El Dorado falls in season opener to Conway 11-0

EL DORADO - After having games rained out on Monday and Tuesday, El Dorado finally took the field for the first time on Friday.

However, five errors coupled with a dominant performance by Conway’s Cade Tucker put a damper on the Wildcats’ opener, as the Wampus Cats cruised to an 11-0 win.

Tucker, who has signed with Eastern Oklahoma State, allowed just one hit, issued no walks and struck out nine in four innings of work.

Jordan Wicks, a junior who has committed to Arkansas State, struck out the side in the fifth to end the game.

“I think they're the preseason No. 1 in 7A," El Dorado coach Sam Tyler said of the Wampus Cats. "It's tough to start with them. We tried to play a couple of games before them, but unfortunately Mother Nature had an issue with that, so we had to start out with one of the best teams, if not the best team in the state."

In the first, the Wampus Cats

(1-0) scored five runs against EHS starter Gage Otwell with two miscues playing a paramount role.

The inning got off to an ominous start after McCall Dail led off the game by reaching on an error after his grounder to short was mishandled, and Kolby Reck followed with a single to left to put runners at first and second.

Wicks then followed with a single to right that scored Dail with the game's first run.

Otwell then fanned his counterpart in Tucker, but Matt Lloyd promptly drilled an RBI double to left to make it 2-0.

A walk to Jack Stroth loaded the bases, but Otwell rallied to retire Eli Davis on a fly out to shallow right.

Otwell then got Cade White to hit a grounder to first that should’ve ended the inning, but it was misplayed for an error that cleared the bases to make it 5-0.

Another error aided the Wampus Cats in a threerun second.

Reck started the rally with a one-out double. The Conway shortstop then took third on a wild pitch and scored on Wicks’ second RBI single of the day.

Wicks advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches, and Tucker walked to put runners at the corners.

Lloyd then drove in a run with a groundout, and courtesy runner Cade Stewart later scored after Stroth’s fly ball to center was dropped.

In the interim, the Wildcats (0-1) did little against Tucker.

Blake Cunningham opened the bottom of the first with a base hit to left.

The senior later stole second and took third on a wild pitch, but Tucker struck out the side to avoid any damage.

Tucker’s only blemish from that point on was hitting Derek Jobe with a pitch with one out in the second.

A senior, Tucker helped his own cause in a big way by crushing a solo homer off the scoreboard in left leading off the fourth.

Will Kennedy added a pinch-hit RBI single in the fourth, and Lloyd picked up his third RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly to close the scoring in the fifth.

"I thought our guys played hard. We just ran into a buzzsaw," Tyler said.

"I know six of those guys have already signed to play in college.

"You have to give them credit. They pitched, hit their spots, played good defense and definitely hit the ball."

Wicks went 3-for-4 with two RBIs for the Wampus Cats, who outhit the Wildcats 10-1.

Otwell took the loss after pitching just the opening frame.

Jobe allowed six hits and five runs in three innings of relief work.

He walked two and struck out one.

Although they may have gotten off on the wrong foot, Tyler thinks his team will learn from it.

"On our side, we definitely did a better job of attacking the strike zone, they just earned a lot of things," Tyler said.

"We could've played better defense, but it's early in the season, and those are things we address. Every mistake we made hurt, so now we know exactly what to attack, and we're just going to get better from here."

Junction City 10, Hampton 6

JUNCTION CITY - The Dragons (2-1) held off a seventh-inning rally by the Bulldogs to pick up a home victory.

Brock McGoogan had two singles, a double and two RBIs, while Clay Jolley, Keelan Hodge and Bryce Ware each had a single and an RBI in the win.

Cody Lee had a single and two RBIs, while Joe Lowe collected an RBI with a sacrifice fly and Robbie Roberson had a base hit for the Dragons.

Ware was the winning pitcher after allowing five hits and four runs in 6 1/3 innings.

He walked three, hit three batters and struck out four.

After Roberson failed to retire a batter in the seventh, allowing two runs with two walks and one hit, Lowe recorded the last two outs to pick up the save. He struck out one. Junction City hosts Fordyce on Monday.