AMERICAN LEGION AAA STATE TOURNAMENT

Brown’s patience rewarded, sends Ricemen to title game

BRYANT -- Nick Brown would have taken a fourth walk Tuesday afternoon, but the Jonesboro second baseman was happy he didn't have to settle for another base on balls.

Brown sent a sharp ground ball back through the middle of the infield to score Tucker Hydrick in the bottom of the ninth inning and give the Ricemen a 6-5 victory over Mountain Home Lockerroom in an elimination game of the American Legion AAA State Tournament at Bryant High School.

"Anything to win," said Brown, who was 1 for 2 with 3 walks. "That was big for us. [Mountain Home] is a great team. They beat us four of five times earlier this year, and it was just great to come out on top this time."

Jonesboro, which eliminated Cabot in 12 innings Monday, must win two games today to advance to the Mid-South Regional Tournament. The Ricemen (27-15) will play either Texarkana or Bryant at 5:30 p.m. today.

After scoring five runs on five hits in the first three innings, Jonesboro had been limited to two singles during the next five innings before entering the ninth.

Hydrick, who produced game-winning hits in victories over Fort Smith Kerwins on Saturday and Cabot on Monday, started the ninth with a line single to left off Mountain Home's Kyle Stephens. Dillon Groves followed with a lined double to right and Mason Gibson was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Brown looked at two consecutive balls before a called strike and a foul ball evened the count. Brown sent the next pitch past a drawn-in infield for the game-winner.

"We've faced [Stephens] a lot," said Brown, who attended Nettleton High School. "He's a great pitcher. He's not overpowering, but he throws a great curveball. I was sitting curveball all the way. I kept my hands in, hoping to send something to the outfield and win the game."

"What I'll say about Nick is that he is an extremely smart baseball player," said Jonesboro Manager Brandon Eller, who did not witness the game-winning hit because he was ejected in the top half of the ninth inning after an extended discussion about a close play at first base. "Nick buys in to swinging at his pitch. The three times he walked, he didn't get a good pitch to hit.

"He was patient, and it paid off in the end."

Mountain Home (22-14) collected all 12 of its hits in the first five innings. Winning pitcher Braden Brown allowed only two Lockerroom players to reach base after the fifth inning. Braden Brown struck out three and walked two. Mountain Home left 11 runners stranded.

"[Brandon Brown] had not pitched that well against us all year, but he did the job today," Mountain Home Manager Lester White said. "Our biggest problem was that we didn't take advantage of all those base runners he had early in the game. We had the bases loaded twice and didn't get but one run out of both of them."

Hydrick was 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored. Gibson drove in two runs with a groundout in the first inning and a single in the third. Seth Eakin was 2 for 4 and scored a run.

Jonesboro grabbed a 5-2 lead in the third inning, scoring four runs. Three of those runs came home on two wild pitches and a throwing error after the first wild pitch.

Mountain Home rallied to tie the game, scoring a run in the fourth inning on Skylar Culver's single and two runs in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Joey Prinner and a single by Kennedy Robinson.

Culver and Hayden Hall went 3 for 5 with a RBI for Mountain Home. Brody Ninemire was 2 for 4 with 1 RBI.

Mountain Home;002 120 000 -- 5 12 3

Jonesboro;104 000 001 -- 6 10 2

Miller, Stephens (7) and Ninemire. Thomas, B. Brown (3) and Groves. W -- Brown. L -- Stephens.

BRYANT BLACKSOX 23,

TEXARKANA RAZORBACKS 10

Bryant took advantage of a depleted Texarkana pitching staff, banging out 18 hits in Tuesday’s late game.

Texarkana also committed five errors and allowed Bryant to send 14 batters to the plate in a 10-run eighth inning. Dalton Holt and Hayden Lessenberry drove in three runs each for Bryant. Eight of the nine players in Bryant’s batting order had at least two hits.

Kyle Duncan was 2 for 3 with 3 RBI for Texarkana.

Bryant starter Devon Dupree picked up the victory, allowing 9 hits, 2 walks and getting 2 strikeouts in 5 innings of work. Jake Alexander took the loss.

Texarkana catcher Landon Russo was removed from the game in the sixth inning after being hit in the neck for the second time in the past three days. Russo was alert but was taken to Saline Memorial Hospital by ambulance for precautionary reasons.

Bryant...................001 352 2(10) — 23 18 4 Texarkana ..................010 502 02 — 10 12 5 Dupree, Dale (6), Emmerling (8) and Breeding; Alexander, Eubanks (5), Hopkins (6), Flanigan (8), Harrington (8) and White, Russo (6), White (6). W — Dupree. L — Alexander.

Sports on 07/30/2014

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