Tigers Maul Maumelle In Regional Melee

PRAIRIE GROVE SECURES STATE TOURNEY BERTH

FARMINGTON — The Prairie Grove Tigers (20-4) secured a berth in the state playoffs with a 6-2 victory over the Maumelle Hornets on May 6 at the 4A North regional baseball tournament held at Farmington.

The victory not only punched the Tigers’ ticket to the big dance, but also propelled them to a semifinal match-up with their U.S. 62 conference foe, Lincoln.

Prairie Grove trailed Maumelle 2-1 going into the bottom of the third inning, however the Tigers reclaimed the lead, 4-2, after pushing three runs across the plate in their at bat.

Ty Tice ignited the inning with a single up the middle and was

followed by Jon Halbert, who ripped a line drive single into center field. Keelon Henderson plated Tice and Halbert with a single to right center field and scored a batter later when Spencer Kilgore’s single was mishandled by the Hornet right fielder.

In the fourth inning, Tice singled to right field, moved to second on a fielder’s choice, then scored when Aaron Kincaid scorched a single past the Maumelle third baseman, swelling the Tiger’s lead to 5-2.

Prairie Grove added an insurance run to their total in the sixth inning when Halbert doubled to left center field, then scored after a pair of Hornet errors, bringing the final score to 6-2.

“We did a good job of executing today and stay- ing on top of the baseball,” said Tigers’ coach Mitch Cameron. “We had a lot of line drives and ground balls and very few pop-ups. When we can stay on top of the ball then good things happen.”

Offensively, the Tigers banged out 13 hits, with Halbert and Kincaid each collecting three hits apiece, and Tice contributing a pair of hits to the total. Henderson drove in three RBIs for Prairie Grove, while Kincaid and Creighton Ledbetter tallied one ribby apiece.

Kincaid ( 8-2) went the distance on the mound for the Tigers, giving up two runs on six hits, with seven strikeouts and three baseon-balls.

“Aaron had an excellent game. He filled up the strike zone, he was able to throw two pitches for strikes and when he can do that he does a great job,” Cameron said.