Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Tigers, One And Done
GRAVETTE — The cliche, “one and done,” turned into a double-whammy for the Prairie Grove baseball team, in a season-ending, 5-4, loss to tournament host Gravette Thursday.
The Tigers were eliminated from the 4A-1 District Baseball tournament after playing only one game — with all of their runs and virtually all of their hits coming in the first inning.
Prairie Grove opened the contest with a 4-run first inning off Gravette starter Hunter Cole. Clay Fidler hit a lead-off double, then scored on Reed Orr’s sacrifice fly. Drew Cates reached on an error. Austin Jentzsch plated him with a double. With one out, Silas Myane took ball-4 on a 3-1 pitch for a walk, placing runners at first and second. Left-handed hitter Chase Wade came up and drove an RBI single into left field that moved Myane to third.
Cole Speed was the next batter with runners at the corners. He fouled off the first pitch, then the Tigers orchestrated a double steal, momentarily confusing Gravette’s infield and allowing Myane to score for a 4-0 Prairie Grove lead.
The Lions were dazed and Speed walked, putting two runners on with one out.
At that juncture, Gravette coach Bryan Bearden changed pitchers, bringing in Jonah Keener and the freshman proved to be the undoing of the Tigers. Not only did he induce back-to-back flyouts to end the first inning, but held Prairie Grove scoreless the rest of the way, including their final two at-bats, after Gravette took a 5-4 lead in the top of the sixth.
Prairie Grove was six outs away from advancing to the Regional tournament this week at Dover, but couldn’t hold the fort. Gravette’s Dylan Gruver led off the sixth inning with a double into left center field. Keener walked on 4-straight pitches to put two runners on. Prairie Grove reliever Fidler then recorded a strike-out, but Brady Moorman hit a bunt-single down the third base line leaving the Tigers with no play. With the bases loaded, Gruver scored on a costly Prairie Grove error to tie the game at 4-4. Brodie Parsons hit a sacrifice fly, allowing Keener to tag-up and score the go-ahead run, putting Gravette ahead, 5-4.
Gravette started their comeback against Orr, who started on the mound for the Tigers after being injured in a collision in a Monday nonconference game against Siloam Springs. The top of the third began innocently enough for the Tigers, who held a 4-0 lead coming into the inning. After giving up a single into left field to Kilby Roberts, Orr struck out Parsons swinging for the second out. Then the season started to unravel. Cole, who had been chased from the mound, emerged from a full-count with a walk.
Lion runners at first and second advanced on a passedball, then Kenton Tajchman reached on an error which allowed two Gravette runs to score, trimming the Tiger lead to 4-2. Orr fell behind the count (2-0) to Dalton Cook and was replaced by Fidler on the mound for Prairie Grove, but he could not overcome the deficit and Cook walked on four pitches, putting runners at first and second. Gruver drove in a run with an RBI single, pulling Gravette within, 4-3.
Momentum had clearly shifted and Prairie Grove never got back the advantage after allowing 3 runs on 2 hits off 1 error despite stranding 2 Lions in the inning.