Wildcats blank Razorbacks
EL DORADO - For four innings, El Dorado had just one hit against Texarkana’s Dylan Adcock.
Then came the fifth, and everything changed in an instant.
The Wildcats sent 10 men to the plate as part of a six-run explosion en route to a 6-0 win over the Razorbacks on Tuesday in a Class 5A-6A District 6 clash.
The uprising in the fifth supported a superb pitching performance by Gage Otwell, who fired a four-hit shutout and pitched around a myriad of baserunners to keep the game scoreless until the Wildcats (5-11) broke the game open.
“He’s been consistent for us all year,” El Dorado coach Sam Tyler said of Otwell. “He’s really improved and just matured. He’s a very baseball-savvy player. He’s always been a student of the game. He definitely has a lot of baseball sense when it comes to these situations.
“He wanted to be on the mound. It started first with his attitude and he threw strikes. That was the big thing. He gave us a chance to make some plays, and we made some good plays behind him. He knew it was about the team. He had confidence in the guys that were behind him to make those plays.”
The fifth began with Adcock retiring Micah Haney on a ground out to shortstop, which marked the 11th batter out of the last 13 the right-hander had retired.
However, Daniel Johnson legged out a perfectly-placed bunt to third for an infield single, giving the Wildcats their first hit since Derek Jobe singled with two outs in the first inning.
Then a miscue by the Razorbacks (6-9) put the Wildcats in business.
Evan Chandler hit a high chopper over the pitcher’s mound that was bobbled for a moment and a throwing error on the play put runners at second and third.
Blake Cunningham then opened the scoring by ripping Adcock’s first pitch over the head of left fielder Drake Browning for a two-run
double.
It was just the beginning. Brennan Smith followed with an opposite-field single to left that scored Cunningham to make it 3-0, and Jobe ended Adcock’s day on the mound by crushing a double to the fence in left-center.
With runners at second and third, reliever Jakob Johnson intentionally walked Jacob Boshears to load the bases.
With the infield in, Leighton Turbeville laced a base hit to right to score Cunningham to push the lead to 4-0.
El Dorado then took advantage of a second miscue to plate their final two runs.
Johnson got Noah Gaul to hit a slow roller to shortstop that resulted in Jobe being forced out at the plate, but in trying to complete an inning-ending double play, a wild throw down the first-base line allowed Boshears and Turbeville to cross the plate.
“We did a great job in practice (on Monday) of concentrating and working on run production and getting bunts down,” Tyler said. “That’s where it all started. Daniel Johnson did a great job of laying it down and making them make the play. Then we had a hit-and-run there and another great execution. You have to give credit to the players of executing it, putting the pressure on them and that’s what opened up the door. Then we got a clutch hit with a runner on and the floodgates opened. It was definitely a boost all the way around.”
The Razorbacks had at least one baserunner in each of the first five innings against Otwell, but were thwarted by the senior at every turn.
Otwell pitched around a two-out error in the first before working out of a two-out jam in the second.
Tristen Koller and Matthew Mobley delivered back-to-back singles to put runners at first and second, but Otwell got out of trouble after Chandler hauled in Wren Williams’ drive near the fence in left-center.
The senior issued a leadoff walk to Browning in the third, but Haney threw out the Texarkana left fielder trying to steal second to halt a potential rally.
In the fourth, Otwell plunked Adcock with a pitch with one out, and Jadas Ross laid down a great bunt on the grass just in front of home plate to put runners at first and second.
But again, Otwell stiffened, retiring Koller on a popup to shortstop, and Johnson made a great defensive play to throw out Mobley on a slow roller to third to end the threat.
Browning singled and stole second with one out in the fifth, but Cunningham made a great diving catch in center field to rob Gage Gore of a potential run-scoring hit.
Boshears then made a nice running catch on a shallow fly ball to left-center off of Austin Nix’s bat to end the inning and set the stage for the Wildcats’ uprising in the fifth.
Otwell, who had stranded six baserunners in his first five innings, slammed the door on the visitors, recording consecutive 1-2-3 innings to finish the game.
In shutting out the Razorbacks, Otwell walked one, hit a batter and struck out five.
The Wildcats didn’t fare much better against Adcock early on.
Jobe was stranded after singling with two outs in the first, and the Wildcats failed to take an advantage of a miscue in the third.
With one out, Chandler reached on a two-base error after his fly ball to center was dropped.
However, Adcock retired Cunningham on a fly out to shallow left.
With Smith batting, Chandler stole third, just eluding Nick Vaughn’s tag on a bang-bang play.
Smith was later intentionally walked to put runners at the corners, but Adcock fanned Jobe to end the inning.
Adcock allowed five hits and four runs over 4 1/3 innings to take the loss. He issued one intentional walk and fanned four.
With the conference tournament looming, the Wildcats have key home wins over Texarkana and Lake Hamilton, but Tyler isn’t concerned about their standing in the league.
“That’s a question that I don’t think anybody knows the answer to,” Tyler said. “All we have to do is take care of our business. We can’t control how other people will vote. The only thing we can control is how we play and maybe that will influence their vote. You just never know because when you don’t play in the same district, it’s going to be difficult to see what those pitching matchups were and how that’s going to be determined. It’s always important to win any chance we get, but definitely against the guys you’re going to play in the conference tournament.”