Lions snap skid behind Perkins’ gem
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — Jessieville starter Logan Perkins shined in six innings to help the Lions snap a threegame losing streak Wednesday night.
The senior left-hander allowed just one run on two hits with two walks and six strikeouts as Jessieville (8-7, 2-4 in 3A/4A-8) rolled to an 8-2 win over visiting Fountain Lake (11-4, 2-3).
“It was all about confidence and being around the zone,” Jessieville coach Ryan O’Neal said. “He had confidence in the guys behind him; we’ve been working really hard at taking ground balls and fly balls. Whenever he did have to put the ball in play, they had his back.”
Despite a stellar performance from Perkins, the Lions found themselves locked in a low-scoring affair until breaking out in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Clinging to a 2-1 lead, Jessieville scored four runs on three hits in the bottom of the fifth. Noah Eskew delivered a two-run single, and Chase Pedersen had one RBI while the Cobras committed two errors and allowed a run to score on a balk.
“That was a big swing, and it’s one of those games that we can learn from,” Fountain Lake coach Josh Wesson said. “Obviously it got out of hand pretty quick, but that being said, we were the reason it got out of hand. They were self-inflicted wounds, but credit to Jessieville, they put the bat on the ball, and we just didn’t make plays.”
Leading 6-1, the Lions broke the game open with two additional runs in the bottom of the sixth. Dalton McClard, Perkins and Adam Saveall each reached base before Michael Vangilder followed with a two-run double to give Jessieville a commanding 8-1 advantage.
Vangilder finished with one single, one double and three RBIs in four plate appearances from the cleanup spot in the order.
“Really he’s been putting the ball in play all year,” said O’Neal. “He’s starting to hit a little stronger, and we felt like we wanted somebody in between our two big hitters in Adam (Saveall) and Oliver (Nasilai). We put Michael in there to move some people around and give us another baserunner with Oliver coming up behind him.”
Fountain Lake’s Kody Moody was hit by a pitch and later scored in the top of the seventh to bring the Cobras within 8-2, but Dalton McClard settled in and retired the side with two strikeouts to preserve the win for Jessieville.
McClard and Perkins led off the bottom of the first with consecutive singles before Vangilder delivered an RBI groundout to give the Lions a quick 1-0 lead.
Bryan Morgan ripped an RBI single to left field that stretched Jessieville’s lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the second while Perkins dazzled on the mound.
Perkins had a no-hitter through four innings until Fountain Lake’s Connor Webb led off the top of the fifth with a single and later scored after a Jessieville error.
“My dudes that can swing it didn’t swing it today, and my dudes that can make plays didn’t make plays today,” Wesson said. “That’s what it comes down to. Logan did a good job; he kept us off balance, and he mixed it up well. We just couldn’t square him up.”
Eskew, McClard, Morgan, Pedersen and Perkins each had one single as all nine starters for Jessieville reached base safely at least one time.
Daeton Bassett had one single in three at-bats for the Cobras, but suffered the loss with six runs allowed on six hits in five innings pitched, striking out six while issuing two walks.
Montana Carden doubled in the top of the seventh for Fountain Lake’s lone extra-base hit of the contest.
Both teams are scheduled to face conference opponents today, Jessieville against visiting Gurdon
(3-10, 0-5) and Fountain Lake at Joe T. Robinson (13-8,
8-3).
“It can be detrimental as much as it can be a positive thing for us,” said O’Neal. “We can’t get big-headed. We have to keep grinding and keep working. We went back to working hard after the Glen Rose game (a 10-0 loss on April 2), and I think the guys have figured it out.”