This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Prairie Grove baseball.
With the graduation of several key players, including Ty Tice and J.D. Speed, the Tigers were expected to take a small step back. Prairie Grove finished the regular season as the third place team in the 4A-1 Conference behind Shiloh Christian and Pea Ridge.
The Tigers have turned it up a notch in the postseason. At the 4A-North Regional Tournament, Prairie Grove came within a whisker of advancing to the finals, losing a 3-2 game to Pea Ridge in the semifinals. The Tigers bounced back Tuesday to knock off Shiloh Christian 5-3 and earned the No. 3 seed for today's 4A state tournament in Gosnell.
"With the rain, we were lucky to get our game in on Saturday, which set up our pitching for state," Tigers coach Mitch Cameron said after Tuesday's game. "Logan (Gragg) was able to throw on Saturday, so he'll have 5-6 days rest before Thursday happens.
"After Saturday, we kind of staffed it and we played close, we just couldn't pull it out against Pea Ridge. But to come back today and for Nick Ellis to step up and to throw the way he did to go out and beat a Shiloh team that is very, very good, we're very proud to get that three seed."
Tigers ace Gragg, a 6-foot-4 junior right-hander, was a force at the plate as well as on the mound. In Saturday's 10-1 win over Clinton, he struck out 10 and drove in five runs, including a three-run home run.
Prairie Grove will take on Arkadelphia at noon today.
Pea Ridge, the hottest team in 4A, claimed the 4A-North title with a 5-3 win over Ozark on Monday. The Blackhawks (23-4) drew a first-round bye and will take on the winner of Star City vs. Gosnell at noon Friday.
Blackhawks coach John King said the bye and extra day of rest will benefit ace Seth Brumley, who pitched last pitched on Friday.
"He's the one who got us here, so we'll take our chances," King said. "If he has some trouble, we have some other guys we can bring in there."
Shiloh Christian, the regular season champion in the 4A-1, will limp into the state tournament having lost three of its last four games. The Saints (12-5) open state tournament play at 2:30 p.m. against Pocahontas.
Arkansas signee Jake Reindl, who has been injured, did not pitch in the regional tournament. The Saints have plenty of pitching depth if Reindl is unable to go, led by senior Kord Offenbacker and sophomore Gunner Gilbert, who pitched exceptionally well against Ozark on Monday in a 2-1 loss.
Class 3A
West Fork made the most of its postseason with two wins at the 3A Region 1 tournament, knocking off Lamar and Charleston, before falling to Lavaca in the championship game Tuesday night.
The Tigers, who came into the regional as the No. 4 seed, are playing their best ball of the season, coach Bob Wise said.
"I feel like we have slowly progressed," Wise said. "We've made a complete improvement about everywhere. We're not knocking the cover off the ball, just starting to put the ball in play more, making plays in the field behind our pitchers."
Colton Wise and Keggin McKenzie led the Tigers all weekend. The duo combined to shut down Lamar in a first round upset, then delivered big with the bats in a 15-0 demolition of Charleston. West Fork lost to Lavaca 10-0 in Tuesday's championship game.
The Tigers (8-9) will take on Mayflower at 12:30 p.m. today in the first round of the state tournament at Genoa Central.
Greenland was another team that got hot late, winning 2 of 3 at regionals. The Pirates topped Booneville 4-1 to open regional play and downed Charleston on Tuesday in extra innings to lock down the No. 3 seed.
Rain played havoc with the tournament, forcing games to be moved to UCA's turfed field on Monday. Tuesday's games shifted back to host Lavaca.
"The rain really hurt our whole regional, because we didn't get started until Monday," Greenland coach Andy Loyd said. "And so we were already in a bind. And then of course, going extra innings, we had to go really deep in our pitching staff. But the guys we put in today did a great job and came through for us. Our focus was to get to the state tournament."
Greenland earned the three seed by defeating Charleston 5-4 on Tuesday in walk-off fashion.
"Those guys were ecstatic," Loyd said. "I think we've had three walk-offs against us this year and so for it to go the other way, I couldn't have been happier for our guys."
The Pirates will take on Harmony Grove-Haskell at 5:30 p.m. today.
Paul Boyd and Jimmy Carter also contributed to this report
Sports on 05/14/2015