TEXARKANA -- Greenwood pitcher Connor Noland became more effective as the game progressed, leading the Bulldogs to a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over Lake Hamilton at Razorback Field on Thursday afternoon.
The freshman retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced -- including the final seven -- as the Bulldogs (14-13) earned a trip to today's quarterfinals against Sheridan.
"Early on, he got behind in the count," Greenwood Coach Trey Holloway said. "Coming into the third inning, going through their lineup for the second time, I said 'let's get strike one and we can do some stuff.' You look at 11 of the last 12 batters he faced, he got a first-pitch strike. That's what we needed."
Junior Hunter Cardwell, who was 2 for 2 with a sacrifice bunt, broke a 2-2 tie with a two-strike, two-out single in the fifth inning. Cardwell's hit was the last of the Bulldogs' 10 hits, all of which were singles.
"We swung the bats better today," Holloway said. "I thought we had them on the ropes at times. In the fourth we had the bases loaded and no outs and didn't score. We could have busted the game wide open there."
Noland finished with 6 strikeouts, allowing 5 hits, walking 2 and hitting a batter. Only one of his runs he gave up was earned.
Lake Hamilton (12-11) scored in the first on a single by Grayson Langston. The Wolves increased their lead to 2-0 in the third inning when Gip Burrow scored on a wild pitch, but Greenwood avoided the big inning when Noland got Gunnar Williams to fly out to center with the bases loaded.
Lake Hamilton managed only two base runners in the final four innings.
Greenwood tied the game at 2-2 in the third inning, getting RBI singles from Tanner Cooper and Max Higgins.
Chris Sunde, Higgins and Cardwell led the Bulldogs offensively with hits two each.
Junior Ryan Sinclair took the loss for Lake Hamilton, going 4 2/3 innings, giving up 9 hits, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts.
MARION 4, TEXARKANA 3
Jon Kent beat out a potential double-play ball in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Patriots (12-12) a victory over the Razorbacks (7-17).
Winning pitcher Cody Raymond struck out seven and walked five. The left-hander allowed only one hit through the first six innings and was two strikes away from ending the game in the top half of the seventh.
Texarkana's William McGilberry reached on a one-out single. With two outs, McGilberry stole second and scored on two errors on the same play. The Razorbacks took a brief 3-2 lead on back-to-back hits by Lavert Paxton and Cameron Jones.
Marion, however, staged a rally of its own against Razorbacks' ace Patrick Flanagan, who struck out five and walked four.
Kent, who also doubled and scored in the second inning, and Eric Skipper drove in runs for Marion.
Pinch hitter Trevor Cox drove in Texarkana's first run with a sacrifice fly.
ALMA 6, PINE BLUFF 5
Evan Burris pitched the final 6 1/3 innings and then launched a two-run home run in the seventh inning to lead the Airedales back from a five-run deficit and to a firstround victory over the Zebras.
Pine Bluff (10-9) used five walks, three wild pitches and a two-run double from Braelin Hence to grab a 5-0 lead after the first inning. Burris entered the contest with two outs in the first inning. The right-handed senior gave up four hits and hit a batter, but he walked no one.
Alma (6-21) pulled to within 5-4 in the sixth when Dillon Majors scored on a wild pitch.
Batting against Brandon Lowe, the last of Pine Bluff’s three pitchers, Josh Parker lined a one-out single and Burris followed with his home run over the right-center field fence.
EL DORADO 4, SEARCY 3
A sacrifice fly from Joseph Boshears in the top of the seventh inning scored Rhett Conner with the tie-breaking run to give the Wildcats (10-11) a victory over the Lions.
Caleb Stutts went the distance for El Dorado for the victory.
Sports on 05/15/2015