Stuttgart picks up two victories over conference foe Southside Batesville
The comeback kids struck again Wednesday night as the Ricebirds once again found themselves down early and rallied for the win.
This time it was against conference foe Southside. This was the final conference matchup of the regular season for Stuttgart. The Ricebirds won both games?— the first by a score of 8-4 and the finale by a score of 7-2.
Stuttgart found itself behind early as Southside scored in the first inning on a wild pitch by Jon Curtis. It was the bottom of the second before Stuttgart was able to score.
Jacob Clawson reached on an error and Hunter Harris advanced him to second on a sacrifice fly. Aaron Lockwood then singled to left field to bring Clawson home.
The game remained tied until the top of the fifth inning when Southside hit five singles in a row. The result was three runs scored and a 4-1 lead. The Southerners kept their lead until the bottom of the sixth.
The Ricebirds put together a tremendous rally in the bottom of the sixth inning. Regan Counce was hit by a pitch to begin the inning. Clawson then walked as the second batter up and runners were now on first and second. Harris then reached on an error and Counce scored to put Stuttgart within two at 4-2. Carter Ward was at the plate and laid a perfect bunt to advance to first and score Clawson. The Southside lead was now one at 4-3.
The rally continued with Harris, Ward, Dontrell Brown, Curtis, and Taylor Daniels scoring. After all was said and done, seven Ricebirds scored to take the lead 8-4. Neither team scored any additional runs and the Ricebirds went on to win by a score of 8-4.
Lockwood scored the win as pitcher going for three innings and giving up three hits and no runs. Lockwood had one walk with four strikeouts. Curtis pitched the first four innings giving up four runs on six hits. Curtis also had one walk with four strikeouts.
Seven different Ricebirds had one hit each and Lockwood and Counce had two RBIs. Daniels had the lone stolen base.
The second game of the double header was not as dramatic as the first. Stuttgart was able to draw first blood after a scoreless first inning by both teams. Jay McGee scored the first of two runs in the second inning for Stuttgart off of a sacrifice fly by Harris. Ward scored the second run when Daniels was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The Birds added three more runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a commanding lead at 5-0. Wayman Johnson entered the game as a courtesy runner for Clawson and scored on an error by Southside. McGee scored for the second consecutive inning off a Lockwood single to left field. Curtis brought Lockwood home on his bat with a single to right field.
Stuttgart picked up its final two runs of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning when Clawson and McGee were able to cross home plate late in the inning. Southside picked up one run in the fifth and one in the seventh to finish the scoring for both teams.
Lockwood, Brown and Curtis each had two hits in the second game of the day. Harris had two RBIs and McGee had three runs to lead the Ricebirds. Lockwood was credited with two stolen bases and Brown with one.
Harris pitched a complete game giving up two runs on eight hits. Harris had five strikeouts with only one walk.
The Ricebirds are now 15-9 on the season with all conference games in the bag. Stuttgart will host Glenn Rose on Friday with a varsity, junior varsity pairing. First pitch is at 4:30 p.m.