CLASS 4A-EAST BASEBALL

Westside rallies in 7th, advances to semifinals

Jonesboro Westside’s Austin Tyler (11) and Luke Hart (2) celebrate after Tyler scored the tying run in the sevnth inning as the Warriors rallied for a 5-4 victory over Stuttgart on Friday at the Class 4A-East regional baseball tournament in Lonoke.
Jonesboro Westside’s Austin Tyler (11) and Luke Hart (2) celebrate after Tyler scored the tying run in the sevnth inning as the Warriors rallied for a 5-4 victory over Stuttgart on Friday at the Class 4A-East regional baseball tournament in Lonoke.

LONOKE -- Jonesboro Westside rallied for three runs in the final two innings to earn a 5-4 victory over Stuttgart on Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the 4A-East Regional at Lonoke City Park.

Avery Felts' hard-hit grounder down the third-base line skipped into left field and brought Garrett Robinson in with the winning run in the eighth inning. Felts had been 0 for 4 before getting the game-winning hit.

"Avery's a gamer, for sure," Westside Coach Landon Moore said. "He's been hitting over .400 for this year. He came up big with that at-bat."

Westside (15-8), which will play Central Arkansas Christian in today's noon semifinal game, was held to five hits through the first six innings Thursday.

Stuttgart pitcher Cole Morgan had allowed only one earned run through the first five innings, but he was removed after giving up three consecutive walks in the sixth. Ricebirds reliever Reece Stephens worked out of the sixth-inning jam, but Westside roughed him up the rest of the way.

"[Morgan] was really good," Moore said. "But once he was out of the game, we thought we could take advantage of their relievers."

Senior Payton Gooch tripled to start the seventh and he scored on Austin Tyler's double. Tyler eventually scored on an error. In the eighth, Robinson beat out an infield single, moved to second on a walk to Gooch and scored on the hit by Felts.

Stuttgart shortstop Blake Marks singled twice, doubled and scored three times. Morgan drove in two runs with a single and sacrifice fly. Lance Oltmann doubled in a run for the Ricebirds (10-9).

*CORRECTION: Stuttgart pitcher Cole Morgan struck out 5 batters and walked 1 in 5 innings during Thursday’s regional tournament game against Jonesboro Westside. His statistics were reported incorrectly in an article in Friday’s editions.

CENTRAL ARK. CHRISTIAN 3,

HIGHLAND 2

Junior outfielder Hunter Corbell wasn't looking for a pitch to send over the left-field fence, but he got one anyway that helped the Mustangs (13-6) rally for an eight-inning victory over the Rebels (15-11).

Corbell connected on a two-strike pitch from Highland's Sean Taylor for a two-run home run in the sixth inning. It was his second of the season and came at a very timely moment.

"I hit a curveball that came inside on me," Corbell said. "I didn't feel it at first so I didn't know I hit that good ... I just hit the ball and see where it goes."

Corbell's home run gave the Mustangs a 2-1 lead. Highland tied the game in the top of the seventh when Ian Brewer doubled and scored on Taylor's two-out single.

CAC scored the winning run in the eighth when Tanner Weber's ground ball went through third baseman Ben Jackson's legs for an error, the fifth of the game for the Rebels.

All three runs scored against Highland were unearned.

Braden Quesinberry threw only 84 pitches in eight innings to pick up the victory. He allowed only 6 hits, struck out 4 and got 8 first-pitch outs.

Taylor threw well in the loss. He struck out three and surrendered seven hits.

CAC left 13 runners stranded.

GOSNELL 12, HEBER SPRINGS 6

Freshman right fielder Devin Burks drove in 3 runs and junior infielder Peyton Thompson had 3 hits, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI as the Pirates (21-4) knocked off the Panthers (13-6).

Gosnell sent 12 batters to the plate in a seven-run second inning on its way to building an 11-2 lead. Doubles by Thompson and Chad Wright and a two-run single by Burks highlighted the inning.

Senior pitcher Dakota Atkinson went six innings in collecting the victory. Atkinson allowed 14 hits and walked one.

Heber Springs lead-off batter junior Pierce Mitchum was 3 for 3 with 2 doubles and 3 runs. Junior Dawson Melrose also had three hits.

LONOKE 5, BROOKLAND 4

Haven Hunter's bunt single in the bottom of the ninth inning scored Tallon Swint with the game-winning run in a victory over the Bearcats (12-15).

Lonoke (13-8) trailed 4-2 in the eighth inning, but rallied behind back-to-back singles from Hunter and Casey Martin. After a strikeout and a double steal, Savonte Rountree drove in the tying runs with a single.

Hunter wound up with three hits and he also struck out six batters, as did Martin.

Sophomore Landon Jones had two hits and drove in a run for Brookland.

Sports on 05/06/2016

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