GENTRY -- Pea Ridge coach John King thought he would stay dry after his Blackhawks held on for a 16-14 victory against Shiloh Christian in the 4A-1 Conference Tournament title game.
King shouted "Negative!" when he caught two players trying to grab a cooler full of ice to dump over the coach's head on a chilly night.
How They Scored
Pea Ridge 16, Shiloh Christian 14
Pea Ridge^610^251^1^-^16^17^5
Shiloh Christian^200^504^3^-^14^11^6
Pea Ridge’s battery Church, Sainsbury (4), Wright (7) Holley;
Shiloh’s battery Brown, Clark (2), Johnson (5), Lantzsch (6) and Laroche.
W - Church. L - Brown. Sv - Wright. HRs - none.
PR^6^17^5
SC^14^11^6
WP: W. Church
S: C. Wright
C. Wright: 3/5, 2R, 2 RBI
B. Beckmann: 2/4, 3R, 2 DBL, BB, K, RBI
J. Sainsbury: 3/4, 3R, 2DBL, SAC, 3 RBI
W. Church: 3/5, K, 4 RBI
A. Anderson: 1/1, DBL, RBI
G. Cawthon: 2/3, BB, 2 RBI
"They weren't sneaky enough, no sir," King said. "Maybe they'll get a little sneakier if we win a few more (games)."
He spoke too soon.
With cooler in hand and King distracted, his players snuck up from behind and soaked their coach anyway.
"Whoa, that is cold," King said.
King and the second-seeded Blackhawks iced out the No. 1 seed Saints' chances of a comeback by bringing in ace pitcher Cole Wright, a hard throwing left-hander, for the final two outs.
Shiloh Christian had trimmed the deficit with three runs in the bottom of the seventh before Wright came in. The junior got Tucker Duddleston to popup and Broderick Butler to strikeout on an inside breaking ball to end the game with the tying run on second base.
King had planned on saving Wright for Thursday's 4A North Regional opener against Clinton (4th seed from 4A-4) at 10 a.m. in Prairie Grove.
"Thirty runs, what a game," King said. "The way the format is set up neither one of us wanted to throw our No. 1 (pitcher), so we could save them for Thursday, but we did have to bring him in at the end to get two outs. If we don't, I think they're probably going to score three or four runs there and beat us.
"(Wright) was going to get a bullpen in (Tuesday) anyway, so I think we'll just count that as his bullpen."
Pea Ridge plated six runs in the first inning and never trailed again by answering several Saints' rally attempts. After Shiloh Christian scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut it to 9-7, the Blackhawks answered with a five-run inning of their own in the top of the fifth.
"We dug ourselves in a hole early and could have very well shut it down then," said Saints coach Moe Henry. "That was a heckuva an effort and a heckuva way of staying in it, but (Pea Ridge) kept responding, so that was big."
Jakota Sainsbury and Weston Church combined for 6 hits and 7 RBIs to pace the Blackhawks.
Gunner Gilbert and Jake Nelson each had 3 hits and 3 RBIs while Luke Johnson also had 3 RBIs for the Saints.
Monday, April 25
Pea Ridge 11-Providence Academy 9
PR 11 10 6
Prov. Aca. 9 10 4
WP: J. Sainsbury
E. Hankins: 2/5, 2R, DBL, SB, 2 RBI
C. Wright: 2/4, 2R, DBL, 2 SB, BB, RBI
G. Cawthon: 2/3, 2R, DBL, BB, 2RBI
Blackhawks ended the regular season 21-3
Saturday, April 30
Pea Ridge 11, Huntsville 1
Huntsville 1 0 2
PR 11 8 1
WP: Cole Wright- 5 innings, 11 K, 2 BB, 0 Hits, HP
B. Beckmann: 1/2, 2 R, SAC, BB
J. Sainsbury: 2/3, 2 R, DBL, HP
W. Church: 2/3, 2 R, BB, 2 RBI
GENTRY -- Junior left-hander Cole Wright tossed a no-hitter while striking out 11 to reserve the No. 2 Blackhawks a spot in the 4A-1 Conference Tournament championship. They'll play Shiloh Christian on Monday at 6 p.m.
Meanwhile, No. 3 Huntsville needed six pitchers to get through five innings after depleting its staff during Thursday's 9-8 win against Gentry in 12 innings. Pea Ridge had 9 hits and benefited from 9 walks, 7 wild pitches and a pair of passed balls in the mercy rule shortened game.
Wright, Jakota Sainsbury and Weston Church each had two hits to pace the Blackhawks' offensively.
Caleb Whelchel reached on a throwing error after striking out to begin the game and later scored the Eagles' lone run on a passed ball.
Sports on 05/04/2016