CONWAY -- High temperatures may have kept the scoring down during the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star baseball games Friday, but it did little to quell the enthusiasm of those involved.
After the East and West battled to a 2-2 tie in the first game of the doubleheader, the West put forth a spirited rally in the nightcap to take a 4-2 victory at Bear Stadium on the University of Central Arkansas campus.
The two-game event had been shelved for the past two years because of covid-19 but returned in a big way despite temperatures hovering near the 100-degree mark.
"Oh man, [heat] was bad, especially when I was playing first base at the start of the game," said Morrilton's Casey Jones, who was named the West's Most Outstanding Player. "You could just see the heat rising off the field. It affected us a little bit, but all of us just worked through it. But still, I had a blast."
Batesville's Tyas Rush was named the East's Most Outstanding Player, while Woodlawn's Jaxon Case earned overall Most Valuable Player honors.
Hits were hard to come by early on, though. The teams combined for seven hits in the opener, but both were able to cash in just enough to finish exactly where each started -- in a stalemate.
The West caught the first official break in the top of the second to grab a 1-0 lead. Case and Jones sandwiched singles in between outs before Texarkana's Jaylen Betts reached on an infield hit. However, during a bid to run down Case at third, a throwing error by the East sailed out into left field, allowing Woodlawn's speedster to score.
A few pitching woes from the East enabled their counterparts to build a two-run cushion in the third. The West drew three walks from reliever Gage Wood of Batesville and later loaded the bases with one out. Eli Gilreath eventually flied out to right field, but Harrison's Dylan Block was able to score from third after a throw to second on a force-out attempt rolled into centerfield.
The East was able to cut into its deficit in the bottom of the inning after Conway's Austin Rainey scored from second on a sharply hit single from Magnolia's Seth Edwards. The East tied the score in the bottom of the fourth when Patrick Engskov of Pulaski Academy ripped a double that sent Rush sprinting home.
That'd be all the scoring either group did from that point on, although the East did waste an opportunity to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth. A sacrifice grounder from Rush placed runners on second and third with one but, but Edwards, who drew an inning-opening walk, was thrown out at home after trying to score on a wild pitch. Ty Rhoades of Jonesboro struck out moments later to end the threat.
"We definitely would've liked to win that one, but it's been a humbling experience to just be out here," said Edwards, who'll suit up next season at Southern Arkansas University. "Not a lot of guys get that chance to play, and to be here with some of the best players in the state is great. Being around the guys, hanging out and getting a chance to interact with other players from around Arkansas was great."
The nightcap turned out to be much different than the first game.
The West had a bases-loaded, no-out situation in its initial at-bat but came up empty after Little Rock Catholic's Lucas Greer recorded three straight strikeouts to get out of the jam. The all-state pitcher struck out six during his three-inning start.
Maumelle's Ryan Mesaris had an RBI in the second to put the East up 1-0, and DeWitt's Ben Hackney added to it with his run-scoring double in the fourth. But the West stormed back in the bottom of the inning.
Gilreath pelted an RBI single to get the team within a run. Three batters later, Jones blasted a two-run single to give the West the lead for good.
Huntsville's Kolton Reynolds added an insurance run in the fifth when he followed up a triple by Farmington's Trey Hill with an RBI groundout.
