Playing their first games of the season, the Texarkana Indians put up a good fight before the Texarkana Razorbacks pulled out a pair of victories at Joe Blagg Field Sunday in Ed Worrell Memorial Park.
The Razorbacks (4-0) tallied four run in the bottom of the fifth to win the first game, 7-4, and rallied from a 7-5 deficit to claim an 11-7 victory in the second game.
The Arkansas team begins Zone play Tuesday with a doubleheader against Benton starting at 6 p.m. at Joe Blagg Field.
"Offensively we're clicking, doing the things we need to win games," said Razorback coach Dane Peavy. "Hunter Lewis (second game starter) hasn't pitched in three weeks and had some problems. Logan Vidrine did a great job in relief."
Vidrine shut down the Indians without a run over the final 4 2/3 innings.
Coach Peavy was recently selected area Coach of the year by the Shreveport Times for his coaching at North Webster High School.
Game 1
Both teams had a shaky start defensively and on the mound with the Razorbacks holding a 3-2 advantage after the first inning.
After the Indians tied the game, 3-3, in the second frame, the pitchers took over and it remained that way until the fifth inning.
The Texas team scored a run in the top of the fifth, taking advantage of two Razorback errors, to go on top, 4-3.
The Indians took the lead after the two errors, a failed fielder's choice play at third, and a walk to Nick Anderson loaded the bases with no outs. But Justin Swecker retired the next batter on a short fly ball to right, and struck out the next two.
The Razorbacks scored four runs on four hits in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead, 7-4.
After Riley Orr reached on an error, leadoff batter Matt Goodheart drilled a home run to right-center to take the lead, 5-4. Texarkana added two more runs on a double by Nick Myers, and singles by Blake Hall and Will Smith.
Indians 210 010 0 - 4 7 3
Razorbacks 300 040 x - 7 6 5
Jared Roberts, Justin Hill (5), Colton Russell (5) and John Michael Russ. Justin Swecker and Cole Boyd. WP-Swecker. LP-Hill.
Game 2
The Razorbacks scored in every inning in their six at-bats.
Each team collected 13 hits, but the downfall for the Indians was six errors.
"We have a lot of work to do," said Indians coach Jimmy Phillips. "We're going to take a lot of ground balls. "We can hit, but the errors were our letdown."
The Razorbacks jumped on top early again with three runs in the first inning.
The Indians got two runs back in the top of the second on two hits, before the Razorbacks answered with two in the bottom half of the frame.
The Indians came out swinging in the third frame, banging out five straight hits, and taking a 7-5 lead.
Colton Dotson led things off with a double, which was followed with singles by Nick Kelly, J.T. Morgan, Nick Anderson, and Grant McNeil for the first three of its five runs. A sacrifice fly by John Michael Russ knocked in the fourth run, and a single by Trevor Cox drove in the final run.
Vidrine came on in relief in that inning, and shut down the Indians from then on, allowing no runs on five hits while striking out nine.
The Razorbacls drew within, 7-6, with a run in the bottom of third and took the lead, 8-7, with two runs on three hits in the fourth.
With one away in the fourth, Austin Stubber and Tanner Vaught singled before Nick Anderson recorded the second out. Cole Boyd singled in the first run, and an error produced the go-ahead run, 8-7.
The Razorbacks continued to pull away with a run in the fifth, and added two more in the sixth.
Indians 025 000 0 - 7 13 6
Razorbacks 321 212 x - 11 13 0
Jamie Viatkus, Nick Anderson (3), Colton Russell (5) and John Michael Russ. Hunter Lewis, Logan Vidrine (3) and Will Smith. WP-Vidrine. LP Anderson.