Lonoke baseball Coach Bryan Eagle announced Wednesday that he will step down to become full time athletic director and principal at a school within the school district.
"I am just looking forward to being where my feet are the rest of the season and putting everything I have into this program until the last pitch is thrown for the '24 season," Eagle said.
Lonoke is 19-4 on the season and 9-0 in the 4A-5 Conference after a 2-1 win over Joe T. Robinson on Tuesday night. University of Arkansas signee Steele Eaves teamed with University of Central Arkansas commit Jaxson Ingle in a no-hitter against the Senators. Eaves went 6 2/3 innings with 14 strikeouts and 4 walks.
The victory allowed the Jackrabbits' seniors -- Eaves, Ingle, Cutter Colvert, Tripp Sullivan and Cole Spears -- to win their 100th game since their freshman season.
"The guys have always had a 'so what, next pitch' mentality," Eagle said. "So they bring their best to the field every night."
LAKE HAMILTON
Hurley dominating
Lake Hamilton pitcher Easton Hurley has recovered nicely from a torn ACL injury he sustained during a football game in October.
The senior is one of the reasons why the Wolves are 18-2 and sit atop the 5A-South Conference standings with a 9-1 record. Last week in a 4-2 victory over Sheridan, Hurley (6-0) allowed 5 hits and 2 unearned runs with 8 strikeouts in 6 innings.
Earlier this month, Hurley threw a no-hitter in a 10-0 win over Pine Bluff. The Southern Arkansas signee racked up 13 strikeouts in that outing.
CENTRAL ARKANSAS CHRISTIAN
Year of the Mustangs
Central Arkansas Christian has had a banner year in athletics.
Grayson Wilson led the football team to a conference title last fall. The boys basketball team also captured the Class 3A state championship in March.
Now the Mustangs baseball team is looking to go a couple steps further after putting together a semifinal finish in 2023. CAC Athletic Director Hayden Cruce stepped in as the interim head coach knowing his team had a chance to make a state title push, led by Wilson and University of Memphis signee Webb Watson, and the Mustangs have looked the part over the first eight weeks of the season.
The Mustangs (11-3, 7-0 3A-5) have cruised to their second straight undefeated trek through the conference with Wilson, a University of Arkansas football commit, only throwing three innings thus far. Senior Caleb Cook leads the pitching staff with a 4-0 record and 0.26 earned-,run average over 27 1/3 innings. Senior Lane Bourne is batting a team-high .424 , with Cook chiming in at .367. However, every regular starter is hitting above .300 for CAC.
5A-WEST CONFERENCE
Wild wild West
Things have gotten fairly tight in the 5A-West Conference.
Mountain Home swept Greenwood on Tuesday to throw a wrench in the league race with two weeks left in the regular season. Greenwood (16-6, 7-3) was sitting atop the standings, but the Bulldogs are now in third place behind Russellville (15-7, 8-2) and Greenbrier (14-6, 6-2).
The Cyclones control their own destiny with four games left, with two of those coming against Harrison (9-14-1, 1-9) at home and two on the road at Van Buren (15-8, 6-4). Greenbrier has a two-game series with Alma (9-10, 3-5) at home and two on the road at Mountain Home (12-9-1, 6-4) before wrapping up with a two-game series with Greenwood.
Last season, the conference title was not decided until the final week of the regular season when Greenwood clinched the championship by defeating Greenbrier 5-3 in the teams' final regular-season league series.