With a number of players still slaying opponents in basketball, Waldron baseball Coach Mark Brigance and his Diamond Dogs are making the best of their incomplete roster. Non-conference play opened up on March 2 against the Horatio Lions and although Waldron fell 4-14, they still gave a great showing of what’s yet to come. “We got off to got off to good start vs Horatio,” explained Coach Brigance. “We took the lead 4-3 in the 4th but then gave up that lead in the bottom of the 5th on a bases clearing double by them.”
“Freshman, Noah Patrick, hit a bases-loaded single to take the lead. Pitching was alright on the day, improving and having some bright spots. Juniors, Blake Owens and Drew Owens and sophomore, Matt Brigance, did the pitching. Freshman, Logan Young, did well behind the plate. And Senior, Drake Carnley, and Blake Owens had a good day at the plate earning 2 singles apiece and scoring most of our runs. Drake also had 2 steals as well.”
Over the past weekend, Waldron competed in a trio of games in the Mena Tournament. The Diamond Dogs hit the dirt against Mena, Mansfield, and Mt. Ida. Waldron picked-up their first win of the season against the Mena Bearcats 6-4. “Blake Owens pitched 6.2 innings and got the win. Going into the 7th, Mena was up 4-3. At the top of the 7th, Carnley – singled, Brigance -singled, and Blake Owens doubled to score two. Noah Patrick popped up on the infield to score Brayden Mays, who was running for Owens. Then, Matt Brigance struck out 3 in the bottom of the 7th for the save. Owens finished the match with 11 strikeouts and Carnley was 3-4 with 3 singles and 2 stolen bases. Logan Young did a great job at the catcher’s plate only allowing one pass ball.”
The Bulldogs went on to end the tournament with two misses against Mansfield and Mt. Ida. “The Bulldogs got a 4-8 lose to Mansfield. Matthew Brigance started on the mound and pitched very well for 4+ innings, striking out 6. We ran into trouble on back-to-back missed played balls on defense that led to way too many runners on the bases. We lead off the scoring in the first off of a Drake Carnley single followed by a stolen base.”
“We are continuing to leave runners on and misplace a few balls defensively. I see these as small things that can happen early in a season but that we can continue to work on. I know this bunch likes to work hard and we have some areas to improve on.” The Bulldogs hold a 1-3 total record going into conference play which starts tonight against the Paris Eagles at 4:30 in Paris.
Photos courtesy of Bethany Brigance
