PRAIRIE GROVE -- Pitching was an area of concern for Prairie Grove skipper Mitch Cameron coming into the 2024 season, but he's been pleasantly surprised with the development of various arms.
On March 6, Prairie Grove hosted a tournament. Conner Hubbs limited Harrison to 2 hits, using only 60 pitches during his 5-inning shutout while striking out five. Run support came in the form of Maddox Ogle (3 hits, 3 RBIs) and Asher Linn (2 hits, 2 RBIs).
Hubbs threw a no-hitter with 11 strikeouts in a 10-0 run-rule victory over Vian, Okla. on March 11 ,and helped his cause by hitting a double and driving in 2 runs highlighted by an RBI double in the fifth.
Chris Carte delivered an RBI single in the fourth, while Tristan Hall hit a 2-run single and Ogle had 2 hits to lead Prairie Grove.
"We have hit well in our first six or seven games. It's a always a great thing when you're swinging it early," Cameron said. "On top of that we've gotten great pitching performances. Connor Hubbs has two or three no hitters. Now granted, a couple of those came out of a tournament where we had time limits. But he pitched another no hitter and we had a run-rule in five innings. He had one walk in five innings, so he's thrown it really well."
Linn dealt out a first-inning RBI single to give Prairie Grove (4-2) its first run and he was far from done. Linn added a second RBI single and Ogle singled to drive in two runs to push 3 Tiger runs across the plate in the fourth. Ogle ended the contest with his third RBI single in the fifth.
On March 5, Caleb Carte threw a 1-hitter in 5 innings and recorded 4 strikeouts to lead the Tigers to a 6-4 win over Booneville. That performance, coupled with three other arms showing promise, went a long ways towards building confidence among Prairie Grove's pitching staff.
"Caleb Carte's had a couple of great outings. We've had some guys step up with Bryce Ledgerwood and Maddox Ogle throwing strikes. Kaiden Rochier's kind of come in and kind of developed his own little role of maybe a closer who can give us two innings and so from a pitching standpoint it was one of those where we thought maybe we didn't have a lot of depth, we're able to see some guys early who are coming along," Cameron said.
Ledgerwood belted a 2-run home run in the first inning and later knocked out an RBI single versus Booneville. Prairie Grove tacked on a solo home run in the second and 3 more runs in the third, stringing together hits from Ledgerwood, Linn and Luke Vance to build a 6-0 lead.
Booneville slashed that to 6-3 on Dax Goff's 3-run homer in the third, but the Bearcats could only manufacture one more run and lost 6-4.
Hubbs had 2 hits and scored a pair of runs for Prairie Grove.
"I love playing games early because it allows us to develop some arms. We're able to see some guys that all we ask is 'Come in and throw strikes. It doesn't matter how hard you throw, just come throw strikes,' and we've had some guys who've shown that they can come in and do that so it's been good," Cameron said.