After starting the 2024 season with a 3-0 overall and a 3-0 8-3A Conference record, the Drew Central Pirates would find themselves on a three game losing streak with that first loss coming to conference rival McGehee last week on March 26.
The Pirates would be on the losing end of the next two non conference games.
On Wednesday, March 27, the Pirates would host the Fordyce Redbugs.
Fordyce would get on top of the Pirates in the top of the first inning with the first two batters drawing walks followed by a double that scored both runs.
Hunter Griffin would lead off the bottom of the inning for the Pirates with a single and would steal second base. Wyatt Wood would reach first on an error advancing Griffin to third.
After a steal of second base by Wood, Drew Burton would ground out with Griffin scoring the only Pirate run of the inning.
Fordyce would get a run in the top of the third, fourth, and fifth innings to increase their lead to 5-1.
Leading off the bottom of the fifth, Griffin would be hit by a pitch followed by Wood drawing a walk.
Burton would ground into a fielder’s choice to score Griffin.
After the second out of the inning, Jordan Jones and Braden Johnson would single for two runs to cut the lead to 5-4.
Neither team would score for the remainder of the contest with Fordyce taking the win.
The Pirates would host Rison on Friday, March 29, for their second consecutive non conference contest.
Rison would take a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and in the bottom half of the inning, Griffin and Wood would lead off with walks.
Burton would hit a sacrifice fly to right field for the first inning to score the only run of the inning for Drew Central with Griffin crossing the plate.
After a scoreless second inning, the Wildcats would add a run in the top of the third inning for a 5-1 advantage.
In the bottom half of the inning, Paxton Ellis would lead off with a single followed by a ground out by Griffin.
Wood would connect for a double to center field, but Ellis would be held up at third base.
Burton hit a sacrifice to center to score Ellis for the second out of the inning.
Jase Watt would connect for a two-run home run in the next at bat to cut the lead to 5-4.
Rison added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning followed by Drew Central scoring a run in bottom of the inning after Cade Allison scored on a walk to Wood.
Rison added three runs in the top of the sixth inning for a 10-5 lead with the Pirates getting a run back in the bottom of the inning after a fielder’s choice by Burton scored Allison cut the lead to 10-6.
Rison would get their biggest inning offensively in the top of the seventh inning, scoring six runs in the inning to take a 16-6 lead.
After two consecutive outs to begin the bottom of the seventh inning, Braden Johnson would single to center and would have Tre’Bennett Fuller replace him on the bases as a courtesy runner.
Fuller would steal second with Allison drawing a walk.
Ellis would single to the shortstop that scored Fuller but the inning would come to an end on the next at bat on a fly out with Rison taking the 16-7 win.
Drew Central would return to host Hampton on Monday, April 1, to shut out the Bulldogs.
The Pirates would get two runs in the bottom of the first inning on runs by Wood and Burton for a 2-0 lead.
The Pirates would get eight runs in the bottom of the third inning after a three-run triple by Burton, a double by Johnson that scored Burton and a double by Jones that scored Watt and Johnson.
The Pirates would add two more runs in the inning to take the 12-0 win, halting their three game skid.
The Pirates would return to conference play on Tuesday, April 2, hosting the DeWitt Dragons.
Coming into Tuesday’s contest, DeWitt was sitting at the top of the 8-3A with a conference record of 3-0 and the Pirates in the second position with a conference record of 3-1.
After a scoreless first inning, the Dragons would get on the board first in the top of the second inning after scoring their run on a steal of home plate.
Jordan Jones would lead off the bottom of the inning with a walk.
After the first out of the inning on a strikeout, Ellis would draw a walk followed by Griffin being hit by a pitch to load the bases.
After the second strikeout of the inning, Burton would connect for a single that would score Jordan Jones, but Ellis would be out advancing to third to end the inning with the score tied 1-1.
The Pirates would hold the Dragons scoreless for the next three innings and in the bottom of the fifth inning, the PIrates would take the lead.
Griffin, Wood, and Burton would lead off the inning with three consecutive singles with Burton's single scoring Griffin on an error by the DeWitt first baseman.
After two outs, Jacob Jones would single to score Burton and Wood to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead.
Jase Watt would get the first three batters out in the top of the sixth inning on a strikeout, a ground out, and a strikeout.
DeWitt would strike out the side in the bottom of the inning with DeWitt leading off the top of the seventh inning with a single followed by a pop out and with the Pirates turning a double play to end the inning to secure the 4-1 win.
With the win, the Dragons and Pirates will swap places in the conference standings with Drew Central improving to 4-1 and the Dragons dropping to 3-1.
The Pirates are currently 5-3 overall and will host the Smackover Buckaroos on Friday, April 5, with a 4:30 pm first pitch scheduled.
This will be the second time this season that the Pirates and Smackover will play with the Pirates taking game one 6-4.
