MONTICELLO — White Hall came into the Class 5A state baseball tournament just three games over .500 and on a five-game losing streak.
Despite the rough stretch, coach Skip Carr still believed his team had a good chance of ending up at Baum Stadium next weekend to play for a state title. The White Hall players made Carr’s belief a reality as they cruised by Nettleton in the semifinals, 12-2 in six innings on Saturday, to earn a spot in its first championship game since 1980.
“This is what I expected all year,” Carr said. “The potential of these (guys) and how hard they worked, we were just waiting for good things to happen, and it started happening this weekend.”
White Hall won the championship in 1980, when Carr was a member of the team.
White Hall faced off against a team with 21 teams and knocked fellow 5A-Southeast Conference foe Sylvan Hills out in the first round.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The Bulldogs were not intimidated by the Raiders and quickly loaded the bases with just one out in the first inning. Freshman Kirk Baugh, who hit a pinch-hit grand slam in White Hall’s 6-2 win over Greenwood on Friday, took advantage of being placed in the fifth-spot in the line-up and laced a line drive down the third base line to score two.
Tyler Zuber followed and drove in two more with a double to deep left field and White Hall opened up the game with a quick 4-0 lead.
“It was really big to get that lead early,” Carr said. “Nettleton is a bunt, slap-hit team and we were trying to take them out of their game. I figured if we took a lead on them, it might take them out of their game.”
Not only did it force Nettleton (21-11) change its offense, it gave the Bulldogs a bunch of confidence.
“The confidence was build up so high and we felt like we were on top of the world,” Zuber said. “We just went out there and hit the ball well. He would throw the ball flat and we went out swinging.”
White Hall pitcher Tyler Carr did not give Nettleton much of an opportunity to climb out of the early hole. Carr allowed just two hits and did not walk a batter in the first five innings of the game and struck out four batters.
Carr did give up two runs on four hits in the sixth inning, but the game was already in hand.
“He doesn’t throw real hard, but he hits his spots well and his changeup and curveball were working (Saturday),” Skip Carr said. “He just kept them off-balance all day, and he may have gotten a little tired that last inning.”
White Hall added two runs in the third inning on Chris Bryan’s RBI single and Nathan Lee scored on a double steal.
In the fifth inning, Zuber and Lee each scored on two separate balk calls and Bryan scored on a throwing error by the Nettleton catcher.
Austin Johnson and Austin Lewis, both courtesy runners, scored in the sixth inning on an error by the shortstop and Lee drove in Baugh on a ground-out to cap White Hall’s scoring at 12 runs.
“We thought we had a better chance today because it’s the third day and everyone is out pitching, and we’ve still got four or five good pitchers left,” Zuber said. “We had a whole lot more confidence than anyone else.”
White Hall plays Jefferson County rival Watson Chapel for the 5A title on Friday.