While the postseason battle cry typically is "win or go home" for most teams, it's "win and get to play at home" for Prairie Grove baseball at this week's 4A-1 District Tournament at Gentry.
The Tigers (10-15 overall, 4-2 in 4A-1 play) won the bid to host next week's 4A North Regional and enter the district tourney as the No. 4 seed. They can punch a ticket to their own regional with a win Friday at 4 p.m. against the winner of Thursday's 4 p.m. game between eighth-seeded Lincoln and fifth-seeded Gravette.
PREP BASEBALL
4A-1 District Tournament
at Gentry, April 27-May 2
Thursday
Game 1: No. 5 Gravette vs. No. 8 Lincoln, 4 p.m.
Game 2: No. 6 Gentry vs. No. 7 Berryville, 6:30 p.m.
Friday
Game 3: No. 3 Huntsville vs. Game 2 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 4: No. 4 Prairie Grove vs. Game 1 winner, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday
Game 5: No. 1 Shiloh Christian vs. Game 4 winner, noon
Game 6: No. 2 Pea Ridge vs. Game 3 winner, 2:30 p.m.
Monday
Game 7 (Championship): Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 6 p.m.
The top four teams from the district earn a spot in the 4A North Regional.
Prairie Grove's only two league losses were by a single run, a 2-1 loss against Huntsville on March 29 and a 3-2 loss against Pea Ridge on April 7. The Tigers were the only 4A-1 team to knockoff top-seeded Shiloh Christian when Logan Gragg struck out 11 Saints in a 2-1 win on April 4.
As far as Friday's potential opponent, Prairie Grove defeated Gravette 9-6 on March 31 and Lincoln 19-5 on April 18.
The battle-tested Tigers may be peaking at the right time and enter the tournament as winners of four of their past five games, including three straight conference wins by a combined score of 37-6.
Pitching often is key for making a deep postseason run and Prairie Grove has a stellar 1-2 punch in starters Logan Gragg and Gavin Heltemes. Gragg, a Connors State signee, leads the league and the Northwest Arkansas region with 67 strikeouts while posting a 1.20 ERA in 41 innings. Heltemes, who has signed with Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, has 54 strikeouts in 34 innings to go along with a 3.91 ERA.
Gragg and Heltemes also are among the team's top producers offensively. Gragg sports a .466 batting average with conference-best 21 RBIs and 17 runs while Heltemes is batting .387 with 16 runs, 11 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 16 attempts.
Junior Reed Orr helps at the plate and on the mound. Orr, who has driven in 15 runs, has allowed just one earned run in 16 innings pitched for a 0.44 ERA.
The Tigers got a shot in the arm with the recent return of senior shortstop Sam Dodd, another Coffeyville CC signee, off of injury. They also boast one of the best leadoff players in the area in Isaac Disney, who leads the team with a .488 batting average. He's scored 20 runs and is 19 of 19 on stolen base attempts. Teammate Clay Fidler has 17 stolen bases on 18 attempts and leads the team with 23 runs scored.
Lincoln (1-19, 0-7) can earase thoughts of a one-win regular season by winning twice this week to earn a trip to regionals. The Wolves first will need to upset Gravette, which deafeated Lincoln 14-3 on March 29.
Sports on 04/27/2016