LH drops home doubleheader to LR
PEARCY — Lake Hamilton’s junior American Legion baseball team could not get its offense going Friday night as the Wolves dropped both halves of a doubleheader to the Little Rock Vipers. After losing 13-3 in the first game, Lake Hamilton fell 10-0 in the second.
With the two teams mirroring each other early in the first game, Little Rock stretched out to a 4-2 lead in the top of the third before adding five more runs in the top of the fourth. The Wolves scored their final run in the bottom of the inning as the Vipers added two runs in both the fifth and sixth to set the final.
“It was a rough night,” said Lake Hamilton coach Andrew Williams. “There’s some positives we can take away. We’ve been working in practice really hard with these guys, and I hate the fact they didn’t have a season, so we’re basically playing catch-up every time we see them. Us coaches are holding these guys to a higher standard than what we probably would have normally held them to, but I feel like in order to get them to play at the level that they can, we’ve got to hold them accountable right now.”
Trailing 9-2 going into the bottom of the fourth, Weston Lynch led off with a walk, taking advantage of a passed ball before stealing third. Eden Fite then hit a double up the middle to send him home before getting stranded as the next two batters were retired in order.
The Wolves put up some defense early in the top of the fifth, stopping Nate Freeman with a force-out, but a pair of walks loaded the bases before Brett Wilson was hit by a pitch to send Eli Coleman home. Arlin Johnston then hit a sacrifice fly to plate Ryan Allen for an 11-3 lead.
Try as they might, the Wolves could not get past second in the bottom of the inning before a pair of errors led to runs by Luke McKnight and Miles Howard in the top of the sixth. A pair of walks for Eli Rogers and Fite with one out set things up nicely for Lake Hamilton as Hadyn Estrada reached on an error to load the bases, but a 1-2-3 double play brought the game to a close.
Estrada collected the loss for the Wolves, allowing nine earned runs off 10 hits, three walks and one hit batter over 3 2/3 innings while striking out four. Fite allowed four runs, two earned, off two hits, six walks and a hit batsman while striking out one in 1 2/3 innings, and Ben Varner finished the game, throwing three pitches to get the final two outs.
Fite went 2 for 3 at the plate with a double and two RBI to lead the Wolves. Zac Pennington also went 2 for 3 with a run scored and one stolen base, and Daelyn Davis and Varner
each contributed a hit, Varner with a run scored. Estrada also had an RBI, and Lynch had a stolen base with a run scored.
“They’re cleaning up stuff defensively,” Williams said. “We’re moving around; we’re hitting the cutoff man like we’re supposed to; we’re catching flyballs that we need to. I think our middle infield’s working better. Our hands look better; our footwork looks better. The biggest problem is the bats. We’ve got to get the bats going. You can’t take a fastball right down the middle and not swing at it, so we’re working on that. That’s our biggest thing. We’re trying to improve the mindset one game at a time, and it’s just gonna take a little bit of a time.”
Blake Dickinson earned the win for the Vipers, allowing one run off four hits and a walk while striking out two in three innings of work.
Ben Biernaut started on the mound, giving up a pair of runs off two hits and three walks while fanning two, and Evan Mitchell finished on the hill with two walks and one strikeout in one inning.
Coleman was 3 for 3 at the plate with two runs scored, two stolen bases and one RBI. Biernaut and McKnight were both 2 for 3 at the plate with both scoring two runs, McKnight with two RBI and two stolen bases and Biernaut with a double and one RBI. Nikko Masters was 2 for 4 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored. Nate Freeman, Owen Nelson and Wilson also contributed a hit.
In the second game, the Wolves managed to keep the Vipers on the front half of the diamond for the first two innings, but Little Rock came alive in the third, scoring four runs while taking advantage of a pair of errors that accounted for three of the runs. The Vipers added two in the top of the fourth and four in the top of the fifth to secure the win.
Lake Hamilton could not get a hit, as all five runners reached on either a walk or hit by pitch. The Wolves conceeded just three strikeouts in the game as the Vipers’ defense stood tall, making several big plays.
Aiden Bellomy picked up the loss for the Wolves, allowing six runs, three earned, off eight hits, two walks and two hit batters in four innings of work. Lynch gave up four earned runs off four hits and a walk with one strikeout in his partial inning, and Varner accounted for the final out with four pitches thrown.
Masters earned the win for the Vipers with three walks and two hit batters against a single strikeout in four innings of work, and Nate Freeman completed the no-hitter, fanning two in the final inning.
Will White led Little Rock by going 3 for 4 with a double, one RBI and two runs scored. Wilson and Johnston both had a pair of hits and a run scored each, Wilson with a double and an RBI, and Miles Harward, Masters, McKnight, Howard and Dickinson each contributed a hit.
“Some of these guys, it’s their first time ever playing high school baseball,” Williams explained. “We were supposed to play our first game the day we got shut down for COVID, so they missed out on any games, period. So coming out under the lights, we’re getting used to that atmosphere. We’re getting used to bonding as a team a little bit more. It’s really hard keeping your distance and bonding as a team, but we’re working at it.
“The mistakes — I don’t want to make excuses, but a lot of that it’s kind of chalked up to just not having the reps. Like I said, once again we can take reps off a machine, off (fielding practice) all day long, but a good hard hit bat from an opposing teammate, it comes off a little bit differently. You’ve got to field it with intensity, and we lack a little bit of intensity right now, but we’re getting it.”
The Wolves travel to Sheridan on Monday for a doubleheader starting at 6 p.m. before going to Bryant on Wednesday.
GAME 1 (6 inn.)
Little Rock 022 522—13 12 3
Lake Hamilton 020 100—3 6 2 Biernaut, Dickinson (3) and Mitchell (6). Estrada, Fite (4) and Varner (6). W-Dickinson. L-Estrada. 2B-LR, Masters, Biernaut. LH, Fite. SB-LR, McKnight (2), Coleman (2), Wilson, Allen, Mitchell, Howard. LH, Pennington, Lynch. GAME 2 (5 inn.)
Little Rock 004 24—10 12 0
Lake Hamilton 000 00—0 0 3 Masters and Freeman (5). Bellomy, Lynch (5) and Varner (5). W-Masters. L-Bellomy. 2B-LR, White, Wilson. SB-LR, Johnston, McKnight, Howard, Mitchell, Dickinson, Allen.