The Monticello Billies kept active during the Spring Break period, competing in six contests in two tournaments, winning four of the six contests.
First up the Billies would host Horatio on Friday, March 17.
Jon Luke Brotherton would get the start for the Billies and would get the first two Lion batters to fly out and would strike out the third to end the top of the first inning.
Brooks Harvey led things for the BIllies by being hit by a pitch followed by a single by Warren Pennington. Blaine Hayden was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jagger Hines was also hit by a pitch to score Harvey for a 1-0 lead.
Trystan White would attempt a bunt and would reach base on an error that would score Hayden and Pennington to extend the lead to 3-0.
Hines would score on a passed ball to give the Billies a 4-0 lead.
Monticello added a run in the bottom of the second inning to take a 5-0 lead.
All of Horatio’s runs came in the top of the third inning as the Lions scored four runs to cut the lead to 5-4.
Monticello would get one run in the fifth and two in the sixth to take the 8-4 win.
Returning on Saturday to host McGehee, the Billies would jump out to a 6-0 lead after scoring six runs in the bottom of the first inning.
McGehee came back in the top of the second to score four runs to pull within two, 6-4.
Monticello added two runs in the bottom half of the inning to extend the lead to 8-4.
The Owls would get two runs in the top of the third inning to cut the lead back to two runs, but the Billies went on to score two runs in the bottom of the third, one in the fourth, and five in the fifth to take a 16-6 win.
The Billies would drop the third game of their tournament at UAM against the El Dorado Wildcats.
El Dorado took a 5-0 lead after two innings of play and would score 10 runs in the contest with the Billies scoring one run in the fourth and two in the fifth to fall 10-3.
Traveling to Harrison to play in their second Spring Break tournament, the scheduled games would be postponed to Saturday because of severe storms that were rolling through the state on Friday evening.
In the first game of a triple-header on Saturday, the Billies would fall behind in the first inning against Harrison after the Goblins connected on a two-run home run.
Monticello would take the lead in the bottom of the second inning after a single by Brooks Bowman scored Tystan White and a single by Evan Bealer scored Bowman and Blaine Hayden for a 3-2 lead.
Harrison came back in the top of the third to tie the contest at three on an RBI single.
Monticello came back to score two in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead 5-3.
The score would hold for the remainder of the contest as the Billies took the 5-3 win.
In game two of the day, the Billies would face an out of state opponent in Forsyth, Missouri.
Forsyth would take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Neither offenses could get anything going after the one run first inning as Forsyth would take a 1-0 win in five innings,
In the final game of the tournament, Jagger Hines would go to the mound for the Billies to face the Tuckerman Bulldogs, getting the first two batters to ground out before allowing a double then a fly out to end the inning.
Evan Bealer would get the first Billie hit in the contest after a fly out by Kaleb Romero, but the inning would end on a double play.
Monticello would get on the board first in the bottom of the second inning.
Brenden Brown led off the inning with a single followed by a double by Jagger Hines that scored Brown and a double by White that scored Hines for a 2-0 lead.
Blaine Hayden reached on an error and White scored before the end of the inning to give the Billies a 3-0 lead.
Tuckerman would get a run in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 3-1, but Monticello would get the run back in the bottom of the inning on a single by Hines and double by White that scored Hines for a 4-1 lead.
Tuckerman added a run in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 4-2, but the Billies would get out of the inning with a 4-2 victory.
With the wins, the Billies improve to 10-4 on the season and will return to the field after the Spring Break traveling to Pine Bluff on Friday, March 31, at 5 pm. and at Fordyce on Monday, April 3, to face the Redbugs at 5 pm.
