MOUNTAIN HOME - On the strength of seven singles in the third inning, the Jonesboro Ricemen grabbed the advantage over the North Little Rock Colts and went on to post a 14-1 mercy-rule victory in six innings Monday afternoon in losers’ backet play of the American Legion baseball senior state tournament at Cooper Park.
In trying to get as many games in ahead of possible storms today, the first game that was scheduled for 1 p.m. today was moved to late Monday night and all four games Monday were shortened to seven innings. Today’s games will start at 10 a.m., but the schedule is tentative as the forecast is calling for rain in the area.
With the schedule change, Jonesboro (31-10) faced Blytheville in Monday’s late game. Blytheville defeated Bentonville 10-8 in the first game Monday afternoon.
Both Jonesboro and North Little Rock scored a run in the second inning before the Ricemen broke it open in the top of the third. Alex Camp started Jonesboro off with a single into right field. That started a string of seven consecutive singles by the Ricemen, the final four resulting in an RBI. Then with two out, Cameron Jones singled into right to score two runs for a 7-1 Jonesboro lead.
RBI singles by Kagen Brown and Seth Hart in the top of the fourth and a North Little Rock error allowed the Ricemen to build a 10-1 advantage.
Jonesboro then scored four runs on five hits in the top of the sixth to achieve the mercy rule. Hunter Simpson, Nick Brown and Jones each had a double in the inning with two runs scoring on Brown’s double and another scoring on Jones’ double. Hart also had a sacrifice fly that scored Simpson.
Jonesboro finished with 18 hits as all nine batters had at least one hit. Simpson, Kagen Brown and Kadin Hydrick each had three hits, while Jones, Hart and J.D. Rainwater each had two. Jones and Hart had three RBI each, while Hydrick scored four times and Kagen Brown scored three runs.
Alex Gosser had two of North Little Rock’s four hits.
Jonesboro ...........................016 304 - 14 18 1 N. Little Rock ......................... 010 000 - 1 4 1 McCann and Simpson; Miller, Allen (3), Cleveland (6) and Gosser. W - McCann. L - Miller.
BLYTHEVILLE 10, BENTONVILLE 8
The Casons (19-19) made the most of their eight hits, especially in the first and third innings when they scored all 10 runs.
Brady Jones had two hits to lead Blytheville, while Will Camp, Taylor Hopper and Michael Miller had an RBI single.
Chad Musteen had three hits and three RBI for Bentonville, while Kory Keithley and Clay Lewis each had two hits. The Tigers ended the season with a 17-7 mark.
Bentonville ........................ 320 030 0 - 8 10 3 Blytheville ......................... 406 000 x - 10 8 3 Ford, Fitch (3) and Lewis; Jones, Jolly (3) and Miller. W - Jolly. L - Fitch. S - Gable.
TEXARKANA 8, BRYANT 6
The Texarkana Razorbacks (35-11) took a huge step toward a possible third state championship in four years when they clipped the Bryant Black Sox (36-4) in the winners’ bracket final.
Texarkana jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Kyle Duncan and Jackson Murphy reached on consecutive walks with two outs then Austin Rorack had an RBI single. Jake Garrett followed with a two-run triple.
Bryant’s Trevor Ezell and Ozzie Hurt led off the bottom of the first with back to back singles then Ezell scored on a sacrifice fly by Marcus Wilson. Walks to Hayden Lessenbury and Tyler Nelson loaded the bases before a double by Chase Tucker scored all three runners for a 4-3 Bryant lead.
Texarkana tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the second after Hayden Phillips led off with a double and scored on a single by Trever Rucker.
The Razorbacks took the lead for good in the top of the third with three runs on two hits and an error by Bryant. Brandon White and Luke McGuire each had an RBI single in the third while the third run scored on an error.
Nathan Stubber scattered eight hits, striking out three along the way for the Razorbacks.
Texarkana ............................313 100 0 - 8 7 1 Bryant.................................400 010 0 - 6 8 1 Stubber and Roark; Nelson, Jackson (4), Tucker (7) and Lessenbury. W - Stubber. L - Nelson.
Sports, Pages 19 on 07/30/2013