By RAY BENTON
Leader sportswriter
North Little Rock is embarking on a second win streak, and made it three in a row on Monday with a 4-2 victory over Cabot-Centennial Bank in a senior American Legion matchup at Burns Park.
The Colts dropped their first game of the year 7-5 in game one of a doubleheader split at Hot Springs Lakeside last Thursday. Since then they’ve beaten Lakeside 12-4 and Conway 4-2 on Saturday.
Cabot racked up more base hits than its host on Monday, but couldn’t get one at the right moment.
Cabot (9-10) took the lead in the top of the first inning. Kason Kimbrell and Ryan Logan got back-to-back singles to put two runners on with no outs. Conner Vocque moved the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice grounder, and Bryson Morris drove them in with a single to right-centerfield. From there, Cabot went three up, three down in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings, but missed a golden opportunity to score some runs in the fifth. North Little Rock (20-1) quickly tied the game in the bottom of the third. Logan gave up no hits in the first two innings on the mound for Cabot, but the first two North Little Rock batters to get a base hit scored.
Nine-hole hitter Will Hopkins got a leadoff single to start the inning. He moved to second on a slow grounder to shortstop by Justin Weigle. Logan struck out Dylan Huckaby, but North Little Rock pitcher Dylan Boone singled to put runners on the corners. Catcher Alex Gosser then tripled to the wall in right-centerfield to score Hopkins and Boone and tie the game.
In the top of the fifth, Cabot failed to score after putting the first two batters on base, and it proved costly in the bottom of the same frame.
Zachary Patterson got a leadoff double and Logan singled to start the inning, but Patterson couldn’t advance on the play. Vocque popped up to third base and Morris bunted the runners into scoring position. Casey Vaughan then popped up to the pitcher’s mound to end the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Hopkins got things started again for the Colts with another leadoff single to left field. Weigle walked and Huckaby bunted the runners into scoring position. Boone grounded to second base to score Hopkins, and Gosser then got his third RBI of the game with a single to centerfield.
Boone got the win on the mound, going the distance for the Colts. He gave up seven hits and two earned runs while striking out four and issuing no walks.
Logan took the loss for Cabot. He gave up just five hits in five innings, walking one and fanning four NLR Colt batters.
Cabot plays at 6 p.m. tonight at Russellville and begins play in the Jacksonville tournament on Thursday. North Little Rock opens play in the Jacksonville tournament at 5 p.m. today.
