Pioneers fall to Prairie Grove 4-3 in final inning
PRAIRIE GROVE — Gentry’s starting pitching appeared strong while Prairie Grove struggled, but that scenario flip-flopped once relievers took the mound and the Tigers pulled off a 4-3 win over Gentry on Friday.
Gentry starter Isaak Crittenden pitched effectively, yet Prairie Grove hung around and kept the score close enough that they were able to engineer a victory in the final innings.
“He did a good job. I mean he’s got a plus fastball, he can locate it. I don’t know that he threw many curveballs either and he was just able to locate and keep us off balance. He did a great job but hat’s off to our guys for just continuing to compete,” said Prairie Grove coach Mitch Cameron.
In a game of inches, Prairie Grove made a pivotal out at the plate by making two sharp throws in the infield to shut down a Pioneer threat in the top of the seventh inning.
“It comes down to execution. We didn’t execute and they did. Prairie Grove’s always a good team. Coach Cameron’s always got them ready. He’s a great coach and you know it’s always going to be a dogfight when you play them,” said Gentry coach Justin Ledbetter.
The Tigers then scored the winning run on a passed ball, one of a sequence of miscues that snakebit Gentry in the last inning.
Conner Hubbs hit a high popup that landed in shallow right field near the first base line. He moved to second on a passed ball. Ryder Orr was hit by a pitch, bringing Tate Benoit to the plate. Cameron inserted Luke Bannon as a pinch runner at first and Hubbs stole third with Benoit feigning a bunt.
Cameron called the steal a catalyst to set up the winning run when Hubbs scored on a passed ball to end the game with the Tigers chalking up a hard-fought, 4-3, conference win over the Pioneers.
Ledbetter pulled Crittenden when he reached his pitch count while facing Prairie Grove’s Bryce Ledgerwood with two runners in scoring position and two outs with the Pioneers clinging to a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth.
Crittenden missed with a fastball on an 0-2 count and left. His replacement, Hayden Henry, threw two balls to reach a full count as Ledgerwood hung tough in the batter’s box. Ledgerwood then smacked a 2-run single into left field, tying the game at 3-3.
“He had just too many pitches earlier. We got behind way too much early and the pitch count got a little high the first few innings. It is what it is in this baseball game,” Ledbetter said.
Up to that juncture, Gentry had allowed only one run. Prairie Grove senior Davis Stephens led off the third inning with a single. Hubbs bunted his way on. Crittenden struck out Orr but the Tigers orchestrated a double steal to put runners at second and third.
Benoit drove a sacrifice fly deep into the outfield allowing Stephens to tag up at third and scoot home as the Tigers took a 1-0 lead. Crittenden induced a groundout to end the inning, leaving a Prairie Grove runner stranded at second.
Hubbs, who started for Prairie Grove, beaned consecutive batters and walked Garry Cox, loading the bases, and the Pioneers capitalized. Crittenden stroked a single, driving in a run, tying the game and keeping the bases loaded. Gentry took the lead on a passed ball before Hubbs got Bart Walker to pop up to first base for the second out.
Hubbs struck out Alec Pearson to limit the damage, leaving two Gentry runners on second and third.
The Pioneers added a run on Brayden Feathers’ groundout, increasing their lead to 3-1 in the fifth, but again left a runner in scoring position when Dawson Wright grounded out to second.
Prairie Grove inserted reliever, Jaxon Beare, in the sixth and after yielding a leadoff single to Cox, he induced a fly ball for the first out, then picked off Cox at first and struck out Walker, who had to be thrown out on a dropped strike three.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Crittenden struck out Benoit but walked Ty Estepp. He struck out Beare swinging then gave up a single to Trevor May with the ball bouncing off a Prairie Grove runner who had reached third.
Ledbetter went out to the mound, then returned after Crittenden threw three more pitches and the switch was made.
After the two runners scored, tying the game for Prairie Grove, Henry issued a walk and was replaced by Feathers on the mound. Henry reached a full count facing Stephens but got him to ground out to second, leaving two potential go-ahead runs on base.
Down to its last at-bat Gentry got two men aboard on the top of the seventh. Pearson led off with a walk and Feathers singled, sandwiched around Riggs Harper’s infield fly.
Isaiah Lemke hit a fly ball into shallow right center for the second out, then came a critical base running error that cost Gentry big time.
Crafton Beeler got ahead in the count 2-0 and the runners moved up but Pearson went beyond third.
Linn threw the ball behind him to Ledgerwood manning third. Pearson had no choice but try to score, but Ledgerwood threw him out and he was tagged at the plate.
“They ran themselves out of a couple of innings; that helps. We made some great plays, a relay throw at the plate, the play at third base to be able to throw him out where they make a little baserunning blunder. Hey, there are days that those don’t go our way,” Cameron said.
Earlier in the week, Gentry beat its No. 1 rival, Gravette, 2-1.
“We didn’t play well, didn’t stick it very well, pitched pretty good obviously, but the bats are going to have to come around, but that’s on me. I got to prepare them better and I got to do better as a coach. On the base paths, I got too many people kind of in between. You know slick grass and everything and we had a mishap right there and that’s on me, that’s my fault,” Ledbetter said.