key plays,

timely hits

to get past River Oaks

By

ADAM DAIGLE

FERRIDAY, La. &045; Even though there may have been two outs in the inning, Huntington head coach Mitch Ashmore went with the call for a double steal.

With the team he has this season, it just might work. Shoot, it almost had to work.

The pitch went to Ples Arthur at the plate, he took and River Oaks tried to get Trey Corbett heading to second on the steal. But he pulled up and got everyone’s mind off Chad Thomas coming from third to allow the run to score.

That’s how this Huntington team is this season. That’s why they’re 3-0 after Tuesday’s 3-2 win over River Oaks to stay unbeaten in District 7-A while putting up just four hits.

And that’s how Ashmore is going to coach this spring.

&uot;That’s the kind of ball club we have,&uot; Ashmore said. &uot;We’re not going to hit it out of the park. We’ve pitched well this year. We’re not going to get 15 strikeouts a ball game. We’ll have to roll the ball and make things happen. We’ll run the bases and hit and make you make plays.

&uot;This program has always been good, but the last couple of years this program has been young. We’ve been trying to get it back where it’s been in the past. We’ll try to take them one at a time.&uot;

The Hounds (3-0, 9-4) put themselves into contention for a playoff spot, a goal they set coming in, with a contest with Tensas Academy Thursday before hosting Franklin Academy Tuesday. It was the key double steal, a couple of key plays in the field and solid pitching from both Trey Brashier and Jacob Bonnette that kept things in their favor.

Brashier, the left-handed eighth-grader, went six before Bonnette came in to shut the door in the seventh.

&uot;When they hit, they hit and hit timely,&uot; River Oaks head coach Brad Laval said. &uot;I don’t know how they got their three runs. I don’t remember it &045; it happened so fast. They manufactured them. We had four bang-bang plays and had one go our (way). The close plays go their way, and that’s how it goes.&uot;

The Hounds had just four hits in the contest but pecked away at River Oaks starter Ricky Sugg to take the lead. They tacked on a run in the first and another in the third before taking the lead 3-1 lead in the fifth on the double steal.

Thomas reached on a fielder’s choice and went to third when Corbett singled with two outs. Arthur worked the count 0-2 when Corbett took off for second on a steal attempt.

Instead of throwing it back to the pitcher, River Oaks catcher Cody Williams fired to second baseman Hudson Biedenhorn, who chased Corbett back to first for the third out.

But just before the made the tag, Thomas touched the plate to score what turned out to be the winning run.

&uot;I’ve been doing that for years and years,&uot; Ashmore said. &uot;It’s a forced balk (play). We like to run it with two outs. We wanted to get that run, and we thought it was a good time to do it. That was a big run for us.&uot;

The play was so close, but the home plate umpire ruled Thomas touched the plate before the tag was made. Had it not counted, the Hounds would have been in an awfully tough spot since the Mustangs got a run off Brashier in their next at-bat that would have tied the score.

&uot;We have a play to defend that,&uot; Laval said. &uot;Our second baseman, that was his first game out there. We yelled four, but he didn’t go four.&uot;

The Mustangs got the run in the sixth off Brashier, who started to tire after throwing five solid with only two hits allowed. Sam Herman led off with a double and scored on John Bolton’s groundout to second, but the young lefty toughened it out and got a huge play from Austin Butler at third to end the inning.

Butler dove to the bag and beat Sugg to third to get a forceout that ended the inning.

&uot;If he sticks with it, he’ll be pretty good and could probably go somewhere,&uot; said Arthur, the Hounds’ catcher. &uot;He’s only in the eighth grade. He’s always learning from what he does wrong. He was getting tired, but he did well. He’s definitely getting better every time out.&uot;

Brashier fanned eight in his six innings of work and really only gave up one mistake &045; a pitch Daniel Hathorn put over the fence in left for a home run in the third.

&uot;I don’t think you could say Trey is a hard thrower, but his ball moves a lot,&uot; Ashmore said. &uot;It’s uncanny at his age to hit the spots he hit. He did what he had to do. &uot;