By Jason Avery
News-Times Staff
Brennan Smith went 4-for-4, finishing a home run short of hitting for the cycle, as El Dorado cruised to an 11-1 win over Hope in a 5A-6A District 6 contest at the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex on Friday.
The win is the third straight for the Wildcats (18-5, 7-1), who celebrated Senior Day.
Zach Morgan and Daniel Johnson collaborated on a two-hitter, and the Wildcats pulled away methodically to upend the Bobcats, scoring three runs in the second and fourth innings.
Morgan, El Dorado’s starter, got out of a jam in the first thanks to a great play by Garrett Jeans.
With runners at first and third and two outs, Jeans made a sliding catch in shallow left to rob Darton Davis of a run-scoring hit, and the Wildcats drew first blood in the bottom of the first.
With one out, Noah Gaul singled, and Smith followed with a base hit to right that sent Gaul to third.
However, Smith was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a double.
But just when it seemed the Wildcats were going to be turned away, Gaul scored on a passed ball to get the Wildcats on the scoreboard.
El Dorado then extended their lead in the second.
With one out, Jeans reached on an error after his grounder to shortstop was misplayed.
The senior then went to second on a wild pitch and stole third on ball four to Morgan to put runners at the corners.
After courtesy runner Shaun York stole second, Leighton Turbeville laced a two-run single to left-center to extend the lead to 3-0.
On a hit-and-run, Gaul grounded out to shortstop, but with Turbeville running on the pitch, and shortstop Hunter Hellums having to go far to his left to field the ball, Turbeville was able to score to make it 4-0.
The Wildcats padded their lead with a pair of two-out runs in the third.
Evan Chandler led off by reaching on a two-base error after his popup to shortstop was dropped.
The senior stole third, and with two outs, Morgan helped his own cause by lacing an RBI single to center.
Turbeville then drove in his third run of the game by belting an RBI triple to right-center to give the Wildcats a 6-0 lead.
After Zachary Johnson scored the Bobcats’ lone run on an error in the top of the fourth, El Dorado scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning to break the game open.
Smith led off with a triple to right and scored moments later on a sacrifice fly by Micah Haney.
Johnson was safe after the throw to first on his comebacker to the mound was dropped for an error, and the senior stole second.
One out later, Bryan Lacy bunted for a base hit to put runners at the corners.
Johnson later scored on a passed ball, and Jeans rifled a double to right to score Lacy to push the lead to 9-1.
The Wildcats finished off the Bobcats in the fifth with Smith collecting an RBI single, and Gaul scored the game-ending run after a line drive to third off of Johnson’s bat was dropped for an error.
Morgan allowed one hit and one run in three-plus innings of work to get the win. He walked two, hit a batter and struck out three.
Johnson allowed one hit in two scoreless innings of work. He struck out two and didn’t issue any walks.
Turbeville joined Smith with a multi-hit game for the Wildcats, finishing 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
TROJANS PICK UP ROAD WIN
RISON - Jordan Arrington drove in four runs and had four hits, as Parkers Chapel knocked off Rison 14-6 in Class 1A-2A District 15 play Thursday.
Carson Worthey had two hits and two RBIs, while Thomas Hardy drove in a pair of runs and Michael Brotherton had two hits for the Trojans (20-6, 9-0), who won their 20th game of the season.
Tyler Martin struck out four batters over 4 2/3 innings to pick up the win.
The Trojans will host Fordyce on Monday.