Siloam Springs keeps slugging
Posted on Monday, July 14, 2008
BENTONVILLE - Siloam Springs pitcher Blake Curry's pitching line looked a little funny after his team's 9-7 win against Fort Smith Boys Club in the winner's bracket on Sunday in the North Arkansas 14-year-old Babe Ruth State Tournament.
Siloam Springs scored five runs in the top of the first inning to take an early advantage, but Curry's control problems led to six walks and three Fort Smith runs in the bottom half.
Curry settled down after that and pitched six innings while only allowing two hits. He finished with 12 walks but was able to limit the damage.
"(Curry ) always starts out a little rusty," said Siloam Springs manager Jim Snodgrass. "We had a little leeway there in the first inning. It was kind of rough that inning, but he settled down and did fairly well the rest of the game. "
Curry was relieved after two walks to open the seventh inning. Will Tucker came on to pitch and Fort Smith loaded the bases with two outs and the winning run on first, but Dylan Reynolds lined out to left fielder Chris Ward to end the game.
Tucker picked up the save.
"A little nervous," Snodgrass said of the bottom of the seventh. "There are runners on and you're going to win or lose."
Siloam Springs advances to today's winner's bracket finals at 3 p.m. against Mountain Home, which beat Fort Smith Church League 8-1 on Sunday. The winner of today's game will play Tuesday at 5: 30 p.m. in the championship.
"We're going to see if we can get some of the walks worked out here," Snodgrass said. "We're going to have to play some ball to beat the team we're going to play."
Siloam Springs collected 10 hits as a team, including five in the first inning to jump out to the early lead. Curry led off with a single and stole second and third before scoring on a passed ball.
Simeon Pruitt singled and later scored on a Keith Laster RBI single to center. After Laster stole second, Braden Pippin singled in Laster. Dylan Shipman's RBI single drove in Pippin.
Errors led to Curry and Pruitt scoring runs in the second to give Siloam Springs a 7-3 lead.
They led 7-4 going into the sixth when Shipman singled and Kaleb Morgan walked. Shipman scored on a wild pitch and Morgan crossed home on an error.
After scoring 25 runs in a 25-19 win against Fayetteville on Friday, Siloam Springs has now scored 34 runs in two games.
"We hit pretty good," Snodgrass said. "We left a lot of runners on base in the later innings. We've got to get those guys in. We need to step up the bats a little better the next game."
Curry, Pruitt, Pippin and Shipman each had two hits for Siloam Springs. Curry and Pruitt scored two runs apiece while Pippin had two RBIs.
"We're making good contact with the ball," Snodgrass said. "We've just got to keep slugging away at it. We're going to hit better than we're going to pitch."
NOTES: Due to rain on Saturday afternoon, the two winner's bracket games scheduled were postponed and the tournament was backed up two games. The championship game, originally scheduled for today will now be played Tuesday at 5: 30 p.m. followed by the "if necessary"game at 8 p.m.
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