Lions fall to Saints but come back for two more wins

Photo by Randy Moll Gravette catcher Jackson Soule’ connected with the ball for a triple against Farmington on Friday. Soule’ leads the Lions with his bat and currently has a .475 batting average this season.
Photo by Randy Moll Gravette catcher Jackson Soule’ connected with the ball for a triple against Farmington on Friday. Soule’ leads the Lions with his bat and currently has a .475 batting average this season.

GRAVETTE -- Though the Lions fell to Shiloh Christian on Thursday, the Gravette team came back from behind for wins against Farmington on Friday and Huntsville on April 13.

The Lions struck first against the visiting Saints when Jackson Soule' doubled in the first and was moved to third and then home by a Brady Rolsma sacrifice and a Cody Fields grounder to the third baseman.

And, when the Saints took the lead in the top of the second, Soule' made it home again in the third to tie things up after getting on with a single to left.

Shiloh scored another run in the fourth and two in the fifth before Soule' scored once again, this time after being hit by a pitch and then moved around the bases by Rolsma and Mathew Stelting singles.

The Lions managed to tie things up at five apiece in the bottom of sixth when Kilby Roberts, pinch runner for Zach Nelson made it home on singles by Luke Summerford and Derek Pruitt.

The Saints took full advantage of their last at bat with five singles, a double and a triple, bringing in seven runs in the top of the inning and sealing the victory. After a single to right field by Stelting, the wounded Lions went down to defeat with a fly out and two strike outs to end the game.

Farmington 11

Gravette 12

Friday's game began like a continuation of Thursday's, with the visiting Farmington Cardinals picking up seven runs off Lions' Brady Rolsma, but this time the Lions came back, picking up three runs in the bottom of the first, two each in the second and third, another in the fourth and three in the sixth, to enter the final inning up by one, 11-10.

And when the Cardinals tied things up in the seventh, the game went into extra innings with the Lions picking up the deciding run in the ninth when the Farmington pitcher loaded the bases by hitting Soule' with a pitch and then walking Rolsma, Summerford and Cody Fields to bring Soule' home and give the Lions the win.

Strong Batting

Jackson Soule' is leading the Lions with his bat, to say nothing of his service behind the plate. Soule' is batting .475 for the season and has an impressive 19 hits so far this season, including five doubles, three triples and a home run. And Luke Summerford is not far behind. He's batting .400 and has 16 hits, with 12 of them singles and four doubles. Both Soule' and Summerford are tied with 13 RBIs for the season.

Leading in RBIs is Mathew Stelting, with 15. He's batted .348 and also has 16 hits, with seven of them doubles.

Stelting had three RBIs in the game, and Derek Pruitt led in hits with three. The Lions ended the game with nine hits, including two doubles and a triple, and 12 runs. Soule' tripled in the second and drove home Bryce Moorman.

Matthew Stelting took over on the mound with two outs in the sixth inning and finished the game, being credited with the win.

Gravette 3

Huntsville 1

In a pitching battle on April 13, Kyler Bunch struck out four, allowed six hits and one run at Huntsville, and Huntsville's pitcher shut out the Lions until the top of the fifth when Brady Rolsma doubled on a ground ball to short and was driven in on a Jackson Soule' line-drive single to left.

The Lions scored two more in the top of the seventh for the win on singles by Brady Rolsma and Derek Pruitt and sacrifice flies by Bryce Moorman and Soule'.

Mathew Stelting led in hits, being two for three in the game. Soule' had two RBIs.

Sports on 04/22/2015