Batter Up!
Senior Josh Cochran pitches for the Pioneers.
On Tuesday, March 29, the Pioneer baseball team battled against the Pea Ridge Blackhawks. Senior CJ Taylor allowed just two runs, but Gentry couldn’t get the offense going in a 2-1 defeat.
“We played hard and never gave up. In the end there were some questionable calls but the game but we never lost the desire to win,” senior Zac Adkins said.
Taylor handled the Blackhawks lineup with ease, racking up eight strikeouts. Taylor allowed one earned run on four hits and three walks over 5 ⅔ innings. Pea Ridge pushed one run across in the fifth inning to start the scoring. Pea Ridge got on the board thanks to an error.
In the fifth inning, the Pioneers pushed across its only run of the day on an error. Pea Ridge never surrendered the lead after the sixth inning, scoring one run on an RBI.
The Pioneers faced the Berryville Bobcats on Thursday, March 31, in Berryville. Gentry won 14-1 behind both the bat and the arm of freshman Ayden Smartt.
Smartt racked up three RBIs on three hits. He doubled in the second inning and singled in the first and fourth innings. Smartt gave up just three hits, allowed one earned run, walked two, and struck out five during his five innings of work.
The biggest inning for Gentry was the second. Berryville had no answer as the Pioneers scored nine runs. The top of the first saw the Pioneers take an early lead, 1-0. Smartt kicked things off with a single. Sophomore Myles McFerron singled, plating Taylor. The team tacked on another four runs in the fourth.
“It was nice to get the first conference win,” said junior Sean Pierce.
Gentry battled the West Fork Tigers on Friday, April 1st at home. The Pioneers jumped out to an early lead on the Tigers and captured a 10-0 victory. The game was decided quickly as Gentry exerted its will early with five runs in the first three innings.
An RBI single by Smartt, an RBI single by senior Wyatt Clark, and an RBI single by Taylor during the second inning fueled Gentry’s offense early. Adkins went a perfect 2-2 at the dish. He singled in the third inning and doubled in the fourth innings of work.
Senior Josh Cochran shut down West Fork while he was on the hill. West Fork managed just two hits off of Cochran, who allowed no earned runs, walked two and struck out two during his four innings of work.
“Our team was hitting well and was working hard,” Cochran said.
The Pioneers faced the Huntsville Eagles at home on Monday, April 4th and will travel to Greenland for a game on Tuesday, April 5th against the Pirates.
