PRAIRIE GROVE -- The final inning seemed like seventh heaven as Prairie Grove plated both a tying and go-ahead run to complete a 9-8 season-opening victory over Booneville.
The Tigers (1-0) began baseball season with a dramatic come-from-behind seventh inning to dispatch Booneville (0-1). Cole Speed's groundout drove in Austin Jentzsch with the winning run as Prairie Grove scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning and edged the Bearcats. The Tigers scored both runs in the seventh with only one hit. Clay Fidler started the inning by reaching on an error, then Jentzsch was hit by a pitch. Silas Myane later singled to drive in Fidler before Speed's grounder scored Jentzsch and ended the game. Myane and Fidler each drove in two runs, while Reed Orr pitched 3.2 innings of one-hit baseball and picked up the win as a reliever.
Early Adversity
The tide went against Prairie Grove early.
Fidler got off to a rocky start on the mound. Hayden Fennell opened the game with a leadoff single and advanced to second on Brandon Ulmer's groundout. Brady Brasher's line drive bounced off Fidler's glove, putting runners at the corners. Trent Wooldridge drove in a run although Fidler threw him out at first. Michael Hesson was up next and the Booneville sophomore slugged an RBI single giving the Bearcats an early 2-0 lead. Fidler got out of the inning by inducing Devin Davis to hit a line drive into the short stop's glove.
Orr's bat rang up a leadoff single to get him on base in his first at-bat of the season. Sophomore Drew Cates moved Orr to second with a sacrifice bunt and the Tiger senior raced to third on a passed ball. Fidler (1 of 4, 2 RBIs) drove Orr home, scoring Prairie Grove's first run for the year. The throw reached first ahead of Fidler recording Prairie Grove's second out. Ulmer (4 innings pitched, 7 runs, 5 hits, 6 strikeouts, 1 base on balls) then got Jentzsch to ground out leaving the Tigers trailing, 2-1, at the end of the first.
Bearcat To Get Out
Booneville leadoff hitter Carson Ray reached on an error as the second inning began. Fidler delivered strike three to Chandler Fritsche. The ball was dropped and he had to be thrown out at first. Meanwhile Ray reached third signifying a threat. Wyatt Rongey's at-bat ended with a groundout, then trouble began. The next three batters each proved to be a Bearcat to get out. After a walk, a run scored on a passed ball. Ulmer helped his cause by driving in a run with a double, then scored when Brasher went opposite field for a single and a 5-1 Bearcat lead.
Bursting Booneville's Bubble
Booneville helped Prairie Grove mount an offensive attack in the third inning. Freshman Jadin Higgins was hit by a pitch. Still, Ulmer appeared poised to work his way out of the inning when he got Orr to pop up for a second out. As was the case for Prairie Grove during the second, the third out was more than elusive for Booneville's defense in the third. Cates made contact and the Bearcats missed a tag at second allowing the Tigers to remain alive. They would rue the missed play.
Fidler coolly took ball-3, then with runners at the corners, smacked a double, plating Higgins. Jentzsch drove a ball between second and third, which wasn't gloved, allowing a Tiger run to score. Batting left-handed, Chase Wade brought in another run bringing Prairie Grove to within, 5-4. He got on, representing the go-ahead run. The tying run was brought home on Myane's RBI single into shallow center field.
Booneville wasted another opportunity to get out of the inning when the catcher dropped strike-three on Cole Speed, who lived up to his name and reached first while Wade scored from third. With Couper Allen batting, the count reached 1-1 when the Bearcat catcher tried to throw out Speed stealing second. He failed and Myane stole home to give Prairie Grove a 2-run cushion, of 7-5.
Trading Blows
The teams continued to trade punches like a pair of prize fighters and Booneville bounced back off the ropes to hit Prairie Grove with three runs in the top of the fourth inning. Two walks and one out later, Brasher (2 of 4, 3 RBIs) singled past second to score two Booneville runs, tying the game at 7-7. Orr came on in relief and gave up an RBI single to Wooldridge before ending the inning with the Tigers down, 8-7, on Hesson's groundout. Two innings of scoreless baseball thereafter, Prairie Grove punched their way through to victory in their last chance to bat.
Sports on 03/22/2017