CONWAY -- Prairie Grove's Ty Tice will get a chance to play more baseball on the Central Arkansas campus, but he sure enjoyed Tuesday night's Arkansas High School Coaches' Association All-Star games at Bear Stadium.
Tice pitched around an error in the seventh to notch the save and help the West earn a 7-6 win in the second game of the doubleheader.
Game 1
East 5, West 4
East^001^310^0^_^5^6^4
West^012^100^0^_^4^6^1
Abraham, Malnar (3), McFadden (5), White (7) and Harris, Post (4), Henson (6); C. Wilkins, Ritter (4), Wolski (6), Nichols (7) and Colson and Martindale (4), Colson (7). W-McFadden. L-Ritter. S-White.
Games 2
West^202^001^2^—^7^11^3
East^201^000^3^—^6^10^0
Robinson, Howard (3), Drabble (4), Tice (6) and Wolski, Colson (5); Harrington, Chambers (3), Shinn (5) Knudsen (7) and Henson, Harris (5). W-Howard. L-Chambers. S-Tice.
The East won the opener 5-4 thanks to some strong relief pitching.
Tice, a UCA signee, was named the West's outstanding player, while Ashdown's Kyle Duncan, who will play at Arkansas-Little Rock was named the game's Most Valuable Player.
Tice, who also singled and scored in the first game, said playing the All-Star games in Conway didn't really generate any added pressure.
"You think about it, but once you get on the field it's just baseball," Tice said. "It was good. I just came out here to have fun and that's what I did."
Duncan's two-run homer in the nightcap snapped a 2-2 tie in the third to give the West the lead for good.
West coach Kirk Bock of Bryant said both Tice and Duncan provided a spark. In addition to Duncan's two-run homer, he also had an RBI triple in the first game.
"Duncan's got a little juice in his bat," Bock said. "We kind of rallied around him with that home run. Tice did a tremendous job, too. That's the first time I've had a chance to see him and gosh dang I enjoyed it."
Tice got Bock's attention Monday night when he was playing pick-up basketball, but his athleticism showed on the baseball field Tuesday, too.
"Watching him last night slamming it any way you want to slam it," Bock said. "That's athleticism and that's what UCA needs. It doesn't matter what size you are. He's going to be a tremendous player for them I think."
The East got three shutout innings of relief to hold on to the Game 1 win.
Wynne's Landon McFadden picked up the win with two scoreless innings, while Parkers Chapel's Eric White worked a 1-2-3 seventh for the save.
The West had a chance against McFadden in the sixth, loading the bases with one out. However, he notched back-to-back strikeouts to wiggle out of trouble.
The East snapped a 4-4 tie in the fifth. Mayflower's Michael Post doubled down the left-field line, stole second and scored on a groundout to the right side by Mason Duncan of Southside Bee Branch.
Timmy Seldomridge of Rogers High, who will play at Arkansas State, showed off his speed in the opener. He reached on an error, but kept running and made it to second on a ball that went just out of the infield in the third inning and later scored. He also drove in a run, beating out an infield single in the fourth.
Sports on 06/25/2014