Fast out of the gate

Fast out of the gate

Toppers sweep opening doubleheader against Paragould

Sports Editor

While Marion Toppers head coach Junior Weaver expressed some concern about his new-look lineup for 2016, those thoughts may be dissipating.

The Toppers opened their season last night with a doubleheader sweep of Paragould American Legion, taking down wins of 10-6 and 6-1 at John Robbins Field.

In the opener, Marion scored in all six of its plate appearances to total its 10 runs and make a winner of Kris Peet, a right-hander from Coahoma Community College.

In the nightcap, a fiveinning affair, Marion scored all six of its runs in the first two innings to make it night straight frames scoring, while West Memphis rising senior Nick Alsbrook pitched 4.1 innings of no-hit ball before handing off to Nolan Smith, who got the final two outs to complete a combined no-hitter.

“I saw a lot that I liked tonight,” Weaver explained. “I really liked the way we swung the bats. We’re still trying to formulate a lineup, we’re out here running up four or five left-handed hitters up there against some righties. 10 hits in the first game and we squared up a lot of balls. We were aggressive on the bases, which I like.” Centerfielder Kollin Stone was one of the notable players in the opener.

Stone reached base three times, scored twice, stole a bag and drove in a run on a sacrifice fly batting leadoff for the Toppers.

Batting third and holding down the designated hitter position was Crowder College signee Blake Daniels, who reached twice and scored both times.

Daniels and Stone scored the first two runs of the season on a Matt Frasure single to center in the bottom of the first.

Stone’s brother, Gavin, walked to lead off the bottom of the second and would come around with Kollin Stone chased him in with a sac fly. Alsbrook would also single and score in that inning.

Ahead 4-0, Paragould notched three runes on a single hit, two error and three walks to get three back in the top of the third. In the bottom of that frame, Frasure walked and scored on Gavin Stone’s double for a 5-3 lead.

In the home half of the fourth, Marion posted three more runs as Kollin Stone, Daniels and Frasure all came across, the former two scoring on Frasure’s double and Smith singled in Frasure for an 8-3 advantage.

The lead was 9-3 when Paragould came up with three more runs in the sixth, which allowed them to chase Peet from the game after 112 pitches. He worked 5.1 innings, allowed 7 hits, struck 5 hitters out and walked 4.

“Kris is a junior college guy, he’s used to a heavier workload and he’s not a power arm, so a high pitch count isn’t that big of a thing. He’s a competitor and didn’t wanna come out. I think you’ll see him be sharper as the year goes on,” Weaver said of his starter.

Gavin Stone got Marion out of the sixth inning with just one more run scooting across and Kollin Stone entered to work a hitless seventh inning that featured a walk as the only baserunner allowed.

Marion’s nightcap victory was keyed by West Memphis native, and Williams Baptist College’s Cam Smith, who reached and scored twice batting second and playing third base.

Smith started the scoring with a triple off of the tall batter’s eye in centerfield at John Robbins Field and scored on a Daniels single.

Daniels would score on a Gavin Stone sacrifice fly to lead 2-0 after an inning.

Marion poured it on in the second, scoring four times, with Preston Nichols, Peyton McElroy and Evin Cooper all reaching from the last three slots in the batting order to push the lead to 6-0.

That was seemingly all Alsbrook would need. The right-hander worked perfect innings in the first and third frames and walked a batter in the second and two in the fourth.

Weaver allowed Alsbrook to hit the mound to try and finish the job in the fifth inning, but a hit-by-pitch and two more walks forced the skipper’s hand.

“His arm slot can get up too high, we preach about keeping his toe out of the air because when that happens, he starts falling backwards and he can’t stay over the rubber,” explained the coach. “That makes it tough to work downhill like he needs to.”

Smith came on with the bases loaded and allowed Paragould its only run on a groundout before ending the game with a groundball to third base to close out the no-no.

The Toppers take their show on the road on Saturday when they play the Mississippi Blues on the campus of Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorehead, Mississippi at 1 p.m. It will be a doubleheader with the opener going seven innings and the second game lasting five.

By Chuck Livingston