Head Badger Coach Brant Matros found it hard to express his satisfaction Tuesday following the Badgers’ extra inning walk off grand slam win over the Magnet Cove Panthers. “I am speechless. Speechless and proud,” Matros said. Garrett Rucker’s grand slam for the Badgers (9-2) put Arkadelphia on top of the Panthers 8-7 in the bottom of the eighth.
Badger pitcher Michael Forthman, who is credited with three of the Badgers’ nine wins so far this season, took the mound for the first five innings. He earned one strikeout and gave up three runs. “Michael continues to give us quality innings, but we just did not produce runs for him,” said Matros.Magnet Cove went three-up-three-down in the top of the first inning off of defensive plays from shortstop Rucker, center fielder Rhett Rogers and right fielder Craig Daniell. The first inning ended with both teams failing to cross home plate, but the Panthers opened the second inning with two homeruns for a 2-0 lead. Rogers’ and Wade Wilson’s fielding combined with a Forthman strikeout sent the Panthers’ defense back on the field.
Offensively, the Badgers struggled against Magnet Cove’s pitcher Gene Dunkin. Dunkin, who may soon be a Henderson State Reddie, only allowed two Badgers to cross home plate in his six innings on the mound. The first was Badger Will Wallace in the bottom of the fourth. After singling to first base, Daniell advanced Wallace to second before Josh Mays batted him home to tighten the score 2-1, Panthers. Later, in the bottom of the fifth, Rogers, Rucker and Cody Spradlin loaded the bases. Wallace flied out to centerfield, but brought Rogers across the plate to tie the game at 2-2.
Magnet Cove went back to work in the top of the sixth inning, opening with their third homerun of the game and prompting Badger pitcher Zack Randall to the mound. Randall carried the Badgers through the next two innings; earning two strikeouts and helping the Badger defense keep the Panthers off of the scoreboard.
However, after Rucker’s first, and game evening, homerun in the bottom of the seventh inning sent the game into an extra inning, the Badger defense committed several errors that resulted in Magnet Cove putting more runs on the board. Though the Panthers were faced with two outs in the top of the eighth, and the score still sat at 3-3, the four run rally that consisted of several Panther hits and several Badger errors put them up 7-3 before Badger pitcher Cody Spradlin, who is credited with the win Tuesday, could close out the top of the eighth inning and let the Badgers have a shot offensively.
Arkadelphia put the errors of the top of the eighth behind them and stepped up to the plate. Leading off, Daniell hit a hard ground ball that was fielded cleanly and beat him to first base. With one out against the Badgers, Mays took first base on a hard grounder up the third base line. Next, Forthman singled into centerfield and advanced Mays safely to second and himself to first. Cole Weems followed with a hard grounder to the Panther shortstop that resulted in an attempted, but failed, double play at first and second. Weems was called out at first but Mays moved on to third and Forthman to second. Dillon Maxwell was then hit with a pitch that brought Rogers up to bat with two outs and loaded bases. Rogers’ keen eye allowed him to walk to first and push Mays home, making the score 7-4, Panthers. With a walk and hit-batter fresh on his mind, the Panther’s relief pitcher faced Rucker at the plate. On a 1-1 count, Rucker connected with a pitch and sent the ball over the centerfield fence for the walk off grand slam win of 8-4.
The Badgers return to action at Sturgis Field on Thursday against Glen Rose at 4:30 p.m. Glen Rose beat Magnet Cove earlier in the season and is strong hitting team, according to Matros. Also, Daniell is expected to be back on the mound and Spencer Knight behind the plate Thursday. Matros said Badger Maxwell was giving Knight a rest after a tough weekend at the Bauxite tournament, which the Badgers won.
