Rice’s bat paces Rams’ sweep of Wolves

PEARCY — As the night wore on, Tanner Rice’s bat got warmer.

The Lakeside outfielder/ pitcher had five consecutive hits in the American Legion AA Rams’ doubleheader sweep of Lake Hamilton Thursday night. Rice hit safely twice late in the 6- 3 opener and went three for three, scoring three runs, in the 6- 1 nightcap.

Carter West homered for Lakeside in the second game, shortened to four innings under a time limit.

Rice, Lakeside’s leadoff man, singled in the first, second and fourth innings, responding to a

new hitting approach.

“We’re trying something a little difference mechanical with him,” Lakeside coach Leighton Hardin said. “In high school he was more of a contact guy, hitting it on the ground and beating it out. He’s got some pop, so we’re doing some things with him to get the barrel of the bat on the ball a little more. He’s fairly strong and a tall guy with long legs. He should be able to be a gap ( hitter) and hit some doubles for us. It worked out tonight, anyway.”

Rice scored on Colton O’Keefe’s first- inning single after a wild pitch by Ben Slate and with Caleb Lloyd in a three- run second when O’Keefe’s fly ball was dropped. West homered to right field for the inning’s first run.

Slate, an incoming highschool sophomore, joined seven new position starters in the second game, Lake Hamilton coach Mac Hurley eyeing the future.

“It’s about getting those guys some experience,” Hurley said. “In summer ball, it’s not about winning. We want to win, but it’s about getting better for next year.”

Varsity regular Jacob Treat pitched around two walks in the third but was relieved after allowing three hits and hitting a batter in the fourth. Rice scored on Spencer Vicentic’s single and Erick Aguirre on Blake Spilker’s groundout against Dayton Pate.

Ryan Sinclair struggled while pitching the last three innings of the opener, allowing Lakeside’s six runs. The last four were unearned.

“You could tell Sinclair didn’t have his stuff, and in the second game Treat didn’t have his,” Hurley said.

Rice, an incoming senior, pitched the first two innings for the win. He gave up Lake Hamilton’s run on Dylan Spencer’s swinging- bunt single with two outs in the second, Tanner King scoring after a leadoff walk, stolen base and wild pitch.

Race Tittle worked the third, striking out the side around a walk and Zach Tisdale’s infield hit, and Aguirre — Lakeside’s No. 1 catcher — fanned two of four batters while walking one in the fourth.

“We were trying to conserve,” Hardin said, noting Friday’s game, today’s doubleheader against Benton and a tournament at Mississippi State University starting Monday. “I don’t know if Erick had pitched in his life. We were trying to save some arms. He competed and threw some strikes.”

After 2015 senior Johnathan Barmore struck out 13 in the opener, the second- game mound trio combined for seven strikeouts.

“We didn’t hit the ball too well. That’s the first time we’ve stepped on the field since we lost to Greenwood,” Hurley said, referring to the Wolves’ 4- 2 Class 6A state tournament loss May 14. “They got some key hits and we didn’t.”

The games were the first Lakeside- Lake Hamilton matchups since early in the 2014 high- school season. They were rained out twice this spring and had not met in the summer since Lake Hamilton switched from legion to extended high school in 2013.

“We didn’t get to play this game in high school, so we were looking forward to it,” Hardin said. “A few of them had it circled on their schedule.”

Lake Hamilton, with 10 doubleheaders scheduled, plays Tuesday at Centerpoint and Little Rock Christian on Wednesday at home.