Class 2A baseball state final: Woodlawn outlasts Palestine-Wheatley

By Jeff Halpern | Photos by Abigail Weihe 

CONWAY — A three-run fourth inning and a stellar relief performance by Woodlawn’s Owen Stover lifted the Bears (31-3) to a 3-2 victory over Palestine-Wheatley (15-10) in the Class 2A state championship game Friday night at Bear Stadium. 

The state championship is the third in a row for Woodlawn and ninth overall, trailing Pine Bluff which has 10.

“To have that many is unbelievable,” said Woodlawn head coach Tommy Richardson. “I know our six seniors don’t appreciate it, but they will and will hand it off to the next generation.”

With the game in a scoreless tie in the fourth, Jacob Hickman walked Dylan Butler, Jace Bishop and Austin Howard to load the bases. After a conference on the mound, Tate Hall hit a deep fly ball to center field which allowed Butler to score to put the Bears up 1-0.

The Patriots appeared to get out of the inning down 1-0 when Dylan Lunsford hit a pop up to center, however Patriots center fielder Tra Guthrie, who was coming in, couldn’t make the catch, and it fell for a double allowing Bishop and Howard to score to make it 3-0.

“That one error cost us,” said Palestine-Wheatley head coach Keith Whitson. “I think he lost it in the lights.”

Richardson said getting the lead helped settle his team down which won despite having two hits but took advantage of seven walks from Hickman.

“My experience in the state finals, whoever scores first wins,” said Richardson. “Once you get those runs, you settle down.”

The 3-0 lead was anything but a sure thing for the Bears as Howard, who walked seven in 4 1/3 innings, had his problems in the fifth inning. With one out, he hit Brant Medford and walked Hickman, Austin Varner and James Parson which allowed Wyatt McGowan, who was running for Medford to score and make it a 3-1 game.

At that point, Stover was called from first base to relieve Howard and while Stover would be named state tournament MVP, he had some adversity to deal with. He committed a balk which allowed Raymond Westbrook, who was running for Hickman, to score to make it 3-2. Stover recovered to strike out Guthrie and get Brody Bass to fly out to end the inning.

“Austin did great,” said Richardson. "I should have got him the first time. He’s such a competitor, and I didn’t want to take him out. I thought he could get out of it.”

Stover said when he came in the big message was not to walk anybody. He didn’t think he would come into the game. He thought Bishop was the No. 1 option if Howard got in trouble and he was the second option.

“Stover did a really job,” said Richardson. “He came in a did a really job throwing strikes. He’s our best strike thrower.”

While Stover got Woodlawn out of trouble in the fifth, he had to do it again in the seventh.

With one out, Hickman and Varner had singles, but he struck out Parson and got Guthrie to fly to left which started the celebration.

“When he hit that ball, he hit it hard, but when I saw my left fielder camp under it, I could see it was an easy pop up,” said Stover.

For the game, Stover struck out 4 of the 10 batters he faced while allowing 2 hits and no walks.

While winning state championships is nothing new for Woodlawn, Richardson said this one was not easy.

"Everything’s different in state,” said Richardson. “It’s not a three-game series. If it’s a three-game series, it be different, but it’s one game winner take all. There’s a lot of pressure, and there’s so much invested and it’s about how bad do you want it.”

Whitson was proud of his team which battled. Despite 5 hits and 7 walks, the Patriots left 10 men on base including the bases loaded in the fourth when Blaine Brown popped up to end the inning.

“I couldn’t be prouder of our team,” said Whitson. “All year, we’ve been called the ‘Bad News Bears,’ but we gave them everything they wanted.”