Black Cats take win over Graves Sports before outage

HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — Magnet Cove’s Acme Brick came out on top, 13-2, in the first game against Hot Springs Village’s Graves Sports Friday night, but neither team ended up with a win in the second as the lights went out in the top of the third inning with the scored tied, 6-6.

Neither team could get its bats going early in the first game of the doubleheader with the first hit coming in the top of the third.

Ben Slate, Justin McKim, Ethan Bates and Javin Shirley each reached in the top of the inning, Bates knocking in Slate and McKim with a triple to right field before scoring on Shirley’s single. J.T. Higdon and Luke Upton each singled, Upton plating Shirley, and Higdon scored on a groundout by Korey Wasson to put the Magnet Cove-based Black Cats up, 5-0.

“We hit the ball well,” said Acme Brick head coach Danny Spadoni. “It was a little bit of a slow start, but once we got adjusted to the pitching, we hit the ball like we should. Our pitching was fantastic. I couldn’t ask for much more. Ben Slate threw well. I challenge my pitchers to keep the pitch count to a certain area, and he stayed within it. Even that third inning when we gave up a couple runs, we made some bad plays behind him which is something we have to fix. Ethan Bates came in to do what Ethan Bates does and shut them down.”

Graves Sports pulled within 5-2 in the bottom of the inning. A single by Daeton Bassett was stretched into a double on defensive indifference before Cade Jackson was walked. With one out, Montana Carden hit a hard grounder to deep second, allowing Bassett and Jackson to score.

The Black Cats dominated the fourth and fifth innings as well, plating four runners in each. The final run of the game came off a home run by Bates over the right field fence to plate Slate and McKim for the trio’s third runs.

Spadoni said was pleased with his team’s work in the field as well. “That’s been our focus,” he said. “Our first couple years, we were known for power. You didn’t have to really work on a lot of stuff; it makes coaching easy, too. You just have to throw a ball out there and say, ‘Go get it.’ It’s easy.

“This year, I’ve lost some older ones that have aged out, that power. Today, we started playing like what this group is going to do.

We’re going to be solid defense, good pitching and run production. We’re big on pressure; we like to run.”

Bates led the Black Cats, going 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs and five RBIs. McKim and Slate went 3-for-4 with three runs each, and McKim added two RBIs. Shirley and Higdon both went 2-for-4, Shirley with two runs and two RBIs and Higdon with one run and one RBI. Landon Stone scored the final run for Acme Brick.

“They swung that bat,” said Graves Sports head coach Don Carden. “I had no idea they were that good.”

Bassett went 1-for-1 at the plate, scoring one run, and Jackson went 0-for-3 with the second run for Graves Sports. Stephen Turner went 1-for-2 at the plate, and Carden hit 1-for-3 with two RBI.

Slate gave up two runs off three hits, a walk and two hit batsmen in three innings on the mound for the win, and Bates finished the game, striking out four in two innings.

Race Tittle collected the loss with three innings on the mound. He gave up one unearned and four earned runs off five hits and one walk while striking out two. Carden gave up four runs off five hits, a walk and a hit batter in 2/3 of an inning, and Jake Turner allowed four runs off four hits while striking out two in 1 2/3 innings.

“We (usually have) Race pitch two, Montana pitch two and Dalton pitch two,” Carden said. “We got off that, and I think that beat us. I should have stayed with the 2-2-2.”

Game 2

Graves Sports looked to be making up for the loss in the first game early in the second, taking a 4-2 lead in the first inning before Acme Brick responded with a 4-2 inning of its own to knot the score after two.

Despite a first inning without a hit, the Black Cats managed to score a pair of runs. With one out, Clay Spadoni was walked and Bates hit by a pitch before a wild pitch put them on the back side of the diamond. Lucas Smeltzer then hit a hard grounder to left field, allowing the two baserunners to score, but he was tagged out as he stretched the single to a double.

Graves Sports found its rhythm with two outs, scoring four in the bottom of the inning. Bassett hit a double before Bryce Stauder and Preston White were walked to load the bases. J.J. Harvall was beaned by the pitcher to plate Bassett, and a walk by Jack Wurz plated Stauder. Jake Turner then hit a two-RBI double to send White and Harvall across the plate. Wurz was picked off at the plate as he scampered for home to end the inning.

The Black Cats rolled again in the top of the second with one out, scoring four runs to pull ahead, 6-4. Rowdy Lathrop reached on an error by the first baseman before a single by Robert Bowman. Chris Killian was beaned to load the bases, and Lathrop stole home to score the first run of the inning.

Landon Stone hit a single to send Bowman home before Killian scored on a wild pitch. Spadoni was walked, and Bates hit a grounder to second to plate Stone.

Graves Sports again got going on a two-out rally to tie the game up in the bottom of the inning. Conner Cheek and Bassett were both walked before Stauder was beaned to load the bases. White then hit a two-RBI single before Harvall was thrown out at first to end the inning.

Lathrop allowed four runs off two hits, three walks and a hit batsman while striking out one in one inning on the mound. Upton gave up two runs off one hit, three walks and a hit batsman in one inning.

Bassett gave up four earned runs off two hits, two walks and two hit batters while striking out one in two innings on the mound. Elias Parker pitched 1/3 of an inning before the game was called, allowing one hit while striking out one.

Hot Springs Village will host Benton Wednesday in a doubleheader starting at 6 p.m. Magnet Cove travels to Malvern Monday at 6 p.m. with the junior team playing at 6 p.m. before AA at 8 p.m.