Royals Sweep Pioneers

Royals Sweep Pioneers- Wil Teague, Sports Information Director, 3-4-23

Crowley's Ridge- 2

Ecclesia College- 3

Crowley's Ridge College Baseball hit the road to take on the Royals of Ecclesia College in Springdale, Ark for a three-game series over the weekend. However, the games were moved an hour north to Seneca, MO due to the weather and field conditions. 

Seneca, MO-  Throughout the years the Royals of Ecclesia College have proven to be a worthy opponent for the Pioneers of Crowley's Ridge College. Both teams bring their "A" games year after year, slugging it out on the diamond, and the first matchup was a true testimony to that statement. The weekend series opened up with a 9-inning game and like the three previous weekends before, Corby Seib had the cue ball placed in his hand for the weekend opener. The senior ace went the distance once more throwing 8 innings giving up 8 hits and allowing 3 runs. The Ellsinore, MO native matched his career-high strikeouts by sending 13 Royals back to the dugout. The CRC defense was perfect in the contest behind Seib as they didn't commit a single error. The first runs of the contest for either team came at the top of the fourth. Trey Gossett reached on a walk to start the inning, and Adonis Thomas moved him up to second the hard way by taking a hit-by-pitch. Phoenix Beal ensured the chances of success by giving himself up with a sac bunt to move up Gossett and Thomas into scoring position. Vancell Lucas came through using his second at-bat of the game to give Seib and the Pioneers the much-long

ed-for lead. On a 3-1 count with the green light, Lucas singled on a worm burner shot right up the gut that scored both Gossett and Thomas. Lucas would be left stranded and they would head to the bottom half of the inning. The Royals didn't go quietly and answered with back-to-back doubles that scored one run, ending the eventful 4th inning with CRC still on top 2-1. Silence would fall over the field only having Ecclesia break it in the 6th by putting the tying run on third with an inning-opening triple. Seib would give up three of his eight hits this inning before getting out of the jam. The Royals did get one across but the Pioneers showed incredible chaos control by not allowing any more as they wiggled themselves out of a bases-loaded situation with 1 out early in the inning. CRC left 4 runners stranded on base over the next two innings not being able to break the tie. Seib took the mound in the bottom of the 8th and collected the first two outs quickly with his 13th K and a ground out to Chipper Lamb at short. It seemed to be a smooth inning until Seib gave up his final hit of the contest. An Ecclesia batter barreled Seib's pitch and Matt Parker watched it fly over his head in left field for a solo home run. The Pioneers showed hope in the top of the 9th as they loaded the bases to start the inning. Trey Drake walked followed by  Matt Parker and Chipper Lamb singling. The Pioneers put the next three balls in play, but nothing would find a gap as the Royals retired the third out with the tying run still 90 feet away. Pioneers fall 3-2

Leaders: Hitting

The Pioneers scored 2 runs on 5 hits. 

Lucas (2RBI), Parker, Lamb, Thomas, and Beal all had one hit. 

Pitching:

Seib: 8.0 inn., 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 13 SO

Saturday, March 4th 

Game One

Crowley's Ridge- 3

Ecclesia College- 5

Seneca, MO- After a heartbreaking loss yesterday evening with a score of 3-2 the Pioneers looked to bounce back with a doubleheader today with the first contest starting at 2:00 pm. Chance Arender took the hill for the Pioneers tossing 6 innings and allowing 5 hits from the Ecclesia Royals. The Pioneers did scrummage up one more hit than Ecclesia, outhitting them 7-6. However, the Royals were more efficient as they scored 5 runs on those 6 hits compared to the 3 runs on 7 hits from CRC. As the first three Pioneer batters went three up and three down to kickstart the game, the Royals scored one run in their half of the first inning. The Royals hit an RBI single to right field before Arender could get a ground ball to Trey Gossett to complete the inning. It would be the third inning before CRC could lace something together to get on the scoreboard. Matt Parker led with a single reaching first base. Chipper Lamb and Vancell Lucas each drew a walk to load the bases which allowed Andrew Brown to take one for the team on a hit-by-pitch and claim the team's first run and RBI of the game. The Royals followed up with a run of their own in the bottom half of the same inning taking all ground back in their favor. The Pioneers rallied their second and third runs of the game in the top of the 5th with James Wilson knocking in Vancell Lucas and Blake Wilson bringing in Andrew Brown two batters later. The Pioneers now had the lead for the first time in the contest heading to the bottom of the 5th. Arender headed to the mound and much like yesterday he was able to claim two quick outs, however, the third Royals batter of the inning connected with Arender's ball sending it over the left field fence making things even at 3-3. The Pioneers wouldn't be unable to get a go-ahead run across the plate the following inning, and the Royals would capitalize by adding 2 more runs to their side in the bottom of the 6th retaking the lead. Blake Wilson gave a shimmer of hope with a 2-out single in the 7th, but the game would end as the Royals collected the final out. 

Leaders: Hitting

CRC scored three runs on seven hits. Matt Parker and Blake Wilson led the Pioneers with two hits each. 

Leaders: Pitching

Chance Arender: 6.0 inn, 6 hits, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO

Game Two

Crowley's Ridge- 4

Ecclesia College- 13

Seneca, MO- The second game of the day quickly got away from the Pioneers as they fell behind early. JackHenry Glasgow got the start for the final game of the series and made quick work of the first three Ecclesia batters, but with a Pioneer error in the 2nd, they fell behind 0-1 which started the snowball effect. CRC gave up 5 more runs over the next three innings, and before you know it the team in green trailed 0-6 heading into the 6th. The Pioneers dug deep and summoned their biggest inning of the weekend in the top of the 6th as they pushed across 4 runs. Chipper Lamb got things going with an RBI single that led to a Phoenix Beal double that scored Andrew Brown. Matt Parker's hack scored Chipper Lamb for the third run of the inning, and capping it off was  Beal using his legs to steal home on a wild pitch. With the score now 4-6 in favor of Ecclesia the Pioneers entered the bottom of the 6th with a new mindset and ball game. Even with this momentum the bottom half of the 6th is where the game seemed to crumble apart for CRC.  After a huge offense top half, the defensive side struggled to get three outs and allowed 7 runs to cross the plate before it was over with. Instead of heading into the last inning trialing 2, they now trailed by 9 runs. The Pioneers would not overcome this deficit and would fall for the third time over the weekend allowing Ecclesia College to complete the weekend series sweep.

Leaders: Hitting

The Pioneers scored 4 runs on 7 hits 

Chipper Lamb was the sole Pioneer with a multi-hit game (2-3)

Pitching:

Glasgow: 5.1 inns., 8 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO