth.
Siloam Springs scored its final run in the top of the seventh.
Pool reached on an error, and A.J. Serrano singled. Jacob Rowe singled to load the bases. Chandler Cook hit a sacrifice fly to score Pool, but the Panthers were unable to score any more runs as the game ended 9-3.
Ellis (1-1) pitched four innings with five hits, six runs (two earned), four strikeouts and two walks. Armstrong and Pool also pitched an inning apiece.
Up next
The Panthers’ scheduled home game against Lincoln on Tuesday was canceled because Lincoln had to reschedule a conference game.
Siloam Springs (8-9) is scheduled to host Farmington at 5 p.m. Friday for a 5A/6A District 1 game at James Butts Baseball Complex. The Cardinals defeated the Panthers 10-4 on March 7.