Toppers take No. 1 seed with Friday sweep

Toppers take No. 1 seed with Friday sweep

Marion outfit finishes 3- 0 in pool play

Sports Editor In what was arguably the teams’ biggest single day of the 2016 summer, the Marion Toppers came through in flying colors on Friday afternoon at the Little Rock Catholic Summer Showcase.

Participating in their last two games that would go towards seeding them for the knockout round, Marion topped the prestigious Arkansas Express 17and-under team 12-4, before taking a few hours off to move across town to the historic Lamar Porter Field to rattle El Sticks 100.

The Toppers finished their portion of pool play 3-0, with a run differential of 35-4.

Marion started its Friday in a big way by tossing up five runs in their bottom of the first to stake starter Kris Peet to a big lead.

A Trent Johns double scored Nick Alsbrook and Nolan Smith, while Kollin Stone moved to third and scored on a bad throw and the Toppers led 4-0. Johns scored on a Matt Fraser single for a 5-0 lead.

Alsbrook chased in Gavin Stone on a sacrifice bunt to push that lead to 6-0 in the second.

Peet was nearly untouchable on the bump as the right-hander pitched three innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking three out. He earned the win for the Toppers while Kollin Stone worked the last two innings to slam the door.

Pitching was the name of the game again in the afternoon game as Freed-Hardeman commit Larkey Dotson hurled four innings of one-hit ball to pick up a win of his own. Dotson showed some nice command by walking no hitters and striking six out.

The Toppers again struck first in the bottom of the first when Alsbrook doubled to score Gavin Stone for a 1-0 lead.

Marion tacked on two in the second and put El Sticks away with their sticks in the third inning, scoring four times.

A two-run Kollin Stone home run chased in Nolan Smith and the Toppers went back-to-back when Johns powered one out to left ahead of a Fraser triple. Fraser came around when Bryce Logan reached on an error for a 7-0 lead.

The Toppers came up with their second run-rule decision of the classic by scoring three more times in the fourth inning.

Alsbrook singled in Daniels for an 8-0 lead and a Peyton McElroy single plated Alsbrook for a 9-0 advantage. McElroy would enact the run rule when Fraser singled and Marion won 10-0.

By virtue of their 3-0 mark, Marion carried a No. 1 seed into the knockout round, which set them up with a first-round bye before opening its run in the postseason at 2:30 on Saturday. Details of that game can be found to the right.

By Chuck Livingston