MAC starts out hot, but chills out to relief pitching

By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

PARK HILLS — The first time through the line-up the Mineral Area Cardinals came up with five hits, but their hot bats cooled quickly as the team recorded only one hit in their last 20 at-bats. Chalk one up for Arkansas-Ft. Smith’s relief pitcher Derek Vaughn.

Entering the game with the score tied, Vaughn threw the last five innings, striking out six batters to stake claim to a 6-4 win for the visiting Lions.

The strong March winds had fielders running in circles to pull in high fly balls. The fence in right field was unreachable, and pitchers had to halt several times due to swirling dust from the infield, but despite the typhoon-like conditions only one of the four errors in the game was wind-related.

More often than not, the wind managed to just push the ball out of the reach of pursuing fielders, usually into foul territory.

Blake Pinnon was the first victim of the harsh weather condition. Following Booby Tatum’s lead-off single, Pinnon drilled a line drive that appeared headed over the fence inside the pole in left field, curving all the way until it received a ‘Foul Ball’ call by the plate umpire.

Pinnon followed with a single and was able to score on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Blunt after Josh McMillen drove in Tatum. MAC’s starting pitcher Dustin Hunter was tapped for a lone run in the first inning, but he settled down to shut out the Lions for the next two frames.

The Cardinals had their second streak of hitting in the bottom of the third. A lead-off single by Mike Bigogno, who was 3-5 at the plate, was followed with two-out singles by Richie Stanley and Isaac Armstrong to plate two more runs for a 4-1 lead, but it would be short-lived.

A string of three straight singles was held in check only by a prefect relay from right-fielder Armstrong to first baseman Tyler  Beers to Pixley, who applied the tag at home for the first out. Matt Brown took one for the team to load the bases, and Justin Barnes lined a two-RBI single into left.

Brown was reimbursed for his physical sacrifice, crossing home plate on a bases-loaded single by Adam Robertson. The tied score let both starters off the hook as they both took a seat when their teams returned to the field.

It did not take long for the Lions to tag relief pitcher Dustin Hartsgrove with the loss. A throw in the dirt to first and a single by Drew Sullivan along with two passed balls put runners on second and third just in time for a Colton West single to score them both. West would travel no further as Hartsgrove was able to pick him off of first.

A Bigogno lead-off single in the seventh inning gave MAC a ray of hope, but Vaughn struck out the next three batters to extinguish it. Likewise, a lead-off walk in the ninth issued to Tatum was nullified by a 5-4-3 double play. Tatum had the only extra-base hit in the game with a double in the fourth inning.

Mineral Area (5-17) will be at home on Thursday to host Three Rivers at 1 p.m.

Ark.-Ft. Smith  100 320 000 - 6  13  2

Mineral Area  200 200 000 - 4  10  2

Pitching: WP- Vaughn 5i 0r 1h 6k 2bb, Bogard 4i 4r 9h 3k 0bb 1hb. LP- Hartsgrove 3i 2r 4h 2k 1bb, Hunter 4i 4r 9h 1k 2bb 1hb, McMillen 2i 0r 0h 2k 1bb.

Hitting:

Ark-Ft. Smith - Barnes 3-5, Robertson 2-5, Sullivan 2-3, Young 2-5, West 2-5, Young 2-5, Washington 1-2, Rawls 1-5.

Mineral Area - Bigogno 3-5, Tatum 2-4, Pixley 1-3, Stanley 1-3, Armstrong 1-4, Cleveland 1-4, Pinnon 1-5.   2b- Tatum.