Caden Stovall, Alex Skelley, Hunter Holt and Tanner Newell each had three hits as[more] Landers Chrysler rode a fast start to an 11-6 win over the Action Sports Pix A’s in Bryant Athletic Association Rookie League action Thursday night at Bishop Park.
The A’s were paced at the plate by Gage Horn, Lee Eskridge and Dakota Bunt with two hits apiece. Eskridge drove in four of the team’s runs.
Landers broke out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Stovall singled, stole second and scored on a double by Skelley. Holt then circled the bases for an inside-the-park homer. Newell doubled and scored on a two-out single by Justin Burney.
The A’s countered with a three-run second. Jayden Everett got the uprising started with a base hit to center. With one out, Bunt doubled to left then Eskridge chased both home with a triple. Landen Kuhn picked up an RBI with a groundout that got Eskridge home.
But Landers put together another four-run frame in the second to take a commanding 8-3 lead. Griffin Gossett and Ross Holloway singled him to third then swiped second. Stovall singled in a run then Skelley doubled in another. RBI singles by Holt and Newell capped off the inning.
ASP was unable to cut into the margin in the top of the third and Landers tacked on a run on a double by Julius McClellan, a single by Ryan Harmon and an RBI groundout by Burney.
A two-out rally by the A’s whittled on the margin. Braxton Fischer’s single and Bunt’s double set the table for Eskridge’s two-run double. Kuhn singled but both he and Eskridge were stranded as Landers escaped further damage for the moment.
But ASP held in the bottom of the inning and trimmed another run off the margin in the top of the fifth. Again, with two down, C.J. Nagle beat out an infield hit then, after stealing second, scored on Horn’s triple.
Landers, however, put the game out of reach (with the four-run maximum per inning) with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Newell had the finishing blow, a two-run double, chasing in Skelley, who had singled, and Holt, who had smacked a two-bagger.
