NASHVILLE – In a very busy week of play, the Nashville Scrappers saw mixed results, winning three of a four game series played largely at Wilson Park.
Beginning with Nashville baseball, the Scrappers took to the grass against Magnet Cove Monday afternoon in a game that saw an early lead utterly crushed in later innings.
Magnet Cove hitters managed to bring home two of their own in the first inning, and the teams held the second scoreless. Things were looking grim as the bottom of the third began, with Magnet Cove holding a 3-0 lead.
The score was turned around in that inning when Zach Jamison, Trace Beene, Nick Myers, and Chris Willard all made their rounds of the bases on the strength of a series of errors from the Magnet Cove players and a fly ball to left field.
From that point forward the Nashville team dominated, with pitcher Tyler Hanson locking down hitters with seven strikeouts and hurling strikes 57 percent of the time.
On the offensive side, Beene and Myers ran in on a center field fly and a grounder to second from Dalton Smead in the fourth, Jordan Williams stole home, Austin Bowman and Jackson Beavert were both brought in on a grounder to left from Beene, Beene was himself sent home on a line drive to left by Myers and Myers came in on a line drive to left from Smead in the fifth. In the bottom of the sixth, Hanson, Williams and Jamison all came in on a fly to left field from Beavert, setting the score 14-3 and wrapping up the game in six innings.
Immediately following that game, the Scrappers went on to play the Fouke Panthers in a vastly lopsided contest.
The pace of the game was set from the bottom of the first, when Beavert scored on a wild pitch, Beene came in on a popup from Smead, Myers ran home on a throw, Chas Scott and Willard both came in on separate dropped strikes, and Hunter White made it in from a fly to right from Jamison, setting the score at 6-0.
Chambers, White and Lucas Liggin rotated around pitching duties in this game, largely keeping the Panthers from capitalizing on any gains.
In the second, the Scrappers put in another round of scoring with Beene coming in on a ground ball from Liggin, Myers, Bowman and Willard all came in on a line drive to left from White, and White scoring on a line drive to the short by Williams, leaving the score 11-0 by the end of the second.
In the top of the third, the Panthers were able to score two runs, but that paled against the additional dozen runs the Nashville team swatted in that inning.
The Panthers made another two runs in the game, but the contest had been decided. Myers and Beene were the most successful runners for the Scrappers, each coming in four times, and Liggin and White each knocked four RBIs as the game ended in five innings at 23-4 Nashville.
The following day, the Scrappers faced the Murfreesboro Rattlers. The Nashville team made the first run in the bottom of the first as Beene came in on a grounded ball to short from Jamison. That was the last action until Murfreesboro brought one in on the top of the fourth.
Jamison came in during the bottom of the fourth, and Murfreesboro ran another one in the top of the fifth to keep it tied 2-2.
Where the game was decided was the bottom of the fifth when the Scrappers pulled ahead on the strength of runs from Scott (on an error) and Williams on a wild pitch, setting the score 4-2 Nashville.
The bottom of the sixth saw that lead extended as White and Scott came in on a popup to first from Hanson, and Hanson, Jamison and Myers were batted in with a line drive to left from Liggin. This wrapped the game at 10-2 Nashville.
The Scrappers’ latest effort was against the Ashdown Panthers later that same day in a hard-fought loss.
The Panthers began by posting a single run in the first, which was matched as Jamison came in on a line drive from Myers to set the score 1-1 going into the second inning.
The Ashdown team took another run in the second, and the score stayed there until the fourth – where they pounded in four runs. This set the score 6-1 Ashdown heading to the bottom of the fourth.
Myers responded by swatting a homer over the left field fence, but the Scrappers were unable to further capitalize until the bottom of the sixth, when Jamison was brought in on a sacrifice fly by Willard.
Ashdown dropped a final run in the seventh, which was matched by Ty Brown and Beene coming home on a single to left from Myers. That rally was insufficient, and the game concluded 7-5 Ashdown.
The Scrappers are next scheduled to host the Tushka, OK Tigers, though spring weather is making baseball schedules, as well as the fields, rather fluid.
