PRAIRIE GROVE -- Gentry head baseball coach Justin Ledbetter was ejected after asking the home plate umpire for consistency in determining the strike zone April 13.
The Pioneers lost the game, 10-2, on the road at Prairie Grove, playing the final five-and-a-half innings without their skipper.
"At that point in the game it was 5-0 and I didn't want to make too big of a deal out it," said Prairie Grove coach Chris Mileham. "I've got a ton of respect for coach Justin Ledbetter and for the work that he does at Gentry. I've been preaching to our players, it doesn't matter who we play, it's us against the game. We stick to that, we're going to be alright."
Mileham said he was proud his ball-club didn't get sucked into the controversy. The Tigers led 3-0 after the first inning and turned a double-play to squash a Gentry threat. After a walk put a Pioneer at first, Tiger shortstop Drew Cates fielded a ground-ball, quickly throwing to Silas Myane at second for the force-out. The ball was immediately relayed to Cole Speed at first for a 6-4-3 double play.
Prairie Grove added 2 runs in the second despite a double-play by the Pioneers. A line-drive was caught by Gentry's third baseman with a second out recorded because a runner left third. This negated a leadoff walk by Speed and bunt single by Couper Allen to start the second.
The top of the order came up with Clay Fidler batting for Prairie Grove. He overcame two called strikes and a 1-2 count by smashing an RBI single into center field. Reed Orr followed with his own RBI single into center field and the Tigers were in front, 5-0.
Gentry began the top of the third with a ground-out that Ledbetter was not pleased with.
"Chasing a fastball that's low and outside, what are we doing?" Ledbetter asked.
Junior Garrett Matthews beat a throw to first to get on, but was picked off for a second out with Ayden Smartt batting. Smartt took ball-4 on a 3-2 pitch to draw a walk and senior Carlos Alvarez Del Castillo came up. After taking ball-one, Alvarez Del Castillo fell behind on two-straight called-strikes, prompting Ledbetter to question the home-plate umpire.
The home-plate umpire told Ledbetter, "We are not discussing the strike zone," and informed him, "You're done."
"You cannot toss me for that," Ledbetter said, referring to page 15 in the rulebook. "I asked you to be consistent. The rulebook states you can ban me, you can confine me to the dugout, but you cannot toss me for that."
"We're with you, Coach," Ledbetter was told by Prairie Grove fans as he started towards home plate.
Ledbetter then protested that Mileham had been doing the same thing, arguing about the strike zone, and further pleaded his case, stating he hadn't used any profanity or done anything malicious -- to no avail. He was ejected, and Alvarez Del Castillo was called out on a third consecutive called-strike, which irritated Gentry fans.
"Don't take it out on the kid," Gentry fans said.
Prairie Grove added a run in their half of the inning when Speed singled to plate Myane, upping the Tiger advantage to 6-0.
A base-running error between second and third cost Gentry in the top of the fourth. Orr followed that with a strike-out and induced a ground-out bringing the Tigers back up to bat. Cates drove in Prairie Grove' seventh run with a double into right field. The Tigers padded their lead with 2 runs in the fifth when Fidler placed a shot into the right corner that earned him a double and drove in a pair of runs.
Gentry finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth. Alvarez Del Castillo reached on an error and was able to work his way to third on a fielder's choice. He appeared to be off the base path, tip-toeing around a tag, and might have been the beneficiary of a make-up call. Alvarez Del Castillo scored on a wild pitch and Sean Pierce drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, reducing the Tiger lead to 9-2.
Myane doubled down the third base line to lead off the sixth and was plated on Chase Wade's RBI fly-out to account for the 10-2 final score.
Ledbetter spoke about the ejection after the game, clarifying the Pioneers' loss had nothing to do with the ejection.
"We've got to have better at-bats, we've got to put the ball in play, we've got to field, run the bases, play a little better ball-game," Ledbetter said.
Regarding the ejection, Ledbetter said, "It's very frustrating. We pay them $120 a night and they don't know the rulebook. That's got to happen. If I'm going to be held to the standard of everything that's in that rulebook, then they need to know what's in the rulebook. That's not to take anything away from Prairie Grove. Prairie Grove is just a good team. We can't have mistakes, we've got to play hard."
Sports on 04/26/2017