Tigers Consistent In Hunt For State

PRAIRIE GROVE — For the third time in as many seasons, Prairie Grove won more than 20 baseball games and claimed the 4A North Regional championship while qualifying for state.

Each year Prairie Grove graduates talented players, yet coach Mitch Cameron consistently fields a highly competitive squad. Since 2010, Cameron’s record at Prairie Grove is 103-34.

Several players, who helped Prairie Grove rise to the occasion in posting a 20-7 record this season, have received postseason honors. Six Tigers were named to the 4A-1 All-Conference team: Ty Tice, Nick Sugg, J.D. Speed, Spencer Kilgore, Brandon May and Logan Gragg.

Ty Tice also garnered All-State recognition splitting time as a senior between shortstop and pitcher. Tice was a dual threat hitting .466 and never charged with a loss on the mound in procuring a 3-0 record and 1.39 ERA. Tice has received a baseball scholarship from UCA.

Nick Sugg was Prairie Grove’s starting catcher batting .343 with 21 RBIs as a senior. Sugg consistently got on base drawing 15 walks and was hit by a pitch eight times. He had 1 double and 1 triple.

In his second season as a Tiger after transferring from Bentonville, J.D. Speed played pitcher, shortstop and third base. He batted .345 with 12 doubles and 2 triples. On the mound as a pitcher, Speed was 5-2 with a 2.97 ERA. Speed has signed to play baseball at Ouachita Baptist.

Spencer Kilgore played left field, recording 25 hits, 22 singles, 3 doubles, 9 RBIs and 23 runs scored. Three times he was hit by a pitch and arrived safely 15 times with a base on balls. Kilgore had a .309 batting average, .394 on-base percentage and .308 slugging average.

Brandon May was stationed at second base, getting 29 hits, 18 singles, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs and 33 RBIs. Brandon counted 13 runs scored, 2 hit by pitches and 6 base on balls with a .341 batting average, .389 on-base percentage and .529 slugging percentage.

Logan Gragg was an effective pitcher establishing a 5-3 record. With 40 innings pitched he gave up 33 hits, 15 earned runs and 11 base on balls against 50 strikeouts. Only five times did Gragg hit batters with a pitch while maintaining a 2.625 earned run average.

Cameron noted the Tigers lose six starting seniors, eight players in all from this year’s roster.

“Next year is going to be a mindset where we just got to work. We’ve got talent. It’s just that we’ve got to work to get better,” Cameron said, expounding on a challenge he issued to returning players after a heart-breaking 3-2 loss to Hamburg which ended a streak of four straight appearances in the state semifinals.

“We had an exit meeting the other day and I challenged those guys. You just can’t do nothing and expect to get better. We’ve got to get better and going forward if we’re going to keep the tradition alive we’ve got to do that.”

Cameron is determined to maintain that standard of excellence established in the Prairie Grove program.

“We’re going to go back to work and we’re going to grind and we’re going to get better.”