Apr 17, 2008

The Ava Bears improved their record to 7-1 this week with wins over Houston, Marshfield and Mtn. Grove. The Baseball Bears are 4-0 in conference play. The Bears got two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning at home against Mtn. Grove on April 9 and took a 2-1 SCA win from the Panthers. Mtn. Grove’s only run came in the top of the fifth inning. Weston Loftin threw for the Bears and struck out 11 Panther batters. Matt Ritter and Brandon Stanifer had RBIs for Ava with one hit apiece. Other Bears recording a hit apiece were Loftin and Brady Quackenbush. The Bears hosted Marshfield on Friday and picked up a 6-3 non-conference win over the Bluejays. Jonathan Batcheller pitched for Ava and got the win. Loftin was 1-for-2 at the plate and drove in two runs for Ava. Trey Hathcock also had an RBI, as did Nathan Goodall and Adam Heriford, who also scored two runs. The Bears traveled to Houston Monday and took a big shutout victory from the Tigers, 12-0. Loftin started for Ava and was relieved in the fifth inning by freshman Trae Shelton. Ava pitchers gave up only two hits on the day and the Bears committed no errors. The Bears pounded out 13 hits and Houston had four errors in the game. Heriford was 3-for-4 with a double and three runs batted in and Trey Hathcock was 2-for-3 with three RBIs on the day. Batcheller was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Loftin also had a three-hit day in four appearances, and drove in two runs for the Bears. The Bears are scheduled to play at Salem today (Thursday) and will travel to Rogersville on Friday. On Monday and Tuesday the Bears will be at Cabool and Mansfield, respectively.