Beebe’s Tanner Ball slides into second base while Sylvan Hills’ Greg Atchison waits to make the tag.By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Once Beebe set a tone it stayed set at Sylvan Hills on Tuesday.
Griffin Glaude flirted with a complete game and added a two-run home run as the Badgers beat the Bears 13-3 in the first game of a 5A-Southeast Conference doubleheader at Kevin Mc-Reynolds Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Beebe completed the road sweep with a 10-2 victory in the second game as Logan Ballew struck out 11 and the Badgers posted a five-run fifth to break it open.
“We hit the ball well. We were aggressive with the ball,” Beebe coach Mark Crafton said as the Badgers improved their record to 17-2, 6-0.
Glaude went 4 2/3 innings in the run-ruled, first-game victory. He struck out seven, scattered five hits and walked three and helped himself with a two-run home run in the six-run fifth inning.
“He did good,” Crafton said. “Grif came out; it’s been awhile since he’s had good competition. He came out and he got some good defensive plays and finally we settled down and got some good hits for him with runners in scoring position.”
Sylvan Hills’ first-game starter and UALR signee Jordan Spears struggled with control early, forcing in tworuns with bases-loaded walks and leaving for reliever Blake Rasdon after giving up four runs in Beebe’s five-run second.
“We always want to get a kid that’s got some good stuff, like the Spears kid, get them up in their pitch counts and just let them labor a little bit and then be aggressive on pitches in the zone,” Crafton said.
Glaude (7-0) was 3 for 4 in the first game with two RBI and his home run. Ryan Williams was 2 for 3 with two runs and an RBI and Ballew, playing third in the first game, was 3 for 3 with a run and five RBI.
“A little help right there, that’s always a motivational thing,” Crafton said of Glaude’s homer. “Hitting is contagious and it’s a little spark for the team.”
Ballew hit a two-run single to left in the second inning as the Badgers built a 7-0 lead, and added a two-RBI single in the big fifth. All of Beebe’s runs in the second came with two outs and the Badgers scored one with two outs in the first.
“Out of the first, I think, eight runs, or seven runs, they were scored with two outs,” Sylvan Hills coach Denny Tipton said.
“They got one with less than two and we couldn’t get out of an inning. Hey, they made some good plays and hit the ball.”
Glaude’s home run made it 9-0 in the fifth, then Bryson Scott hit a one-run double, Ballew added his two-run single and Jared Ashbrenner, one of 11 Badgers to bat in the inning, completed Beebe’s scoring with an RBI single to right that made it 13-0.
The run production was no surprise to Tipton.
“It was 16-6 last time,” Tipton said of the Bears’ previous loss to Beebe. “They’re a good club.”
Glaude, nearing a 100-pitch count, grew tired and couldn’t get out of the fifth as Sylvan Hills scored three runs. Austin Spears
hit a two-run double and Rasdon added an RBI single before Scott came in from right field to relieve Glaude and strike out Michael Lock to end the first game.
“We gave them a little breathing room with some walks and errors,” Crafton said. “We gave them some runners in scoring position and they took advantage of it and put three up on the board. But it helped getting that early cushion; it let us breathe a little bit but we’ve still got to be plugging away.”
Ballew (4-1) gave up four hits and three walks in the second game as Beebe handed the loss to Blake Hannon.
Glaude was 2 for 2 with three RBI in the second game, Williams was 2 for 2 with two RBI, Scott was 2 for 3 and Ballew was 2 for 4. Lance Hunter was Sylvan Hills’ second-game hitting star as he went 2 for 3 with a home run.
“We like where we’re at, Crafton said of Beebe’s position atop the 5A-Southeast standings. “We’ve played some good ballclubs here.”