CLASS 3A STATE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT : Opportunistic Lincoln takes advantage of Cotter errors
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Sports/65055/
SEARCY — Lincoln extended its current winning streak to 10 games with a 10-5 win over Cotter in the first round of the Class 3 A State Tournament at Jerry Moore Field on the campus of Harding University in Searcy Friday.
The Wolves used 8 base hits to capitalize on 11 Cotter errors to advance to today’s quarterfinals against Genoa Central at noon.
“ We had a few jitters being in the state tournament, ” Lincoln coach Jonathan Johnson said. “ It took us a while to get to their pitcher and Cotter made some mistakes. We had an error early that led to a run for them and fortunately for us, we were able to scatter some hits in with their mistakes and take advantage of it. We put it in play and good things happen when you can do that. ”
The Wolves (18-9 ) drew first blood with a tally in the third. Trevor Center was hit by a pitch and scored on an RBI single past short by Seth Pitts.
Cotter knotted the contest at 1-all in the fourth. A walk set up Tony Bruzzichesi’s RBI single past shortstop.
The Wolves jumped on Cotter with a 3-run fifth. Center led off with a single to shallow center and scored on Cody Smith’s single up the middle. Tyler Whorton slapped an RBI single past first for a 4-1 pad.
Cotter fired back with four runs in the sixth to recapture the lead, 5-4. Justin Ivens bopped a single to left to lead off the frame. Jacob Kasinger pumped an RBI double and Lucas Hickman conked a single to left. Bruzzichesi smacked a 2-run single up the middle and another run scored during a rundown between first and second.
An already error-prone Cotter simply collapsed in the bottom of the sixth, defensively. Lincoln’s Patrick Rich led off with a double to deep center. The Warriors promptly committed three consecutive errors to score three runs.
Jason Rich’s sacrifice bunt attempt was mishandled by the pitcher. Center tapped an infield single to short but advanced to second and scored a run on an errant throw to first on the same play.
Korey Ayers’ ground ball to short was booted, scoring another run. Four additional errors in the inning and a Pitts single past second scored three runs for a 10-5 cushion.
Cotter’s sloppy play overshadowed Lincoln’s three errors but they didn’t go unnoticed by Johnson.
“ We’ve been able to hit the ball and overcome the errors, ” Johnson said. “ At this level, kids are going to make mistakes. It’s important for us to continue hitting the ball. Eventually those errors are going to hurt so we’ve got to play better defensively if we want to move on. ” Cotter 000 104 0 — 5 6 11 Lincoln 001 036 X — 10 8 3 Holder and Kasinger; Smith, Carr and J. Rich. W — Smith. L — Holder. LOB — Cotter: 2; Lincoln: 6. 2 B — Cotter:; Lincoln: Pitts.