Class 4A state championship baseball: Lonoke cruises early, holds off late Ashdown rally

By Jeff Halpern I Photos by Tommy Land 

CONWAY — Steele Eaves was unhittable for six innings, and that was good enough to help the Lonoke Jackrabbits (29-2) defeat Ashdown (18-12) 6-3 for the Class 4A state championship at Bear Stadium Friday morning.

Eaves allowed no runs on 1 hit with no walks while striking out 10 through 6 innings on 70 pitches while Lonoke coasted to a 6-0 lead. In the seventh inning, he allowed 3 runs on 4 hits, hitting 1 batter with 1 error while needing 25 pitches to get out of the inning, facing the entire Ashdown order.

“They were hitting a lot of hard balls that got through, and you just had to look at your teammates and know they had your back,” said Eaves, a Univeristy of Arkansas commit and the game’s MVP.

The seventh inning started when Grayson Porter tripled to right field. The next batter, Braiden Watson hit a ground ball to first baseman Jonathan Lewis, who bobbled it allowing Watson to reach safely and Porter to score to make it 6-1. After Mason Washington struck out looking, Gunnar Altenbaumer doubled to right field to move Watson to third. Von Thomas came up and pinch hit for Leland Garrett and singled to left to score Watson to make it 6-2 and move to second on the throw.

Jones was hit by a pitch to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate. After Nash Brown struck out, Caleb Blankenship came up and singled to left to score Altenbaumer to make it 6-3. Derek Hilton then hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game, setting off the celebration.

“You knew the seventh inning was going to be tight and it’s a matter of having to be tough and at the end of the day, we made enough pays to get the victory,” Lonoke head coach Bryan Eagle said.

Ashdown head coach Austin Cross was happy with his team’s resolve in the final frame.

“You have to give a lot of credit to our kids,” he said. “We came back with a three spot and got the bases loaded. To get to that point was huge. Von got a big hit for us and we had Derek up there with the bases loaded and if you told me would be in that situation, I would have taken my chances.”

The seventh inning was not the only inning that Ashdown had Eaves on the ropes. In the fourth inning, trailing 2-0, Brown, squaring to bunt, was hit by a pitch when he appeared to cross home plate. Eagle argued, but the call stood. After Blankenship singled to left, Hilton’s fly ball to left moved Brown and Blankenship to second and third. Porter was hit by a pitch to load the baes, but Watson’s fly ball to center was not deep enough to score a run and Washington grounded to third to end the inning.

“They could have put up a crooked number, and we kept them off the board and that was big” said Eaves.

Eagle said Eaves left a few sliders over the plate but managed to come back and make some big pitches to keep Ashdown off the scoreboard.

“We knew we had a tough time because Eaves is as good as any high school pitcher I’ve seen,” Cross said.

Lonoke took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Eaves’ sacrifice fly scored Jackson Ingle, who singled. In the second inning, Wyatt Rippeto walked, stole second and scored when the shortstop Garrett bobbled Ingle’s ground ball, making it 2-0.

With two out in the fourth inning, Tripp Sullivan, a UA commit, walked and Ingle cleared the bases with a two-run home run over the wall in the right field to make it 4-0.

In the sixth inning, Lewis and Rippeto led off with walks, moved to second and third on Will Belford’s sacrifice bunt. A walk to Sullivan loaded the bases and Ingle singled to right to score Lewis and Rippeto to make it 6-0.

“Jackson Ingle is a big-time dude and could have been named MVP,” said Eagle. “He stepped up and made some big-time plays.”

Ingle went 3-for-4 with 5 RBI and scored 2 runs.