Baseball action was much more plentiful last week than softball with all three public schools in the county seeing action.
Beginning with Bruce, the Trojans hosted the Bruce Spring Break Tournament. The Tuesday games of the tournament will be covered in next week’s paper, but the majority of the tournament has been played with the Trojans sitting at 3-1 in the event at the time of press.
Bruce took on Houlka (W, 16-1), Hickory Flat (W, 13-0), Mooreville (L, 2-0) and Smithville (W, 17-3) in the games of the tournament played before press time.
In the win over Houlka, Bruce fell behind 1-0 in the top of the first inning but rattled off 16 runs in the bottom of the second to secure the win. Jake Walls, Nick Tunnell, Logan Stewart and Noah McGreger all had multiple RBIs, and
Parker Winter picked up the win on the mound, striking out four.
Against Hickory Flat, the offensive fireworks were alive again for Bruce. Nick Tunnell, Haze Vanlandingham and Jayke Logan all had multiple RBIs in the win, and Austin Faddock was the winning pitcher, throwing all five innings and striking out 11.
The loss to Mooreville was a pitcher’s duel. Noah McGreger pitched six innings, striking out nine, and the Trojans only surrendered one earned run in the game, but Mooreville’s arms shut down the Trojan bats and held them to only two hits.
Bruce dominated Smithville on Monday night, and were helped by a 12-run fourth inning that secured the win. Nick Tunnell and Hayden McCostlin had four RBIs apiece, and Jayke Logan and Tatum Turner threw on the mound in the win.
Vardaman also participated in the Bruce Tournament, but first traveled to Calhoun City and fell to the Wildcats 11-0. Following the loss to City, Vardaman faced Pine Grove (L, 8-1), Hickory Flat (W, 9-5) and Smithville (L, 6-3) in Bruce.
In the Rams’ first game against Pine Grove, Vardaman was out hit 11-1. Dylan Huffman, Ethan Parker, Andrew Easley and Alan Bejarano all pitched for Vardaman. Immediately following the loss, Vardaman knocked off Hickory Flat 9-5 for its first win of the season despite being out hit 6-5. Ty Edmondson picked up the win on the mound, pitching four innings complete and striking out three. Connor Graham, Alan Bejarano and Andrew Easley all had two RBIs.
Against Smithville, the Rams’ game only lasted five innings due to time constraints, but Vardaman fell 6-3. Vardaman jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Smithville scored two, one and three runs in the next three innings respectively and never relinquished the lead. Alan Bejarano had two RBIs for the Rams, and Andrew Easley had one.
For Calhoun City, they knocked off Vardaman 11-0 to start their week of action on Friday. Jobi Cook, Chipper Moore, Gage Lucius and Jackson Lee all had two RBIs apiece for City, and Hayden Goodson picked up the win on the mound.
Following the win over the Rams, City suffered two losses on Monday, the first being a 2-1 loss to Caledonia in eight innings. The Wildcats held the Confederates to only two hits but failed to produce much offense of their own. Preston Conlee was responsible for City’s lone RBI. Gage Lucius and Jackson Lee pitched in the contest for the Cats.
The other City loss on Monday came 9-1 to Gordo. City’s lone RBI came from Jobi Cook, and Hayden Goodson and Chipper Moore saw action on the mound for the Wildcats.
