PRAIRIE GROVE -- Shiloh Christian edged ahead early and stayed there by containing Prairie Grove's hitting during a 5-1 loss sustained by the Tigers at home on April 6.
The Saints loaded the bases in the first inning and a run was walked in followed by a Tigers error which yielded a second run. Yet, Prairie Grove quickly shut the door. Starting pitcher Gavin Heltemes threw a strike that was swung at and missed, then induced a line drive into the glove of Tigers first baseman Cole Speed, who reached out and tagged a Saint who had started for second, eliminating one base runner. The Tigers made sure the remaining two stayed put and after three more pitches the inning ended with a Saint groundout to second.
In the second inning, Heltemes struck out two and retired the Saints in order. He faced four batters in the third and didn't allow any runs, then had two more strikeouts in the fourth, getting help from his catcher Elam Evans, who threw out a runner after a dropped strike three. He had two more strikeouts in the fifth and helped the Tigers overcome an error by inducing a grounder with a runner at second. In the top of the sixth Shiloh Christian capitalized on a leadoff walk to add another run for a 3-0 lead.
The wind held up at least one well-hit ball and gave Prairie Grove trouble at the plate in virtually every at-bat but Tigers skipper Mitch Cameron credited Shiloh pitching with keeping Prairie Grove bats silent.
"If you look at it we only had two hard contacts all game," Cameron said. "I thought it was a great baseball game. The bottom line is we just weren't able to solve the riddle today with our hitting."
Patrick Perdue drew a walk in the bottom of the sixth inning and reached third as the Saints threw the ball back and forth among the infield neither getting Logan Gragg out at first nor catching Perdue coming into third as he then headed home to put Prairie Grove on the scoreboard trailing 3-1.
Sam Dodd came on in relief in the seventh and had a strikeout sandwiched around a leadoff walk and single into left field. More trouble came with a bobbled play, loading the bases. The Saints pushed two more runs across, then were abruptly halted by Tigers third baseman Reed Orr blocking and tagging out a runner sliding towards third.
Facing a 5-1 deficit Prairie Grove tried to rally in their last at-bat. Clay Fidler began with a leadoff walk but Speed hit into a double play. Evan Rush refused to go quietly slugging a single into right field but a base running interference call brought up the third out, ending the game with Shiloh Christian ahead, 5-1.
Cameron had high praise for Heltemes on the mound saying he located really well and kept Shiloh Christian batters off-balance butthe Saints found ways to score.
"They [Shiloh Christian] were able to manufacture some runs," Cameron said.
Sports on 04/15/2015