Rison Knocks Off Smackover

It was a beautiful after noon at Smackover High School's Baseball Field for the 8AAA Conference showdown between the hometown Smackover Buckaroos and the visiting Rison Wildcats.

Matt Flemens started on the mound for the Bucks and struck out Rison's first three at bat. Chaz Ringo started on the mound for the Wildcats and gave up a couple of hits, before he was able to get the third out of the inning, with Smackover leaving men stranded on 2nd and 3rd bases. Drew James was on 2nd base in the 2nd inning for the Wildcats, when Cole Duncan hit a double out to center field, bringing James in after he had stolen 3rd base. Rock Caldwell then gave up the sacrifice pop fly to bring Duncan in, followed by Shawn Leapard hitting a double, to be brought in after Brett Grubb's single to center field, and Trey Gerard hit a double to right field, which fell just short of going over the right field fence. Ringo would then give up a hit before striking Smackover pitcher Will Ramsey out, then Rison ended the inning with a double play.

Smackover's Dakota Breshears hit a pretty ball in the 3rd inning that looked to be headed out of the park, but Rison's Rico Rainey was able to run it down and snag it with a diving catch right as it went into foul territory on it's way out of the park. Will Ramsey would return the favor at the top of the 3rd inning when Rison's Drew James hit a foul ball into right field, and Ramsey was able to chase it down to make the catch and end the inning.

The game was rather quite for a few innings, until the 5th inning when Smackover made a pitching change. Flemens was replaced by Will Ramsey. Rison's Rico Rainey led off with a single, only to steal 2nd base, and to be brought in by a Cole Duncan double to right field, who was then brought in by Rock Caldwell. Jacob Holst would also later steal home for Rison's final score of the inning.

Smackover would then answer in the top of the 5th when Matt Flemens and Dylan Burton would both hit doubles to left field, to bring the score to 7-3 Rison. The rest of the game was quite until the bottom of inning number 7, when Shawn Leapard hit a 2 run homer, lifting Rison to the final score of 9-3.

Rison Head Coach Kurtis Angerbauer was very pleased with his teams performance after the game. "Our pitching went real well. Chaz Ringo started out in the game and pitched one through five, and they got some hits, but our defense came around and we got the outs when we needed to." stated Angerbauer

Smackover Head Coach Chris Long stated his thoughts on the game as well. "They out hit us. They put the ball in play hard, and we didn't. We did put the ball in play, but not hard, and their was no challenge with out bats today." stated Long following the game.

ArkansasVarsity.com would like to wish both the Smackover Buckaroos and the Rison Wildcat's the best of luck with the remainder of their baseball seasons.