Beebe brought a four-game shutout streak into Thursday’s game, but the White Hall baseball team jumped on the Badgers quickly.
The Bulldogs took a big lead in the first inning, then held on to defeat Beebe 7-4 in White Hall.
White Hall coach Ryan Bridges said the Bulldogs had good at-bats in practice coming into this game.
“We challenged them to not pop the ball up,” Bridges said. “Hit the ball on the ground. Tuesday night, that’s how we got beat. Lake Hamilton hit the ball on the ground through the gaps, and we popped 10 or 12 of them up. So, we’ve been challenging them to hit the ball on the ground, on a line, and it paid off a little bit in the first inning and through the whole game.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
White Hall (6-8) scored 5 runs in the bottom of the first inning and led the rest of the game. After second baseman Jace Johnson and left fielder Noah Smith were hit by pitches to start the inning, designated hitter Drew Reece hit a fly ball to right field which was dropped, allowing Johnson to score the game’s first run.
Centerfielder John Richardson singled to load the bases for shortstop Landon Lackey, who delivered a 2-RBI single to score Smith and Reece. Richardson then scored as first baseman Bryson Cooper reached on Beebe’s second error of the inning, and Lackey later scored when left fielder Kline Catlett walked with the bases loaded.
The Bulldogs eventually left the bases loaded, but not before tallying three hits and drawing two Beebe errors. White Hall sent 11 hitters to the plate, and eight of the first nine reached base.
Beebe (11-5) got things under control afterward, though White Hall added two unearned runs in the third. Clayton Ballard started the game in left field for the Badgers but pitched the final 3 1/3 innings, holding White Hall to one hit and one walk with four strikeouts. He didn’t allow a run.
Ballard is a left-hander, something Bridges said the Bulldogs have struggled against.
“Really soft slider, and we just couldn’t stay back and hit that one solid,” Bridges said. “They did a good job of changing pitchers and taking full advantage of that.”
Meanwhile, Beebe chipped away at the lead. The Badgers scored a run each in the second and third innings, then scored 2 in the top of the fourth. Centerfielder Jackson Edwards scored on a balk, and first baseman Grant Jernigan hit an RBI single to score courtesy runner Payton Perrier from third.
After Jernigan’s hit made it 7-4, White Hall sent Holdyn Brown to the mound in relief. He ended the inning with a ground ball and proceeded to retire 10 of the 11 hitters he faced in 3 1/3 innings of relief work. The lone blemish was a one-out walk in the fifth. He struck out two hitters with no hits or runs allowed.
Brown said he entered the game knowing he needed to pitch well, and this was probably his best outing of the season.
“Really, [I was thinking] just throw strikes,” Brown said. “I’ve been having trouble locating the ball, been kind of spiking it a lot. Been kind of working on it in the bullpen, but mainly, just throw strikes and locating the fast ball.”