Baseball rallies to beat Heritage
On the heels of a blowout doubleheader loss to Greenbrier on Wednesday, the Siloam Springs baseball team found itself in another big hole on Thursday against Rogers Heritage.
This time though, the Panthers had an answer.
Powered by home runs from freshman Wyatt Pennington and senior JP Wills, Siloam Springs rallied from a 4-0 first inning deficit to clip Rogers Heritage 10-6 in a nonconference game at James Butts Baseball Complex.
“Losing the way we did ( Wednesday) was tough,” said Siloam Springs baseball coach Alan Hardcastle. “But these kids, man I give them credit. They came back.”
A series of walks, hits and errors put Siloam Springs down four runs early, but the Panthers began their rally in the bottom of the first inning.
Pennington hit a solo home run to center field, and Siloam Springs added another run when Wills reached on an error and courtesy runner Tanner Kear advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on Ryder Winfrey’s single to make it 4-2.
Heritage added a run in the second to go up 5-2, but the Panthers answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to tie the game 5-5.
Nolan Wills reached on an error to open the inning and Pennington and JP Wills were hit by pitches, and Nolan Wills scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-3. Jacob Gilbert walked and Winfrey and Fain were each hit by pitches as the Panthers pulled within 5-4. Lucas Junkermann also walked to score another run.
The Panthers scored two runs in the third to go up 7-5. After Pennington doubled, JP Wills hit a two-run home run to left field — his first home run of the season.
Heritage scored a run in the fifth to pull within 7-6, but the Panthers came back and scored three in the bottom of the fifth.
Christian Ledeker and Pennington singled and JP Wills and Gilbert each drew walks to score a run.
Winfrey singled home another run and the Panthers’ 10th run scored on Fain’s groundout to make it 10-6.
Pennington got the first two outs in the sixth inning before reaching his maximum pitch count. Gilbert relieved on the mound and struck out all four batters he faced and got the save.
“(Gilbert) did a great job,” Hardcastle said. “Stepped up as a senior.”
Pennington led with three hits, three runs and one RBI. He also had seven strike outs and gave up one earned run in 5 2/3 innings.
“That kid he doesn’t play like a freshman,” Hardcastle said of Pennington. “He’s tough. He’s gritty. He hates to lose, and man I tell you, he really plays the game the way it should be played, and he sees things. He’s such a competitor. I’m so proud of him. He’s given us a chance every time he comes out on the bump.”
Hardcastle also credited the defensive play of first baseman Nick Driscoll.
“Great job by Nick Driscoll,” he said. “We work PFPs (pitcher fielding position) all the time and he came off the base in the first inning and made some great plays, flipped it over to Wyatt and it saved us from a big, big inning.”
Greenbrier 16-15, Siloam Springs 1-0
The Siloam Springs baseball team dropped to 1-5 in the 5A-West Conference after losing both games of a doubleheader to Greenbrier, 16-1 and 15-0 on Wednesday at James Butts Baseball Complex.
Greenbrier used three big innings in game one to score all its runs.
After a scoreless first inning, Greenbrier scored five runs in the second and added six in the fourth and five more in the fifth.
Paxton Flagg hit a home run, scored two runs and had three RBIs for Greenbrier, while Thatcher Strack had two hits with three runs and four RBIs. Rece Jones had two hits and two RBIs. Jordan Huskey had a hit and two RBIs and also threw a five-inning complete game with seven strikeouts.
JP Wills had two of Siloam Springs’ four hits, while Wyatt Pennington had a run and hit. Jacob Gilbert had an RBI and Nick Driscoll also had a hit.
Christian Ledeker pitched 3 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and five walks and took the loss.
Ryder Winfrey pitched the final 1 2/3 on the mound for Siloam Springs.
Greenbrier (9-5, 5-1) scored in every inning in game two, while holding Siloam Springs to one hit. Greenbrier scored a run in the first, three in the second, seven in the third and two each in the fourth and fifth innings.
Strack had two runs, three hits and three RBIs for Greenbrier while Jack Runsick hit a grand slam.
Keaton Whitley got the win with four innings and six strikeouts on the mound. Spencer Stephenson took the loss for Siloam Springs, while Lucas Junkermann, Jackson Still and Landen Fain all pitched.
JP Wills had the only hit offensively for Siloam Springs.