Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Tigers Win Pair Of Baseball Contests
PRAIRIE GROVE EARNS WINS OVER GREENLAND, WEST FORK
PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove snapped a 3- game losing streak by posting a 9-1 win over Greenland March 27, then beat West Fork, 10-2, Friday after losing, 4- 1, to Shiloh Christian Thursday.
Prairie Grove 10, West Fork 2
Prairie Grove rode the pitching arm of senior Reed Orr to a 10-2 home win over West Fork on Friday. The Tigers were relentless at the plate, smashing 13 hits to keep pressure on West Fork throughout the game.
Prairie Grove led 2-0 after one inning and added 5 more runs in the second.
West Fork didn’t score until the top of the fifth inning, but the Tigers answered with 3 runs in the bottom of the fifth.
West Fork added a run in the sixth, but the Tigers were on cruise control and didn’t have to bat in the seventh.
“Reed Orr was outstanding again, he improved his record to 5-0,” said Prairie Grove coach Chris Mileham. “Offensively, everybody was a part of it. We had 13 hits together. Clay Fidler was 3 of 4. We just came out, we threw strikes, we put good pitches in the zone and played good defense.”
Prairie Grove 9, Greenland 1
Prairie Grove snapped a 3-game losing streak during the Jarren Sorters Memorial Baseball Tournament by posting a 9-1 win over Greenland on March 27.
“We want to win every game that we play, but what we’re willing to do to get that isn’t always in our team’s best interests,” Mileham said, noting the Tigers didn’t show everything they had during the tournament and played a lot of younger players.
“We’re going to graduate five good ones, so, I’ll take the three nonconference losses now in order to get some of our younger guys playing experience,” Mileham said.
Returning to District-1 3A/4A play after spring break, Mileham and the Tigers were all business. Austin Jentzsch went 4-for-5, smacking a pair of doubles to lead the Tigers to a nonconference win at home versus the Pirates. The game was originally scheduled to be a road game, but conditions on Greenland’s field caused the contest to be moved to Prairie Grove.
Jentzsch had another big hit with a triple, accounting for 3 Prairie Grove RBIs. Clay Fidler was 3- for- 4, while Reed Orr and Couper Allen each went 2-for-4 for the Tigers. Drew Cates was 1 for 2 with 2 RBIs. Orr and Michael Hutsell drove in 1 run apiece.
On the mound, Chase Wade pitched 31/3 innings, allowing just one hit with 2 strike-outs to earn the win. Reed Orr came on in relief, pitching 3 2/3 innings and allowing 2 hits.
Chandler Alaniz went 2- for- 4 and doubled for Greenland.
“Greenland is a good ball- club,” Mileham said. “I’ve known coach Will McGuiness for 20 years. It’s only a matter of time before that program takes off and conforms around him. The score does not indicate how good they are. They are wellcoached.”