The start of division play didn’t change much for the Parklane Pioneers.
Shortstop Kyle Adams made his return to the lineup, but errors and a lack of hitting kept the Pioneers on the losing end of the scoreboard most of the night. Presbyterian Christian beat Parklane 7-3, scoring all of its runs in the third and fourth innings.
The Pioneers (4-2, 0-1) had scored two runs in the second. Josh Armstreet led off with a double, and after a wild pitch Adams hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Armstreet. Austin Terrell followed with a single and another wild pitch and a Shelby Johnson single scored the second run to make it 2-0.
In the third, Presbyterian Christian got two runners on thanks to infield errors and the Bobcats proceeded to wear out right center field for the rest of the inning.
An RBI double, a two-run single and another double all headed to right center before starter Blake Brown got the third out.
Dontrell Sargent hit a homer to center field to bring the Pioneers to within one at 4-3, but the rest of the game Parklane searched for that spark or a big hit.
Runners on the corners and one out in the sixth wasn’t enough to get some more runs, neither was a leadoff walk in the seventh.
“If we don’t put some defense and offense together with our pitching, we’re fixing to get some losses,” Parklane head coach Michael Clements said.
The Pioneers’ mistakes kept them from getting out of either the third or fourth with minimal damage.
The Bobcats led off the fourth with a single and a double that ended Blake Brown’s night on the mound. Jody Lampton entered the game with no outs and runners on second and third, facing the two-hole hitter.
He coaxed a grounder to first that was booted and lost control after that. Three batters later he hadn’t recorded an out and had walked a run in after the error.
Clements brought in Jordan Taylor, who pitched the final four innings and didn’t allow a runner past first base.
“On Friday, our defensive mistakes didn’t hurt us,” Clements said of the win over Bowling Green. “Tonight, we didn’t hit, didn’t field, and we got the loss.”
Parklane will travel to Presbyterian Christian to finish the series with a doubleheader on Thursday.
North pike 5, Tylertown 2
The North Pike Jaguars saw what they’ll be up against on the road Friday in Tylertown.
Through four innings on Tuesday, the Chiefs and Jaguars were tied at 2. A three-run fifth put North Pike (7-3, 5-0) up, and Justin Badon and his defense held up for the 5-2 victory.
“They battled,” North Pike head coach George Lott said. “That’s a real good team.”
With the game tied in the fifth, a walk and a hit batter gave North Pike a shot to break it open. The next two batters struck out, but a balk and an error allowed two runs to score before Dustin Moak singled in the fifth run of the game.
Moak had homered in the second to put North Pike up 2-0 at the time.
The Jaguars put a run on the board in the first as Badon singled and came around to score on a Kendrick Hodges groundout. Cody Timmons followed with a triple but didn’t score.
“We got runners on base and scored when we had to,” Lott said. “We gave up a couple walks, but were able to get outs and a couple double plays to help us.”
Badon pitched all seven innings and struck out 12 batters so his defense wouldn’t have to do it all.
In the seventh, Tylertown had first and third with one out and the tying run at the plate.
The first pitch got away from Arin Rimes, but the carom off the backstop came back favorably, and the runner from third was thrown out trying to score.
After a walk to put the tying run back at the plate, Badon got a flyout to end the game.
North Pike travels to Tylertown on Friday to complete the district series.
