Marion baseball starts 2024 campaign with a pair of wins

Patriots top Stuttgart, Jonesboro to begin new season

By Chuck Livingston

Marion School District

Marion opened its 2024 baseball season with a pair of victories last week at home.

And as usual, the Patriot pitching took center stage.

Marion won on Opening Day, dispatching Stuttgart 8-1 on Tuesday, February 27 as five Patriot pitchers combined to throw a no-hitter, while recording 17 of the 21 outs via strikeout.

The Pats were back at it on Friday, March 1, when the Pats scored the game's first four runs and held off old league rival Jonesboro 4-2.

Marion's hurlers were tough to crack against Jonesboro again, surrendering just two hits, two runs, only one being earned, and sitting down 11 Hurricanes on strikes.

Against Stuttgart, Marion struck for a single run in the bottom of the second, and the Pats scored seven times in the home half of the fourth to earn some separation.

Arkansas-Little Rock signee Davis York, Carson Catt, Coleman Barnett, and Landon Miller came up with Marion's four hits against the Ricebirds, while Parker Nash scored two runs, and Matthew Kearney, Hudson McKewen, Solomon Flores, Tyler Carey, Catt, and Brody Byrd also scored. York drove in two runs, while Miller came up with one RBI.

Junior Central Arkansas commit Cohen Bumbaugh started the Stuttgart game and struck out all three batters that he faced before giving way to Nash, who struck out four Ricebirds in two innings of work.

Nash gave way to York, who struck out five of six batters, and Catt recorded the last five outs, with four bowing out on strikes.

Marion broke through against Stuttgart when Nash reached on an error with one out in the bottom of the second, and he scored on Miller's clutch twoout base hit as Marion took a 1-0 lead after two frames.

That lead held until the bottom of the fourth when Marion rallied up again. The uprising started when York walked, Catt singled, and Nash reached on an error, loading the bags with nobody out.

Flores scored on a fielder's

See PATS, page A9

Photo by Christy Catt PATS

From page A7

choice, and Byrd reached on catcher's interference just before Catt scored on a passed ball for a 3-0 lead.

With two outs, Kearney was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, and Nash came down on a wild pitch before Byrd and Kearney scored on the same passed ball as the hosts went ahead 6-0.

That's when York struck a double that plated McKewen and Carey for an 8-0 bulge after four.

Stuttgart took advantage of a walk and an error to tally its run in the top of the sixth, and Catt extricated the Pats from the jam by striking out the last two Ricebirds, and the first two of the top of the seventh before inducing a fly out to center field to end the game.

Four Marion pitchers proved to be almost as stingy against Jonesboro on Friday as Bumbaugh, York, and Nash fired two innings apiece with 10 combined strikeouts, before giving way to Catt, who recorded the save by working the seventh.

The Patriot offense started early again against Jonesboro, when Nash struck a one-out single, stole second, and scored on a throwing error for a 1-0 Marion lead after one frame.

MHS rallied up again in the third when Flores singled and Kearney was hit by a pitch leading off that frame, giving the Pats two runners on with nobody out.

York plated Flores with a ground out, and Kearney came down on a passed ball as the hosts pushed their lead to 3-0.

Kearney cracked a one-out triple in the bottom of the fifth and scored on a York single with two outs.

The visitors struck for single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, and the tying run came to the plate in the top of the seventh before Catt retried the last two batters to snuff out the rally.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Marion hosts Brookland and Morrilton on Saturday at First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas Stadium. MHS plays Brookland at 10 a.m., then Brookland and Morrilton will play around 12:30 p.m. Marion caps the day by playing Morrilton at 3 p.m.

Those games will not be broadcast.

Marion opens conference play on Tuesday, March 12 when the Pats play a doubleheader at Searcy, with the first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m. The Searcy doubleheader will be broadcast live on MarionPatriots.com or the Marion Patriots Activities Network YouTube channel.