Lions Topple Farmington

— Gravette took advantage of eight Farmington errors and overcame eight errors of its own to hold on for a 13-11 win in baseball action on Thursday in Farmington.

The two teams combined to commit 16 errors and score 17 unearned runs but Gravette (6-7, 2-2 4-1A Conference) used five of Farmington’s eight miscues to score eight runs in the fourth inning.

The outburst included a three-run home run by Seth Billing.

The errors came early and often as Gravette took advantage of a Farmington error in the first inning to score three unearned runs.Farmington (10-3, 3-1) responded in the bottom half of the inning with Tony Morales’ two-run homer.

The Cardinals took a 5-3 lead with a three-run third that included a two-run single by Kolby Burnett. After the Lions’ explosive fourth, the Cardinals responded with a three-run blast over the center field wall by Burnett and pulled within two runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Burnett closed the gap to one run when he ripped his second home run of the game down the left field line.

However, Gravette remained poised and added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh, emphasized by a Tanner Daniels drive out of center field.

The Cardinals were able to get the tying run to the plate with no one out in the bottom of the seventh but Billing closed the door, getting three straight outs to give the Lions the win.

“We stayed composed.,” Gravette coach Vernon Scott said. “We got big hits when we needed them and we didn’t get down when we could have.”

Burnett led the Cardinals with three hits, including two home runs and six RBIs.

Billing led the Lions with three hits and three RBIs. Logan Hendrickson picked up the win for the Lions and Tray Spencer received the loss.

Sports, Pages 9 on 04/14/2010