CCS baseball hangs on to beat Abundant Life

By Chelsea Stockdale
UCA sportswriting

CONWAY — Conway Christian survived a 2A-5 North battle with rival Abundant Life Thursday night for a 16-13 conference win.

The Eagles improved to 9-6 overall and 2-0 in league play.

The Owls started with sophomore catcher Gunner Allen getting kicked out of the game for language behind home plate. However, senior Cody Ward stepped up to the plate and slapped two home runs for five RBIs.

The Eagles held on strongly, though, tying the game at 6-6 in the fourth inning after taking four walks and junior Jacob Ratcliff's RBI double. They continued to dominate offensively with four more runs in the fifth. This meant the Eagles had to hold onto their lead while Abundant Life battled, but CCS remained on top.

“In the fifth inning we did a good job at taking what the pitcher gave us," CCS coach Shane Davis said. "We took our walks and had some timely hitting. We did a good job at getting runners in.”

Senior Ezra Wiley took the win, going six innings with five strikeouts and three walks. Senior Lance Nail came in for relief, striking out the last two batters with the bases loaded for the victory and the save.

“This is a big rival game," Davis said. "These guys ended our basketball season for us by two points, so that was added motivation to beat them this year. We know these guys have a big-time tradition of baseball, and we knew coming in they could hit it, but their area of concern is pitching and that really showed today.”

Junior Tyler Ratcliff was on top of his hitting game, going 2-for-2 at bat with two doubles and two RBIs. Junior Jacob Callaway scored two runs, and senior Kirby Powell added two RBIs and two runs scored. Seniors Lance Nail and Ashton Robinson each scored three times.

The Eagles are scheduled to play in the South Nemo Classic over the weekend.