Tigers Glean Valuable Reps From Double Header

PRAIRIE GROVE — Favor works wonders — just ask Prairie Grove baseball coach Mitch Cameron, who found his team without a game last Tuesday, April 5, then found two opponents, each willing to play.

Prairie Grove was originally scheduled to play a nonconference game at Elkins on Tuesday, April 5, but the Elks preferred to bump Prairie Grove from their schedule and a play a 3A-1 Conference game rained out on Monday, April 4. Cameron began texting area coaches and wound up with two teams just as eager to compete as the Tigers.

The nonconference double header against Vian, Okla. and Providence Academy served a distinct purpose, getting pitchers some work on the mound and more at-bats for a young team.

“It’s a chance to get two games and we’re looking at just building pitching, getting guys on the mound and having guys that can be able to throw and being able to win one with guys that aren’t your normal conference starters and tonight we were able to do that,” Cameron said.

The Tigers didn’t insert any personnel into a different position. Cameron’s working a lot of young guys in the lineup and right now it’s about getting them more varsity experience.

“It’s about how many reps can we get those guys? The more reps we can get them the better we’re going to be this year and down the road. They’re playing good. We had one error in two games. That’s a big reason why we won both games being able to play defense,” Cameron said.

Prairie Grove 14, Vian, Okla. 6

Ryder Orr, Prairie Grove’s regular Tuesday guy, pitched six innings and competed well by overcoming a shaky start that saw the Tigers down 5-1 in the fourth yet able to bounce back.

“They did a great job early on, Vian did. They got him up to 20 pitches in the first inning. They were scrappy, they were fouling balls off, they were going deep in counts, got to him a little bit. I had to make some adjustments with him, but we got them off- balance finally,” Cameron said.

Vian’s starter was effective on the mound, challenging the Tigers to preserve.

“That was good for us. We struggled early the first two or three innings. You know to do that and for our guys to stay patient and knowing just cause you’re down 4-1 in the third or fourth inning just to keep plugging away. Don’t let the bats get to you and eventually fight through it and we were able to break it through, get to their bullpen a little bit and score some runs,” Cameron said.

Prairie Grove scored three runs in the third, three in the fourth and four in the fifth. Tate Benoit went 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Conner Hubbs was 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Ryder Orr was 2- for- 4 with two RBIs, while Ty Estepp had two RBIs, and walked twice, and Trevor May was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

“They got a little wild with throwing strikes and we had some timely hits to kind of bust that open a little bit. We had some guys who were able to get some timely hits with runners in scoring position to kind of break that open,” Cameron said.

Prairie Grove 9, Providence Academy 3

Against Providence Academy the Tigers were in a 0-0 ball game until the third. They couldn’t get anything going early while starter Connor McTaggart bounced around the zone, from consecutive balls to back-toback strikes. He’d walk a guy then strike a guy out. At one time McTaggart walked two in one inning, then struck the next two out.

“Connor McTaggart did a great job. He didn’t throw a lot of strikes but he was effectively wild,” Cameron said. “It wasn’t pretty but he did the job. He didn’t get a lot of innings either and he’s a senior who has shown at times that he can pitch a little bit. He went three or four innings and for him to be able to do that really helps. It adds to his experience and gets us different pitchers on the mound.”

When the Tigers found their bats in the third inning, May led off with a single. The next man walked and Hubbs got hit by a pitch. Orr walked with the bases loaded to punch an RBI into his statistical line and break the ice with the Tigers finally ahead, 1- 0. Then came the break Cameron was looking for.

“Tate Benoit had a huge hit to kind of break it open. He got three RBIs on one hit on a line drive to center. He had a big day today,” Cameron said.

Suddenly looking at a 4-0 deficit, the Patriots made an error. Estepp hit a ground ball to first, which was bobbled allowing Prairie Grove to score a run on an error. Bryce Ledgerwood singled to score a run drawing attention from his coach for timely hits.

“He had a couple of big hits tonight that allowed us to score some runs,” Cameron said.

The 6-run surge concluded with an unusual score with Jaxon Beare hitting into a double play.

“It’s just some guys with some hits that put the ball in play like we talked about,” Cameron said. “We talk about don’t strike out with runners in scoring position, put the ball in play and so we did that. We were able to manufacture some runs.”

The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the fourth with Davis Stephens and Hubbs taking walks. Davis scored on a passed ball and Hubbs moved to third with Orr batting. Orr struck out as did Benoit but Hubbs raced home on another passed ball and the Tigers led 8-0 after four innings.

Estepp came to the mound in relief and scattered three hits over three innings, all of them coming in the fifth that allowed the Patriots to push three runs across. He proved stingy beyond that, pitching two scoreless innings while the Tigers added one more run to make the final 9-3.