HOPE – For their final showdown of the week, the Hope Bobcat baseball team challenged the Arkadelphia Badgers at our home ground, Legion Field. With a previous away matchup against the Badgers under their belts, the Bobcats hoped to pull away this time with a victory against the reigning conference champs. However, the Bobcats’ dreams were halted for the first six innings of Friday’s game as Badger pitcher Bryce Meakin dominated from the hill by shutting out the Bobcat offense and by allowing just two hits during his five innings played. While the Arkadelphia defense was lights out, the Badger offense shined, as #8 Cash Stricklin rallied in two RBI singles, while scoring a run himself.
When all hope seemed lost, Hope found themselves. In the bottom of the seventh inning, down 8-0, the Bobcats suddenly came to life, scoring five consecutive runs, and bringing excitement to an otherwise uninspiring game. Helping the last inning rally were Trey Hoglund, who hit a sacrifice fly ball to score an RBI, Drake Mathis, who had a two RBI single, Aiden Dean and Israel Juarez who both had RBI singles, and left fielder Donny Reaves, who started the rally with an incredible triple hit out to far-right field. Pitcher Sam Johnson deserves credit as well for playing out a consistent performance despite the offensive struggles. After all was over, the game ended with a final score of 8-5 to Arkadelphia.
The Hope Bobcats’ next challenge will be a tournament in Little Rock next week, from March 27th-28th.
Pictured: Bobcat #4 Cayden Haywood