Ouachita ends Woodlawn’s 3-year baseball reign, wins 2A final

Woodlawn played for its fourth consecutive high school baseball state championship Saturday, but it was no guarantee the Bears would beat conference rival Ouachita for a third time this season.

A sixth-inning rally led to the go-ahead run, and Ouachita won its first state championship since 2015, beating the Bears 2-1 in the Class 2A final at the University of Central Arkansas’ Bear Stadium in Conway.

Woodlawn (34-2), which has won nine state championships all-time, was playing in its eighth straight title game, having won six of them. The Bears were runners-up to Junction City in 2019, and no championship was held in 2020.

Ouachita (20-12) rode the pitching arm of Trey Cox, who held Woodlawn to a run on 2 hits in a complete game. Jayden Alston went 2 for 3 to lead the Warriors.

Ouachita scored first in the third inning after Larson Fowler doubled down the left-field line. He advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly from Colton Braswell.

Woodlawn evened the score in the fourth, but also left three runners on base in the inning. Tate Hall reached first on a fielder’s choice, Jayden Wilmoth singled to right to fill the bases, and Dillon Lunsford walked to load the bases. Hall scored with two outs on a Justin Arnold walk, but a strikeout left the bases full.

The Warriors made solid defensive plays, one a diving catch in right field in the fifth and a running catch to the left-field wall in the sixth.

Woodlawn’s Peyton Wells struck out 8 Warriors and allowed 2 earned runs on 5 hits in 5 ⅔ innings. Hall came on for the final 1 ⅓ innings, tossing 2 strikeouts and allowing no hits.

Ouachita, which had lost to Woodlawn 7-3 and 9-6 in the regular season, also won a state championship in 2000.