Chandler Cook got the green light with the bases loaded, and the Siloam Springs sophomore came through in a big way.
Cook hit a grand slam -- his second home run in as many games -- and the Panthers stayed alive in the race for the 6A baseball playoffs with a 9-5 win against Alma on Thursday at James Butts Baseball Complex.
The win snapped a 12-game losing streak for Siloam Springs (3-17, 1-9), which won its first 7A/6A-Central Conference game of the season. It couldn't have come at a better time either as a loss to the Airedales would have eliminated Siloam Springs from postseason contention.
The Panthers needed to beat Alma by more than six runs to earn a tiebreaker advantage, but the four-run winning margin fell short of Alma's 6-0 home victory over the Panthers on March 31.
Still, a win was a win for the Panthers and they'll certainly take it. Siloam Springs will now have to win at least one more of its remaining 6A games -- at Greenwood on Friday or at Russellville on May 5 to qualify for the 6A postseason.
"It would have been nice to get the six runs, but like I told the boys, if we can win out, we're in," said Siloam Springs coach Alan Hardcastle. "Would you rather be happy with one conference win or win out? To me, I'd rather just win out. That's more of a challenge. To us, that's just proving that we're getting better if we can win out. Just winning one conference game, we're not happy with that. We're ready to go finish 3-3 in this conference."
The Panthers don't necessarily have to win out in their remaining 6A games, but they have to finish one game ahead of Alma to qualify. Both teams are 1-3 against 6A competition heading into this week.
The Airedales could have clinched their postseason spot with a victory on Thursday, and coach Kevin Edwards was disappointed they did not do so.
"Instead of closing the door, we've left the door open now," Edwards said. "The only way we can guarantee that we go (to the postseason) is to beat Russellville and beat Greenwood, because now what they (Siloam Springs) do from here on out matters. If we'd come out and taken care of business today, it wouldn't have mattered what they did the rest of the time. We would have had it straight up, no problem."
The Airedales (3-16, 2-8) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Kyle McKeown singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, reached third on an error and scored on a balk called on Siloam Springs starting pitcher Raiff Beever.
The Panthers responded strong in the bottom of the second.
Matthew McSpadden singled to open the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Harrison Kretzer. Josh Hunt and Kyle Comiskey drew back-to-back walks to load the bases, and the Panthers tied the game 1-1 when Cole Reed drew an RBI walk.
Cook then stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and launched a rocket over the left-center field fence for a 5-1 lead.
"(Hardcastle) had the take sign on me, and then I got the green light and he let me swing," said Cook, who also had a three-run home run on Monday against Russellville. "We needed the win and that's what we got. It feels good. Whenever you get the chance to win it's nice."
In Cook's last two games he's hit two home runs with nine RBIs.
"He's a young kid. He's a sophomore. He struggled early but he's starting to come into his own," Hardcastle said. "He's starting to figure out his swing. He's starting to figure out what he can and cannot do. Once he keeps getting more confidence, the sky is the limit for him."
The Panthers weren't finished in the second.
Dawson Armstrong singled and stole second base before scoring on an error to make it 6-1.
The Airedales got two runs back to make it 6-3 in the third thanks to a pair of Siloam Springs errors on one play.
The Panthers got those runs back with a single tally in the fourth and two more in the fifth.
Armstrong reached on a fielder's choice in the fourth and eventually came around to score on an RBI single by McSpadden to make it 7-3. After Alma cut the lead to 7-4 in the fifth, Siloam Springs scored two more to make it 9-4. Cook had an RBI single in the inning, scoring Reed, who reached on an infield hit. Cook stole second and third before scoring on an Alma error.
Beever (1-6) picked up his first win of the season, pitching 4 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking nine.
"(Beever) made some great pitches," Hardcastle said. "Tonight it seemed like he had more pop on the ball than he has all year. When he reared back and threw it, he threw it in there. His slider was working good, his change-up. He lost control, got a little fatigued, but I was happy with the effort."
Three of Beever's walks came in the top of the fifth after he struck out the first two batters to begin the inning. After Beever walked the bases loaded, Chance Junkermann came into pitch and issued another walk to let the Airedales cut the lead to 7-4. Junkermann then got Austin Lee to strike out to end the threat.
Junkermann pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to pitch up the save, including a 1-2-3 top of the seventh on three straight groundouts to shortstop Zac Bolstad.
"(Junkermann) came in and threw strikes and I'm happy for him," Hardcastle said. "He did a great job."
Frank Griffin (0-6) took the loss for Alma, pitching 1 1/3 innings before being relieved by Cameron Ogilvie, who threw a complete game shutout against Siloam Springs at Alma on March 31.
Edwards said Ogilvie had not thrown the ball well recently and that's why he decided to go with Griffin.
"I was going to try and get a couple of innings out of the kid I started and then bring Cameron in," Edwards said. "(Ogilvie) still gave up four runs on his own, but he hadn't thrown as sharp as he did against Siloam the first time."
Cook, Armstrong and McSpadden each had two hits for Siloam Springs, which finished with eight hits as a team. Reed and Kretzer also had base hits. Cook, Armstrong and Reed each scored two runs, while Hunt, Comiskey and McSpadden all scored one. Cook had five RBIs, while McSpadden and Reed each had one.
Alma only had two base hits, singles by Judah Dean and McKeown. The Airedales did draw 12 walks.
The Airedales host Russellville on Friday and play at Greenwood on May 5. The Panthers play at Greenwood on Friday and at Russellville on May 5.
Siloam Springs 9, Alma 5
Alma 012 011 1 -- 5 2 4
Siloam Springs 060 120 X -- 9 8 4
Griffin, Ogilvie (2) and Brown; Beever, Junkermann (5) and McSpadden. W - Beever, 1-6. L - Griffin, 0-6. SV - Junkermann (1). HR - Siloam Springs, Cook (2).
Sports on 04/26/2015