The Drew Central Pirates entered Tuesday’s 8-3A Conference game against the conference leading Camden Harmony Grove Hornets 1.5 games back in the conference standings in second place after a 6-3 victory on Tuesday, April 4, on the road in DeWitt against the Dragons.
In the game with DeWitt, the Dragons would get a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and the Pirates would trail 3-0 until the top of the fifth inning when a single by Drew Burton scored Nate Cooper and Ja’Corrian Love to cut the lead to 3-2.
The Pirates would allow one base runner in the bottom of the fifth before getting out of the inning on a throw from left fielder Tyler Hornaday to catcher Nate Cooper to get the runner out at home to end the inning.
In the top of the sixth inning, Hornaday would be hit by a pitch followed by Jacob Jones reaching on an error.
Love would draw a walk after Hornaday was caught stealing for the second out of the inning.
Cooper would be hit by a pitch to load the bases followed by Wyatt Wood that scored Jones and Love for a 4-3 lead followed by a single by Burton to score Cooper and Wood to set up the 6-3 final.
With the win, the Pirates moved into second place in the conference behind Camden Harmony Grove.
Facing the Hornets for the second time this season, Drew Central would lose the first game at Camden Harmony Grove after being tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning when the Hornets scored three runs to take the 4-1 win, the Pirates would send Burton to the mound to start the contest.
Burton would start the game by getting the leadoff batter to fly out followed by the first strikeout of the game before allowing two runners on a single and a walk.
Burton would get the next batter to fly out to end the inning.
Cooper would lead off for the Pirates with a walk but Wood would line out to the pitcher for a double play for the first two outs of the inning.
Camden got Burton to strike out to end the inning in the next at bat.
The game would remain tied 0-0 until the top of the fourth inning when the Hornets would get a run off a pair of singles to take a 1-0 lead.
Camden Harmony Grove would add their second run in the top of the fifth inning after a pair of errors allowed the Hornets to extend their lead to 2-0, the final score of the contest.
Burton would pitch six innings for the Pirates, allowing two runs on three hits with one run being earned, striking out 11 and walking three.
Jase Watt would relieve Burton for one inning striking out one and walking one with no runs and no hits. Watt was the only Pirate batter to record a hit in the contest.
With the loss, the Pirates fall to 5-5 overall and to 5-3 in conference play, but will not lose position in the conference standings with Smackover defeating DeWitt to even the third place standing with both teams having a 4-3 record and McGehee in fourth with a 3-2 record after defeating Dollarway 15-0.
The Pirates have six conference games remaining on the schedule with the next three contests being on the road.
Drew Central will travel to Smackover on Thursday, April 13, for a 4:30 pm contest followed by a trip to Dollarway on Friday, April 14, at 4:30 pm.
Drew Central will conclude their road trip on Tuesday, April 18, traveling to Dumas to face the currently 1-5 Bobcats at 4:30 pm.
