CONWAY, Ark. - In an American Legion Arkansas state baseball tournament where three of the four favorites took opening losses, the Texarkana Razorbacks were eliminated on Day 2.
The Hogs endured a 2-hour weather delay during their 5-2 loss to defending state champion Fort Smith Sunday at UCA's Bear Stadium and never got any momentum after play resumed.
Texarkana finished its summer with a 23-11 record.
"It was about the same thing as it was yesterday: we out-hit our opponent by 4 or 5 hits, we just weren't getting the hits when we truly needed them," Razorback head coach Matt Riddle said. "We kept getting runners on base and into scoring position; we just couldn't round those hits up.
"It was a heckuva season with these guys. They put forth all the effort. We just came up short. At the end of the day, I would take this group of guys to battle any day."
The Sportsmen grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first after a pair of walks to start the frame. After a short fly to left, a sac fly to center scored the initial run. Jaxon McTyre lined an RBI single to center to make it 2-0.
Texarkana, which stranded two on in the first, got the bats with one down. Jordan Nelson beat an infield single up the middle, and Derek Hilton lined a single to left-center.
With two outs, Tyler Lawrence's single to left plated Nelson, and Seth Phillips grounded a hit up the middle to tie the game. A walk loaded the bases before a strikeout ended the rally.
Eli Reichert, the No. 9 batter in the Fort Smith lineup, singled with one out in the bottom of the second, stole second and scored on Hayden Roark's hit to right to make it 3-2.
The Sportsmen loaded the bases in the third with no outs, and a sac fly made it 4-2. After a hit put three runners on, again, Phillips notched two strikeouts to end the threat.
After 4 1-2 innings of play, lightning halted play and rain and lightning kept the teams in the dugouts for just over 2 hours. The Razorbacks went three up, three down in their final two innings.
Following the weather delay, Fort Smith extended its lead with Reed Carroll belting a solo home run in the sixth inning.