Surging Bucks enter postseason on high note

Terrance Armstard/News-Times Smackover's Josh Saulsbury hits a pitch during the Bucks' game against Lake Village in Smackover during the regular season. On Friday, the Bucks will begin play in the 8-3A District Tournament against the winner of Thursday's first-round contest between Lake Village and Fordyce.
Terrance Armstard/News-Times Smackover's Josh Saulsbury hits a pitch during the Bucks' game against Lake Village in Smackover during the regular season. On Friday, the Bucks will begin play in the 8-3A District Tournament against the winner of Thursday's first-round contest between Lake Village and Fordyce.

By Jason Avery

News-Times Staff

Over the last month of the regular season, Smackover has put together a solid run.

After Monday’s 16-2 win over Hampton in their regular season finale, the Bucks enter postseason play having won eight of their last 11 games.

On Friday, Smackover will open play in the 8-3A District Tournament as the No. 2 seed with a berth in next week’s regional tournament already locked up, and while Smackover coach B.J. Greene is happy to not play any must-win games this week, coming home with a district title and the No. 1 seed for the regional tournament is the top priority for his team.

“That’s the thing. It’s nice to have that off your back where you have to win a game to get in,” Greene said.

“But the bottom line is when we go over there, we just have to go compete. We’ve got to try our best to get that one seed. You play a lot of games throughout the season and in conference, then you have the district tournament.

“You seed for the tournament, then you just kind of throw it out the window. You try to fight and claw your way back in and get that one seed, but we’ve got to beat either Lake Village or Fordyce to have that opportunity.”

The Bucks will face either Fordyce or Lake Village in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday night in Junction City.

Against the Redbugs and Beavers, the Bucks are a combined 3-1, but whoever the Bucks face on Friday, Greene is expecting a battle.

“We split with Fordyce and Lake Village has played us close both times,” Greene said.

“It’s not like Lake Village has only played us close, they’ve played Fordyce close, they’ve played Junction City close, they’ve played McGehee close, so just because we’re the two seed, Fordyce or Lake Village isn’t just going to come over and give it to us. We’re going to have a dogfight on our hands no matter who we play. We just have to go out and take care of business on our end.”

Smackover enters the postseason with a 13-14 record, and while the Bucks took their lumps early on, Greene has been pleased with his team’s perseverance.

“It’s been a weird year. That’s the best way I can put it,” Greene said. “Our kids have competed and have done well. They’ve done what we’ve asked.

“What we said at the beginning of the year was that wins and losses weren’t going to define what our year is, and if you would’ve told us that we would be the two seed going into the district tournament three months ago, I would’ve taken it in a heartbeat, so for that, I’m happy for our kids.

“I’m proud of our kids and coaching staff. We’ve all went through the grind of an up and down season, but now, the fun time is here. Every game means something.”

After missing much of the season due to injury, freshman Jacob Eubanks has returned and given the Bucks solid production.

In the Bucks’ win over Hampton on Monday, Eubanks collected two RBIs while going 1-for-1.

“Jacob is one of those kids that as a freshman, he probably one of our more well-rounded baseball players,” Greene said. “When I mean well-rounded, I mean mentally and physically. You can see his mannerisms on the field, and that’s why as a coaching staff, we liked him early on in the season.

“We’re giving him a chance here at the end because we knew what he could’ve done if he had got to play the whole year. We would’ve loved to have had him on the mound all year.

“He can swing the bat a little bit. He’s a freshman and doesn’t have the pop that you would want, but he puts the ball in play and he gets on base. That’s what we need in our lineup.”

Against the Bulldogs on Monday, the Bucks used a seven-run first inning to take control of the game, and the duo of Cade Schibler and Noah Wilson kept the visitors at bay by combining on a three-hitter. Schibler worked three scoreless innings, allowing one hit. He walked two, struck out two and hit three batters.

Wilson allowed two runs with one being earned in two innings in relief. He allowed two hits, walked two, hit a batter and struck out four.

Schibler helped his own cause by going 2-for-4 with four RBIs for the Bucks.

Tucker Evans and Baylor Brumley also had multi-hit games in the win.

Evans went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Brumley went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

Josh Saulsbury went 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Cody Smith finished 1-for-1 with three runs scored and an RBI. Wilson collected an RBI with a sacrifice fly as part of the Bucks’ uprising in the first.

If the Bucks are to have more than a one-day stay in the district tournament, Greene said pitching and defense will be critical to their success.

“We’ve definitely got to have pitching and defense,” Greene said. “We’ve scored enough runs to win games, it’s just we’ve got to have pitching, and when I say pitching, our starting pitching can’t throw a lot of pitches.

“All year long, we’ve been fighting and talking about going to three-ball counts, pitching to contact and letting our defensive guys do their jobs. Pitching and defense is what we’ve got to have to help us get through this district tournament.”

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