Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Big Innings Finish Prescott For Season And District Tilt

Losses to Fouke and Bismarck ended Prescott's baseball season for 1999.

However, the Curley Wolves didn't go down without a fight in the opening game of the district tournament Tuesday, April 27, at Mena.

But, when the smoke cleared, the Lions managed to post an 11-9 win.

The Wolves opened the game with two runs in the top of the first.

Brad Harris singled and scored on a Jarrod Yates double. With two down, Jarrod Miller reached on an error, with Yates finishing the circuit. The second strikeout of the inning ended Prescott's scoring attack.

The bottom of the frame saw the Lions cut the lead in half. Brawley opened with a double, with J. Meyers reaching on an error.

Yates fanned the next batter, but hit Ashcraft with a pitch to load the bases. A fly ball scored Brawley, with J. Meyers getting caught in a rundown to end the threat.

Prescott had two walks sandwiched between three outs, while Bismarck's offense went down swinging in the second.

The Wolves, though, doubled their score in the top of the third. Yates reached on an error and moved to second when Gabe Morman walked. Doug Young's single drove Yates in, while an error allowed Ronnie Nolen to reach and Morman to score.

This gave Prescott a 4-1 lead at the time.

However, the Lions fought back and cut the lead to 4-3 by the end of the inning.

Brawley reached on an error to get things started, while J. Meyer was hit by a pitch. A wild pitch scored both runners before Yates surrendered two singles. But, he got the final two batters to ground out and preserve Prescott's lead.

Neither team scored in the fourth. Prescott saw the side retired in order, while the Lions had their first two batters walk. After two fly balls, the runner at second was called out for leaving the base too early to end the inning.

Yates and Young walked for Prescott in the fifth, but were left as other batters couldn't advance them.

All season long the Wolves have given up one big inning in each game. In this contest, it was the bottom of the fifth as the Lions sent eight runners around the bases to take an 11-4 lead.

Again, it was errors leading to the breakdown.

Loy singled to start the frame, followed by Ashcraft reaching on an error, as did C. Meyers. The second error allowed Loy and Ashcraft to score.

Williams doubled to move C. Meyers to third, and the third error of the inning allowed him to score.

Hartsell's single drove in Williamson and Hughes. J. Meyers got on board thanks to the fourth error of the inning with Hartsell scoring.

Loy went deep to clear the bases with two down before Yates got a ground out to end the inning.

However, the Wolves found themselves staring at an uphill climb with the score now 11-4 in Bismarck's favor.

The team had two choices, roll over and play dead or fight back and try to pull out a win. They chose the latter.

Inning six began with the first batter going down on strikes. James McGough reached on an error, moving to second when Harris walked.

Josh Bullock walked to pack the bags, with McGough scoring when Yates was issued a free pass. The next batter was fanned, but Miller was hit by a pitch to drive in Harris and keep the bases loaded.

Young's walk netted an RBI when Bullock scored, while Nolen's walk brought in Yates. Angelo Haynes walked to score Miller and a ground out ended the attack.

With the free rides issued, Prescott managed to cut the lead to 11-9 and was geared up for the seventh inning.

But, the bottom of the sixth was not without excitement as the first two Lion batters reached by way of error.

A fly ball and grounder later saw the threat nullified somewhat, but a bullet from Nolen to Bullock nailed C. Meyers to end Bismarck's assault.

Prescott's bats had no fire left in the seventh, as the first two Wolves

grounded out and struck out before Yates walked. He was left when the fourth batter was fanned.

This ended Prescott's hopes of returning to the regional tournament.

"I can't say enough good things about our young team," Coach Steve Crow said of the Wolves, "on how they showed up ready to play and how they battled back from a seven-run deficit.

"Bismarck is a good team. They beat us 14-3 earlier in the year, but our kids didn't back down from them and were ready to beat them."

The Lions started their number two pitcher against Prescott thinking they would have an easy game, Crow said.

However, when the Wolves jumped out to a 4-1 lead the pitcher was replaced with Bismarck's ace, who got wild in the top of the sixth with Wolf batters hanging in and fighting him.

This resulted in the Bismarck ace being pulled for a third pitcher.

"We really shot ourselves in the foot in the bottom of the fifth when they scored their eight runs." Crow said. "We committed four huge errors. If we catch the ball, they only score one run and we have a great chance to win the game.

"Yates pitched by far his best game of the year he had good control of his pitches only seven hits and two walks. He was good enough to win the game, but our defense (nine errors) was not."