(March 26, 2022) Poteau, Oklahoma – Coming off a split at home on Thursday against the Vikings, the 19th ranked Rich Mountain Bucks made the hour drive into Oklahoma looking for their third series win of the season in region play. The Bucks lost three of four games to Carl Albert last season.
GAME ONE
The Bucks were wanting to start a new winning streak after winning the second game of the doubleheader at home on Thursday, but they would have to do it on the road. They would take a 1-0 lead after the first inning on a Luke Rice (Scott, AR) RBI double to left field. Starting pitcher Jackson Wells (Rogers, AR) was on the bump and looked very comfortable throughout the 7-inning game. The Bucks got him a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning on a Brayden Sites (Sheridan, AR) RBI double. Carl Albert answered with an unearned run in the bottom half to cut the lead to 2-1 after four innings.
However, the Bucks would answer with a run in the top of the fifth and 4 more in the top of the sixth inning. The run in the fifth came on a Wesley Featherston (Hope, AR) RBI double. In the sixth, Daniel Taylor (Rogers, AR) hit a RBI single with runners on and no outs. With 1 out, Chase Webb (El Dorado, AR) reached on an error that scored Jackson Baker (Sherwood, AR). Next at-bat, Luke Rice hit a sac fly before Chase Webb scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-1 after six innings, which would be the final score.
Jackson Wells (4-0) pitched a complete game, picking up his fourth win of the season. In his 7.0 innings of work, he would give up an unearned run on 4 hits, while striking out 6 on the day.
GAME TWO
After picking up the win in the rubber match, the Bucks were wanting the series win in the last game of the series. The Bucks wanted to start fast in the 9-inning contest and did, scoring 6 runs in the first two innings of the game. In the top of the first, Chase Webb hit a 2-run home run after a 1-out walk to make it 2-0. In the next inning, a lead off single and an error led to Eli Garrison (Little Rock, AR) hitting a RBI double before scoring on a Jackson Baker RBI single. After 2 outs, Chase Webb continued to stay hot at the plate with a RBI double. An intentional walk brought Wesley Featherston to the plate and hit capitalized on a RBI single to left field to make it 6-0 after two innings.
After two scoreless innings, the Eli Garrison hit a no doubt over the left center fence to make it 7-0. Two more innings went by before the Bucks would score 3 runs in the top of the eighth inning. With 2 outs and 2 runners on base, Chase Webb scored on a passed ball. After a hit by pitch, Brayden Sites hit a RBI single before Trace Watkins (Sheridan, AR) scored on another passed ball to make it 10-0. Carl Albert scored their only runs of the game on a 2-run homer that extended the game into the ninth inning, but the Bucks responded with 3 more runs to make it 13-2. All 3 runs came on an Andrew Almendarez (Tomball, TX) 3-run jack over the left center fence.
On the hill, Cade Shrum (Greenwood, AR) made his first start of the season. He would have very limited base runners on the day, going 7.1 innings in the outing on 99 pitches. Shrum (2-1) gave up 2 runs on a homer in the bottom of the eighth inning and only allowed 5 hits in the win. He struck out 2 and walked a lone hitter on the day. Daegan Covington (Taylor, AR) came in to pitch the final 1.2 innings, giving up 0 runs on a lone hit. He would strike out 1 in the outing.
The Bucks play again on Monday in Bossier, Louisiana against Bossier Parrish CC. First pitched is scheduled for 2 pm for the 9-inning game.
#GOBUCKS