LH senior shines on mound in 2- 1 win

PEARCY — Senior Day was especially memorable for Lake Hamilton thanks to a senior pitcher.

Tyler Thomas held El Dorado to four hits in a complete game, then scored with two outs in the seventh inning on classmate Carter Greathouse's bouncer down the third- base line for a 2- 1 conference victory.

Thomas held the Wildcats scoreless on two hits after allowing a second- inning run. He retired 11 of El Dorado's last 12 batters, pitching around Ty Owens' leadoff single in the sixth.

" He really stepped up," Lake Hamilton coach Gary Curtis said. " We needed somebody to step up and he really did." Thomas had four strikeouts, and no walks. " The key thing was just throwing the ball outside, keeping it low and letting the defense do the work for me," Thomas said.

In its last home Class 6A- South game, the Wolves ( counting two forfeits by Little Rock Fair) boosted their conference record to 8- 5.

" It's really amazing for me to do it on this night, this being a big game for us," Thomas said.

After getting three ground- ball outs in the seventh, Thomas drew a leadoff walk from El Dorado starter Trevor Massanelli. He took second on speedy Dalton Daniels' sacrifice bunt.

Mason Chapmond's grounder to shortstop moved Thomas to third, and El Dorado coach Sam Tyler had Massanelli walk Levi Runyan intention- ally to bring up Greathouse, whose grounder was misplayed by third baseman Matthew Lansdell near the bag.

" He's capable of making ( the play)," Tyler said. " I've seen him make it many times. He just turned it into a hard play."

Greathouse had struck out his previous two at bats.

" I knew I could do it," Greathouse said. " I just wasn't putting my head into it. I wanted to get a hit, but it worked out. I'll take it."

" Carter's a competitor," Curtis said. " He's the kind of guy who’s not going to get down. Some guys get down at the plate. He can smile when he's 0- for- 3."

Ethan Russell's one- out single in the second gave El Dorado ( 17- 5, 8- 3) a 1- 0 lead. Dillan Smith scored after leading off with a single and stealing second and third. Senior first baseman Trent Curry kept another run from scoring, throwing Russell out at home after fielding Matt Hammock's grounder.

Lake Hamilton ( 14- 9) answered with an unearned run in the bottom half. John Lipton, reaching on a force play, took second when Massanelli's pick- off throw when off first baseman Blake Clayton's glove and third on a passed ball before Dre Bennett's RBI groundout to second.

El Dorado threatened in the fourth, Clayton leading off with a single and Smith reaching on an error. Chapmond then started a double play on Clay Hendricks' grounder to second, Runyan gunning a strong throw to first, and Rus-

sell grounded out to third, first baseman Curry snaring Clay Jessie's long- hop throw.

Thomas got 14 outs on ground balls.

" Our approach at the plate against him wasn't very good," Tyler said. " All our hits were to the opposite field. It seemed like we went after ( outside pitches) and rolled it over and hit a lot of ground balls. You've got to give ( Thomas) credit for hitting his spots and making us do that."

" He kept the ball away from them," Curtis said. " The defense made some great plays, and made the routine plays. We've got to play good defense. People are going to hit us. If we do play good defense we can win."

Massanelli held the Wolves to three hits, Runyan, Curry and Daniels each going 1- for- 3.

" He didn't get any defensive support and we didn't get timely hits," Tyler said. " You hope a kid who makes a good start like that will benefit from it."

The Wolves, with a chance to finish as high as third in 6ASouth, complete conference play Monday at Texarkana.

Friday’s win, avenging an 8- 2 loss to El Dorado, is " big, big, big," Curtis said. " The kids keep working hard and coming to practice. We know we're ca- pable of beating anyone in the state. First you must believe."