The Monticello Billies would get out to a solid start on Wednesday, April 19, hosting the Crossett Eagles in a contest that would leave one team in third and one in fourth in the conference standings at the end of the contest.
Entering the contest, the Billies were listed third in the standings with Crossett four with both teams having a 5-5 conference record.
Easton Byrd would get the start on the mound for the Billies and would walk the lead off batter for the Eagles before getting the next three batters out to end the inning.
After beginning the bottom of the first with a fly out, the Billies would get a single by Warren Pennington followed by a walk to Jagger Hines.
Brenden Brown would fly out to first with Pennington scoring to give the Billies a 1-0 lead.
Byrd would begin the second inning with a walk followed by a strikeout and an intentional walk. Byrd would strikeout the next two batters to end the inning.
Trystan White would lead off for the Billies with a single followed by a walk to Jackson Hines. Brooks Bowman would reach on an error to load the bases followed by a walk to Brooks Harvey to score White.
Kaleb Romero would hit into a fielder’s choice that got Hines out on the bases.
Pennington would connect on a single to score Harvey and Bowman.
Jagger Hines singled to score Romero followed by a single by Brown and a fielder’s choice by Blaine Hayden scored Pennington for a 6-0 lead.
Crossett would come back to score two runs in the top of the third inning, seven in the fourth, three in the fifth, and five in the sixth to take the 17-6 win moving the Eagles into third in the conference standings and dropping the Billies to fourth.
With the loss, Monticello is in a must win scenario for a chance to qualify for the 4A South Regional Tournament in DeQueen.
The Billies will face Warren on Wednesday, April 26, at home before traveling to Stuttgart to face the Ricebirds on Thursday.
A loss to Warren could eliminate Monticello from postseason contention.
