WATCH | Hog commit proves too much for Lake Hamilton

Lake Hamilton's Kohen Manley (3) delivers to Texarkana's Luke Paxton (1) Friday at Wolf Field. - Photo by Donald Cross of The Sentinel-Record
Lake Hamilton's Kohen Manley (3) delivers to Texarkana's Luke Paxton (1) Friday at Wolf Field. - Photo by Donald Cross of The Sentinel-Record

PEARCY -- Friday was perfect baseball weather as first pitch saw the plate at 5 p.m. in a game between the Lake Hamilton Wolves and the Texarkana Razorbacks.

Texarkana (14-3, 9-1 5A-South) beat Lake Hamilton 9-1. The Razorbacks were lightning on the bases.

"It was a big win," Texarkana head coach Trent Wilson said. "A big time win for our kids."

Lake Hamilton (6-11, 3-8 5A-South) went into the game off an 11-6 win at Arkadelphia Thursday.

Video not playing? Click here https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nnx5JKchlJ4  

The Wolves were hot, turning a triple play off a bunt. The catcher made the grab and fired to second and second to first for the easy inning finisher.

"It was a rough one," Lake Hamilton assistant coach Andrew Williams said. "I thought we came out and pitched well. We put ourselves in a pretty good position. They went up on us pretty quickly, but we have got some guys in the lineup that can respond to that."

Williams is the pitching coach for the Wolves.

Junior Kohen Manley saw the mound first for Lake Hamilton.

After a lead off strikeout to start the game, Manley gave up a deep shot triple at the wall to senior Luke Paxton who showed off his speed around the bases sliding into third.

Paxton would score off a sacrifice fly in the first inning. The Razorbacks snuck another run across the plate as junior Ryan Wardlaw stole home on an error at second base.

After the side was retired, junior Easton Hurley led off for the wolves.

Hurley went 2-for-4 at the plate.

Senior Ty Waid would see the mound first for the Razorbacks. Waid is committed to the University of Arkansas as a pitcher.

"Man, he has been unbelievable this year," Wilson said. "He is a great leader, very humble and the hardest worker. I enjoy coaching him and enjoy having him every day. Our kids love him, too. He is a very good teammate."

Waid has an impressive pitching arsenal, throwing an 88 mph fastball and nasty breaking balls.

After reaching on a second baseman's error with a routine ground ball, Hurley stole second, third and home on a wild pitch by Waid.

The score after one was 2-1 in favor of the Razorbacks with the pitchers starting to settle in.

"We managed to get some guys on," Williams said, "and build off the little errors they had and move some guys around the bags."

In the bottom of the second, Gavin Thomason would reach after smacking a curveball from Waid. Waid would beat Thomason to first base. However, the umpire called Thomason safe controversially.

The Wolves and Hogs saw a scoreless second inning before Texarkana's Trey White smashed a towering two-run homer into left field that cleared the fence by 30 feet.

Manley retired the side on the next batter, senior Scott Trumble, the designated hitter, to bring the Wolves to the plate.

"I thought we did a good job of bunting some guys over and getting in scoring position," Williams said. "We were not able to capitalize with men on base every time."

Paxton picked up his second hit of the day in the top of the fourth on a two out RBI single to right field in the gap. Paxton is a speedster on the bases.

In the middle of the fourth, the Razorbacks led 5-1 over the Wolves.

Manley would end his day on the mound for the Wolves in the fifth inning, allowing five runs and giving up six hits. The left-handed Hurley would come in for relief on the bump.

Manley threw 75 pitches and struck out three batters.

Paxton would collect two more RBIs in the sixth on a single to center field, making the score 7-1 in favor of the Razorbacks.

Paxton swung for three RBIs and went 3-for-4 at the plate.

The base running skills of the Razorbacks are elite, and their coach is humble about their bag skills.

"We try to run them," Wilson said. "It was not effective today as we normally would like to be, but we are going to continue to put pressure on our opponents, and we will keep getting better at that."

Wardlaw hit a ball to shallow center, earning himself two RBIs in the top of the sixth. The Hog lead was 9-1 going into the bottom of the sixth.

Hayden Estrada reached first on an error by the shortstop in the bottom of the sixth, and Lake Hamilton would try to rally late.

"The main thing is they have to have a good approach at the plate," Williams said. "Frankly they just have to put the ball in play. They have to be able to make that defense work and put some pressure on some guys to where we can get around the bags a little bit more."

Waid would end his day in the seventh inning, giving up just two hits and holding the Wolves to one run. Sophomore Jonathan Garcia came in to close the game for the Razorbacks.

Waid tossed 111 pitches, striking out seven Wolves and only gave up one earned run.

The Wolves would go three up, three down in the bottom of the seventh and the Razorbacks won with a final score of 9-1.

"I thought we had a pretty good day as far as a couple of our guys," Williams said. "We have got some seniors in there that they could probably help out a little bit, but it is not one individual guy. It is as a collective we have got to be better. We have got to be better when we are in a situation with runners on base."

Upcoming Events