Russellville capitalized on nearly every mistake Siloam Springs made Wednesday, and the Cyclones spoiled Senior Night at James Butts Baseball Park with a 4-1 victory in 5A/6A District 1 action.
The Panthers committed four errors, leading to three of Russellville's runs, and twice Siloam Springs was doubled off on the bases, including in the seventh inning when the Panthers had the bases loaded and just one out.
Leading 2-1, Russellville scored two runs aided by three Siloam Springs errors to take a 4-1 lead in the top of the seventh.
The Panthers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh after L.T. Ellis reached on an error, Eli Hawbaker walked and Chandler Cook reached on another error.
Freshman Taylor Pool stepped up to bat, and he hit a line drive to Russellville second baseman Ryan Meador, who caught the ball and threw to first base to double off Cook to end the game.
A similar play happened to the Panthers earlier in the third inning. With one out, Pool walked and Nolan Wallis entered the game as a courtesy runner. Dawson Armstrong singled to set up runners on first and second for cleanup hitter Chance Junkermann.
Junkermann hit a rocket to Russellville shortstop Cole Dawson, who flipped to Meador at second to double off Wallis.
"We had two guys doubled off on line drives," said Siloam Springs head coach Alan Hardcastle. "I know the one with Nolan there, it was to his back, but our rule is to freeze on line drives, and he should have run back to the base. The one at the end with Chandler is inexcusable."
The base-running errors hurt, but so did the Panthers' errors.
An error by left-fielder Eli Hawbaker helped Russellville score its first run in the top of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead.
Siloam Springs answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth when Josh Hunt singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Baron Meek, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Landon Nickell.
But Russellville took the lead back with a run in the fifth. Cole Dawson walked to open the inning, and Junkermann hit Craig DeFrancisco with a pitch and Joel Barker reached on an infield single to load the bases.
Ryan Meador tapped back to Junkermann, who threw home for the first out of the inning, but the Panthers still had the bases loaded.
Junkermann then hit Peyton Golden with a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in the go-ahead run. Junkermann wiggled out of the bases loaded jam to escape further damage in the fifth.
The game remained 2-1 until the top of the seventh.
DeFrancisco reached on an error by Nickell at third, and back-to-back errors on bunts by Junkermann allowed the Cyclones to score a run. Golden hit a sacrifice fly to score their second run of the inning to go up 4-1.
"Errors ... Landon starts off that inning with an error, and then two bunts that easily could've been fielded and thrown to first, we can't field it or throw it away," Hardcastle said. "You look at the scoreboard, we fought. Junky threw well, we made plays, but that seventh inning got us."
Golden (5-2) picked up the win on the mound for Russellville, pitching five innings and allowing four hits, four walks and a hit batsman. Barker pitched the final two innings to record his second save for Russellville.
"I was proud of our guys," said Russellville coach Will McCrotty. "Peyton went out and competed. He's an excellent young man. It makes me proud as a coach for him to go out and compete. He didn't have his best stuff tonight, but he went out and challenged and competed through five innings. I was really proud of him tonight."
Junkermann (3-4) was the hard-luck pitcher for Siloam Springs, going the distance and only allowing four hits and two earned runs.
Hunt finished with two of the Panthers' four hits.
He and seniors Cook, Armstrong, Hawbaker and Hunt were honored after the game.
"I told them, you've got to try to take a positive with everything," Hardcastle said. "We're still fighting. We're still going to get into the (6A-West) conference tournament, where we've only got to win one game to make it to state. That's all that matters. You get into the state tournament and anything can happen. I told them I want to swing the bat better, but we're throwing and pitching well. We've just got to keep working harder on defense. I said we'll be fine. Go out there and celebrate these seniors. This time is their time. Let's honor them, and we'll come back strong Tuesday against Greenwood."
Russellville 4, Siloam Springs 1
Russellville 000 110 2 -- 4 4 2
Siloam Springs 000 100 0 -- 1 4 4
Golden, Barker (6) and Thessing; Junkermann and Pool. W - Golden, 5-2. L - Junkermann, 3-4. Sv - Barker (2). HR - None.
Siloam Springs 14, Gravette 7
The Panthers bounced back from the loss to Russellville with a nonconference win against Gravette on Thursday at James Butts Baseball Park.
Chandler Cook hit a grand slam and Chance Junkermann followed with a two-run home run as part of a seven-run fifth inning as the Panthers pulled away from the Lions.
Siloam Springs fell behind 1-0 in the second inning, but scored five runs in the second to go up 5-1. Gravette pushed back with two runs to pull within 5-3 in the third, but the Panthers scored two of their own to go up 7-3.
The Lions tied the game 7-7 with four runs in the fourth.
Siloam Springs took an 8-7 lead in the fifth when Eli Hawbaker was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Baron Meek, who led off the inning getting hit by a pitch and moved up on a walk to Landon Ellis and an infield single by Landon Nickell.
Cook hit his grand slam to center field for his fifth home run of the year to make it 12-7.
Taylor Pool followed with a single and Junkermann homered to right field to make it 14-7.
After pitching a shaky fourth inning, Cook (2-2) settled down to pitch three scoreless frames as the Panthers closed out the victory.
The Panthers finished with 13 hits, including two each from Cook, Pool, Dawson Armstrong, Junkermann and Josh Hunt. Ellis, Nickell and Hawbaker also had a hit apiece. Cook finished with six RBIs, wihle Junkermann had four and Hawbaker two. Cook, Nolan Wallis, Meek, Ellis and Nickell each scored two runs.
Alma 3, Siloam Springs 2
ALMA -- Siloam Springs scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 2-1 lead against Alma, but the Airedales answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to win a 5A/6A District 1 baseball game on Tuesday.
The Airedales scored a run in the bottom of the first inning and led 1-0 until the seventh when the Panthers rallied to take the lead.
With two outs and nobody on, Eli Hawbaker and Chandler Cook reached on back-to-back singles. Taylor Pool then singled to load the bases and Dawson Armstrong's single scored a pair of runs.
The Panthers brought in Josh Hunt to pitch in the bottom of the seventh, and he ran into trouble when Parker Edwards and Lane Caldwell reached with one out. Brayden Johnson singled to tie the game 2-2, and a single from Keesler Nye ended the game.
Hunt took the loss for Siloam Springs in relief of Dawson Armstrong, who pitched six strong innings, allowing two hits and three walks with nine strikeouts.
Johnson pitched well for Alma, striking out 10 Panthers in 6 2/3 innings. Edwards got the win in relief for the Airedales.
Up next
The Panthers were scheduled to play Joplin (Mo.) on Saturday. Results were not available at presstime. Siloam Springs wraps up its regular season at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Greenwood.
Sports on 04/23/2017