Errors send J’ville to loss at Glen Rose
GLEN ROSE — Two seventhinning outs escaped Jessieville’s grasp, and so did a top- two regional tournament seed.
Back- to- back errors, the second on a potential double- play ball, put Glen Rose’s first two batters on base on the seventh, and No. 8 hitter Lane Ballard made the Lions pay with a tworun single down the third- base line for a 6- 5 win in a Class 3A- 5 semifinal Saturday.
Top- seeded Glen Rose ( 17- 5) advanced to Saturday night’s championship game against Mayflower or Arkansas Baptist. Jessieville ( 14- 8) takes a No. 4 seed against the 3A- 6 winner in the Region 2 tournament at noon Friday at Harding Academy ( Searcy).
The Lions were in line for a come- from- behind win after cashing in on two Glen Rose errors to score four runs in the fourth inning and taking the lead on a fifth- inning wild pitch.
Chase Anderson, hurt by an error and two swinging- bunt hits while giving up two runs each in the first and third, threw three straight scoreless innings before inducing routine grounders from Dakota Harris and Blake Nesbitt to start the seventh. Harris reached on shortstop Josh Mitchell’s errant throw, and went to third when Harris’ roller got past second baseman Greg Noles, who earlier made inning- ending catches in shallow right field with his
back to the infield. Noles snared Clay Holicer’s pop fly with two runners on in the sixth.
“That’s part of it,” Jessieville coach Jamie Saveall said. “We got out of that ( sixth) inning. When we had to ( again) we didn’t.
“( Noles) made two as good over- the- shoulder catches as I’ve ever seen in high- school baseball. We had an opportunity to make a double play ( in the seventh) and it just didn’t happen.”
With the Lions’ infield pulled in, Nesbitt stole second without a throw. Anderson struck out Wesley Ramsey, then Ballard grounded an 2- 2 pitch past third.
“That’s about the only place he could have hit it,” Saveall said. “We had the infield in. We were trying to win it ( without going extra innngs). I talked to the kids about it. They agreed. Pitching- wise, we had to try to win it.”
Saveall said he considered walking Ramsey intentionally, “but they had their eight and nine batters coming up. Hindsight is 20- 20, but if I had to do it again I’d do the same thing.”
He credited Glen Rose speed for causing the defensive lapses.
“That makes you get rid of the ball faster than you ( usually) have to,” Saveall said. “Our kids knew that. It’s in the back of your mind. That’s one of their attributes. It’s probably their biggest strength.”
The Beavers missed a chance to tie or take the lead in the sixth after Ethan Beard drew a leadoff walk and Tyler Lewis singled. No. 2 and 3 batters Brandon Kettell and Collin Hunter grounded into force plays before Noles ran down Holicer’s pop fly.
“That kid pitched a really good game,” Glen Rose coach Chase Meyers said. “We left runners on base. We didn’t get timely hits until we needed to. I felt lucky to get out of it.
“I told the kids, keep getting on base and somebody will get a hit. It finally happened. It took long enough, but it happened.”
Hunter and Holicer had RBI singles in the first, but Anderson got Nesbitt to hit into a double play, first baseman Jake Applegate catching his soft liner near the bag, and striking out Ramsey.
Glen Rose scored in the third on Beard’s high- chop single to the mound and a wild pitch, but Anderson ( seven his, three walks, two hit batters, three strikeouts) breezed through five- pitches fourth and fifth innings.
“I felt like if he ever did settle in we’d be in good shape,” Saveall said. “Chase has got good stuff. He needs to grow up a little bit out there, and I thought today he did. He was going right after them.”
Hunter got the win, holding the Lions scoreless in three innings while striking out six. He relieved Ramsey after Michael Mendez led off the fifth with a double and took third Hunter in left before scoring on a wild pitch.
Johnny Chambers reached with one out on a third- strike passed ball and Hunter Mayfield followed with a single, but Hunter ended the threat with a strikeout and fly ball. He allowed Mendez’s leadoff single in the seventh before getting a groundout and his last two strikeouts.
“Him coming in and keeping them from scoring allowed us to win the game,” Meyers said,
The Lions finished with six hits, Mendez going 2- for- 3, Applegate 1- for- 2 and Mcguire and Mitchell 1- for- 3. For Glen Rose, a 12- 6 winner in the teams’ regular- season game, Lewis was 2- for- 2, Beard 1- or- 2 and Ballard and Harris 1- for- 3.
“We knew Jessieville was a good team,” Meyers said. “They shouldn’t have been a five seed. They lost some close games. They came back and played well in the tournament. I wouldn’t want to play them again.”