Brenton Clark drove in the winning run and Pleasant Grove defeated the Bullard Panthers 2-1 in 8 innings. The win was in the Hawks final game at the Whitehouse high school baseball tournament Saturday night.
Luke Flanagan started the game and Jarrit Halter pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for the Hawks. Together Flanagan and Halter combined for the win.
Bullard starting pitcher David Wilson pitched the first 7 innings for the Bulldogs allowing only 2 hits and no earned runs.
Pleasant Grove finished the tournament 4-1 and now has a record of 4-2.
Pleasant Grove needed help from Bullard’s defense to win. The Hawks scored the tying run in the top of the 7th inning when freshman Hunter Rose hit a deep high fly ball to right that was dropped by Panther right fielder Jackson Holt scoring Cade Martin.
The Hawks scored the winning run on an RBI single by Clark.
Clark said he was due for a big hit
“I knew I was due for a hit and came up with a runner on third and knew I had to put a barrel on the ball to give us a chance. It was all around a great team win,” Brenton Clark, Pleasant Grove junior second baseman said.
Clark being a leader gave credit to the pitching and defense
“I was very happy of the pitching performance Luke gave us today, he had a rocky start but figured it out and gave us a great chance to win,” Clark said .” I was super proud of how he battled throughout the game and how our defense made big plays when we needed it most.”
Coach Fincher said it was a huge win
“It was a huge win for us. they’re starting arm (David Wilson) on the mound is as good as we’ll see this year,” Riley Fincher, Pleasant Grove Hawks boys baseball coach said.
Coach Fincher said he couldn’t say enough about Hawks starting pitcher Luke Flanagan
“He (Flanagan) pitched out of a lot of jams and got stronger as the game went on and Jarret Halter coming in and closing the last inning was big for us,” Coach Fincher said. “That’s a great team win all around for our program.”
Pleasant Grove will play in the Lufkin tournament next Thursday through Saturday and the games will be live on 94.1 FM ESPN Radio in Texarkana.