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.
