Wolves edged out by Jacksonville in first round
SHERIDAN — Lake Hamilton’s 17-yearolds team “missed” a couple of key plays early that allowed Jacksonville Gwatney to get a
2-0 edge that turned into a 3-2 win over the Wolves in the first round of the American Legion Junior State Tournament at Sheridan Monday evening.
Lake Hamilton was retired in order in the top of the first inning, and with one out, Clay Burrows hit a single followed by an RBI double by Ryan Ready up the middle. Will Hutson followed with an RBI single to second for the early 2-0 lead.
“We played a clean game,” said Lake Hamilton head coach Matt Weigand. “They showed us to have no errors, but there were a couple plays in that first inning that we should make. We’re good enough to make those plays. That takes that two off the board.”
The Wolves got things going in the top of the second as Jace Joiner hit a single with one out before stealing second. Tanner Byrns was walked before Logan Sharp chopped an RBI single up the middle to cut the deficit in half.
Jacksonville managed to load the bases in the bottom of the inning, but a pair of fly balls — to second and to center field — got the Wolves out unscathed.
The Wolves looked to continue their work in the top of the third as Ethan Brock hit a leadoff double into left field, but his teammates were unable to get him past third base.
Neither team managed to make a dent on the scoreboard until the top of the fifth as Josh Parish hit a two-out single before stealing second. Grant Bearden was walked before Dylan Horton hit a line drive over the shortstop who had jumped too early, letting the ball graze the top of his glove as Parish cruised in for the score.
“You know they had some timely hits,” Weigand said. “We didn’t have that hit when we really needed, except for Dylan. Dylan had that that nice knock there to left field, I think it was in the (fifth). He drove in a run.
“The difference is we had two opportunities to lay down bunts and move runners where we didn’t have to have a hit to score a run, and we didn’t execute on either one of those. So really, even if we don’t make the plays there in the first, we should be up 4-3 right now, but really, it should be 4-1 in the bottom of seven right now. Our guy’s only at 81 pitches, so he could close that thing out. But that’s baseball.”
Alex Moss reached on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the inning, and with two outs Ready was walked before Hutson came up with another RBI single to set the final.
Weigand praised the hard work that Joiner had put in, noting several big plays in the game.
“Ideally, when it moves you through there, you’re gonna go one on that play, but recognizing that he had time in peripherals, and then cutting and changing direction and making a quality throw, an accurate throw to get the lead runner was huge,” he said. “I’m going to tell you what: talk about a kid that’s just worked his tail off because he’s not played a whole lot for us this year until this point, and he’s the guy every time I show up to this field, he’s there. He’s hitting, and he’s taking ground balls, and he has probably made the biggest jump, him and Grant Bearden, to me have made the biggest jump this summer of just making themselves an overall better ballplayer offensively and defensively.”
Matt Carmack picked up the loss for the Wolves, going a full six innings. He gave up three earned runs off eight hits and one walk while striking out four.
Noah Tiernan and Logan Sharp both went 2 for 3 at the plate with Sharp knocking in a run; Parish was 2 for 4 with a run scored and one stolen base. Bearden, Horton, Joiner, Byrns and Brock each got a hit with Horton earning one RBI.
Hutson picked up the win for Jacksonville, allowing two earned runs off eight hits and two walks while fanning six in seven innings of work.
Terrius Williams led Jacksonville, going 2 for 2, and Hutson was 2 for 3 with two RBI. Riley Malone, Seth Gray, Burrows and Ready each got a hit with Burrows and Ready each scoring a run and Ready tallying a double.
Lake Hamilton will face the loser of the late game between Little Rock and El Dorado at 3 p.m. on Field 2 in the consolation bracket while Jacksonville will play the winner at 8 p.m. on Field 1