Badgers Close Out Wolves

LINCOLN BOWS OUT OF STATE 4A BASEBALL TOURNEY

LINCOLN — Drew Harris’ former teammates weren’t giving any leeway to their childhood friend as Arkadelphia bumped Lincoln from their first-ever trip to the State 4A Baseball tournament game.

The Badgers defeated Lincoln, 6- 4, in the state quarterfinal at Harrison on May 10 in an exciting contest with momentum switching back and forth.

“We were right there with them, we had our chances, we just wasn’t able to hold onto it,” said Lincoln coach Brad Harris.

“I was real proud of the way Drew pitched and they way we played. It didn’t go easy for them, I had coached a lot of those kids when they were young at Arkadelphia. We had a lead going into the fifth, we just couldn’t hang on.”

Arkadelphia jumped ahead with two runs scored in the first inning but Lincoln responded with four runs of their own. Tyler Cummings led off the inning with a bunt single. Cord McCaslin then hit into a fielder’s choice with Cummings forced out at second. Drew Harris belted a single and Payton Hulse singled to score McCaslin. Dalton Simmons then drove in two runs with a single to plate Drew Harris and Hulse, enabling Lincoln to take the lead, at 3-2.

Arkadelphia then had problems with control. The Badgers’ starting pitcher hit Ossy Escareno giving Lincoln runners at first and third and got more of the same after making a change on the mound.

“They switched pitchers, that kid comes in and on back to back pitches hits Kaleb Ayers and Jacob Hernandez,” Brad Harris said.

The base on balls forced in Simmons and made the score, 4-2, in favor of Lincoln.

The Wolves held the lead through four innings but ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth when they gave up four runs.

The Badgers’ surge started off with a walk, followed by an infield hit Brad Harris described as a missed opportunity and was the difference in the game.

“We kept it in the infield, we just couldn’t get an out,” Brad Harris said.

Drew Harris then recorded a strikeout followed by a base on balls to load the bases. On a fielder’s choice, Arkadelphia scored one run and Lincoln got the second out to hang onto a 4-3 lead. A base hit then allowed the Badgers to take back the lead, at 5-4.

Drew Harris started and pitched five and 2/3 innings. Against his childhood teammates, Drew Harris recorded seven strikeouts but was charged with five of the six Arkadelphia runs and took the loss,

“He hadn’t lost a lot of velocity. He was just struggling to find the zone,” Brad Harris said. “If we make that play on the infield hit, we get out of the inning. They had so much speed down on the base path that we couldn’t make the play.”

Brad Harris then brought Cummings in to finish the game, noting the junior only threw 76 pitches in his start the day before against Brookland. On a wild pitch, the ball got past the catcher and Arkadelphia scored their sixth run.

The final two innings were scoreless by both teams with Lincoln going down in order in the sixth and seventh.

“They brought in a little lefty we had a lot of trouble with, we weren’t able to get any runs in,” Brad Harris said.

Offensively for the Wolves, Drew Harris went 1-2 with a walk, Hulse went 1-3 with a walk, Dalton Simmons had one hit, Ossy Escareno had one hit, and Cummings bunted for a hit.