Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Mena, Blevins Handle Prescott Squad On Baseball Diamond

Prescott's Curley Wolf baseball team dropped a pair last week to fall to 4-7 overall on the season.

Mena's Bearcats handed Prescott an 8-2 loss, while Blevins dropped the Wolves 11-5.

MENA 8

PRESCOTT 2

The Wolves made the long trip to Mena Monday, March 21, for a conference game against the Cats, but forgot to take the offense along.

Neither team did much in the first two frames, but in the bottom of the third the Cats exploded for three runs. This would prove to be enough for the win, but Mena added five more for good measure.

The Cats scored on two singles, an error, a double and sacrifice fly.

Three more Cats scored in the fourth off a pair of singles, a double and another error to make it 6-0 Mena.

Prescott got on the board in the top of the sixth with its only two runs of the game.

Ben Ratcliff opened with a walk and moved to second when Ronnie Nolen was hit by a pitch. Bullock doubled them in.

Mena got these two runs back in the bottom of the inning off a double, walk and single.

Bullock took the loss. He went the distance giving up eight runs on nine hits, walking two and striking one out.

"We just didn't hit the ball," Coach Steve Crow said. "We averaged 12 runs a game for the three previous games and batting left us for this game."

He said the team had its average of five or six errors in the field, and this didn't help the outcome either.

"Josh didn't pitch as bad as the score indicates. He gave up only two walks and had 12 groundouts. It's when he got the ball up he had problems."

BLEVINS 11

PRESCOTT 5

Prescott was on the road again Wednesday, March 23, but the trip was shorter as they visited the Hornets in Blevins.

However, the outcome wasn't what the team wanted as they went down 11-5.

The Wolves jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first when Gabe Morman hit a three-run shot, but was unable to hang on to the lead.

In the second the Wolves scored again. Mark Jones reached on an error and scored when Nolen doubled.

Inning four saw Prescott fire its final offensive shot with a run.

Chris Glass opened the frame with a single and moved to second on a Jones single. Bullock's single drove Glass in.

Blevins's bats came alive in the bottom of the fifth after being silent for the entire game.

The Hornets scored six runs on five hits, two walks and yet another error.

In the bottom of the sixth the Hornets blasted Prescott pitching for five more runs on four hits, including a homer, a walk and two more errors.

Ryan Burdue took the loss, while Matt Yates also spent time on the hill.

Morman had the hot stick driving in three with three hits. Nolen recorded two hits in the game.

"The first four and a half innings," Crow said, "we played as well as we have all year. Things fell apart in the bottom of the fifth."

With two down Blevins scored four runs before Prescott managed to end the inning.

In the sixth, Crow said, it was a disaster from start to finish.

"Blevins has a good ball club and we really took it to them for awhile," he said. "In order to eat them you have to maintain it for seven innings."

Burdue pitched well, Crow said, keeping the ball down for strikes until the fifth, when the home plate umpire began calling the low pitches balls instead of strikes.

This forced Burdue to pick his pitches up, only to have Blevins unload on them.

"This is the fourth loss where we had the lead with three or less innings to play and lost," Crow said. "Hopefully it's something we can learn from and prevent in the future."

The Wolves are off this week as it's Spring Break in the district. They will return to action Tuesday, April 4, when they hit the road again traveling to Bismarck.