Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Curley Wolves Defeat Redbugs In 7AAA Action

Prescott split its baseball games last week with De Queen and Fordyce.

The Wolves managed to edge the Redbugs 2-1, but ran into a buzz saw against the Leopards as they fell 10-0.

DE QUEEN 10

PRESCOTT 0

The Wolves took on the top team in the district when De Queen came to town Tuesday, April 11.

The Leopards, behind a perfect game pitched by McCullough, went home with a 10-0 win in the five frame affair.

McCullough went the distance facing only 15 batters, fanning 10 and giving up nothing.

Bullock took the loss for Prescott. He, too, went the full five innings, but was tagged for 10 runs on 12 hits. He walked three and fanned three.

The Leopards scored three in the top of the first, off a single, a walk and a three-run homer.

Four more scored in the second. This time the runs came from a double, three singles and two walks.

De Queen made it 8-0 in the third, with the score coming from a single and double.

The final two runs occurred in the fourth, starting with a pair of errors. A single drove both base runners in to make it 10-0.

Prescott Coach Steve Crow said McCullough is an outstanding pitcher. On the year he's pitched 34 innings, given up 23 hits, struck 47 out and only allowed nine earned runs. His record is 3-1.

Other than complimenting McCullough's performance, Crow had little to say about the game.

He did say the Wolves have only scored one run in the last 18 innings to date, with a total of nine hits.

"We've totally quit hitting the ball," he said. "I can't ever remember us going through a dry spell like this."

PRESCOTT 2

FORDYCE 1

The Wolves found a way to win Friday, April 14, as they edged the Redbugs 2-1 in a pitcher's duel.

Sophomore Ryan Burdue earned his second win of the year going 5 1/3 innings, facing 24 batters, striking four out, walking one and giving up one run on six hits.

Decolen Prater, another sophomore, got the save with 1 2/3 innings on the hill. He took on six batters, fanned one and walked none while surrendering one hit.

The Wolves scored in the bottom of the first after Prater singled. Bullock singled to move Prater to second, only to see him caught trying to stretch it to third.

When John Fulmer singled, Bullock scored.

Prescott added its insurance run in the bottom of the fourth. Ronnie Nolen doubled and went home when Matt Yates singled.

The Bugs got on the board in the top of the sixth when Russell hit a solo homer.

This puts the Wolves 2-5 in league play and 5-10 overall.

The Wolves had to fight their way for this win. In the top of the fifth, the Bugs had runners at second and third with only one down.

Burdue induced a ground ball to second, with Fulmer firing a strike to Bullock to nail the runner at home. He got the next man to fly out and end the threat.

In the sixth, with one down, the Bugs get a home run.

The next two men single with Prater taking over for Burdue. Prater got the first batter to line out to second, and fanned the next one to end the inning.

But the thrills weren't over for Prescott as Fordyce tried to steal the game in the seventh.

After a lead-off single and a steal, it looked like Prater was in trouble. However, he got the next batter to pop up with an infield fly to Nolen at first.

A grounder to Sockwell at short and pop-up to Bullock at the plate ended the game and preserved the win.

Prater and Yates had two hits each in the game.

"This was a big win for us," Crow said, "at this time of the year. Beating Fordyce proves what I felt all along  we can play with any team in our district when we play like I think we are capable.

"Our bats finally came alive (nine hits) after being held to six hits in our previous three games combined."

Crow said the team concentrated on the ball against Fordyce offensively as only four Wolves fanned.

The defense also picked up its game, committing only one error.

"I can't say enough good things about our pitching," he said. "Burdue was tremendous. He had complete control of all his pitches. Prater was super coming in a tough situation and getting us out of it. It was just a total team win."

Fordyce, Crow said, is one of the top teams in the district, now 4-2 in league play.

"I guess we made a little history," he said, "We've never beaten Fordyce here at home before. Also, the Bugs are moving to 8AAA next year and it feels pretty good to send them off with a loss to the Wolves."