LEESVILLE—Missed offensive opportunities offensively with key pitching and defensive plays defined the game Monday night when South Beau travelled to Leesville for summer baseball. South Beau managed to capitalize a little more on offense and won 3-1.

“Great game played by both teams,” South Beau head coach Jeremy Walker said. “We both left a lot of guys in scoring position. We both had great pitching tonight (Monday). [Tell] Hunt did an amazing job on the mound.

Tell Hunt started the game for South Beau (1-4), pitched six innings, recorded seven strikeouts, gave up four walks and one run.

Tyler Moses closed the game for South Beau by pitching the seventh inning and striking out all three hitters.

“It was a failure on our part to demonstrate we could hit in certain situations,” Leesville head coach Kyle Walter said, noting runners were on base. However, he said Leesville’s approach diminished at the plate as hitters only tried to advance runners.

South Beau led 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning when its defense stopped a Leesville (1-6) scoring opportunity.

Zack Squyers doubled to lead off the bottom of the first inning for Leesville. He was at third base with one out when Hunt threw a wild pitch to Leesville’s Colton Honeycutt. South Beau catcher Cade Addison got the ball at the backstop threw it to Hunt, who tagged Squyers out trying to score.

Then Honeycutt struck out to end the inning.

South Beau’s defense came through once again in the bottom of the second inning. Josh Kiana led off the inning with a walk for Leesville and attempted to score on a Jacob Chambers single to center.

Chambers was unable to score because Moses, who was playing center field for South Beau, threw the ball to the catcher Addison. Addison tagged Chambers for the second out of the inning and South Beau still led 1-0.

“We didn’t allow them to get anything extra tonight (Monday),” Walker said. “Pitching put us in a position tonight to win this game.”

Walker said the good pitching also put Moses in position to make that throw from center field and stop Leesville from scoring.

“That’s what it takes to win ball games and that’s what we finally learned to do,” Walker said.
Leesville was missing opportunities and South Beau remained ahead. At the same time, Leesville’s pitching gave its offense a chance to come back. The starting pitcher went five innings, gave up three runs, two walks, one hit by a pitch and recorded seven strikeouts. Squyres pitched the final two innings for Leesville, struck out two hitters, gave up one walk and one hit by a pitch.

“Our pitching staff did a great job tonight (Monday),” Walter said, noting they were in full zone, did what they could and gave up just three walks for the entire game. “I was proud of them.”

South Beau took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but it could have been more.

Hunt doubled to deep left field and Cody Ivey came in as a courtesy runner. Cody Ivey scored on a Ricky Ivey RBI double.

Leesville managed to end the inning on a double play.

Addison reached base for South Beau on a fielder’s choice. He was attempting a sacrifice bunt.

He tried to score when Pryce Fontenot flied out to center field. However, Leesville’s center fielder Cori Alexander threw the ball to the catcher Honeycutt, who tagged Addison out at home plate to end the inning.

In the top of the third inning, Addison and Rickey Ivey both singled for South Beau and were left on base.

South Beau took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Moses walked and scored the second run when Kory Lambert stole second base for South Beau and Leesville threw the ball into the outfield. Lambert reached base on a fielder’s choice.

Leesville did cut South Beau’s lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning. Honeycutt singled to center and scored on an RBI sacrifice fly.

Hunt struck out the next two hitters to end the inning.

Josh Hunt singled to center for South Beau in the top of the fifth inning and scored on a Ricky Ivey sacrifice fly to increase the lead to 3-1.

A pitch hit Josh Hunt in the top of the seventh inning for South Beau and Tell Hunt followed with a single to center. Both runners were stranded, but South Beau had all the runs it needed to secure the victory.

South Beau is back in action at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 30 when it hosts Rosepine.

OTHER STATISTICS
•For South Beau, Rickey Ivey was 1-for-1 with two RBIs, one double, one hit by a pitch and one sacrifice fly.
•For South Beau, Addison went 2-for-3 with two singles and a sacrifice bunt.
•For South Beau, Moses went 1-for-1 with a single two walks, one run and one stolen base.
•For Leesville, Kiana went 1-for-2 with a walk and a double.
•For Leesville, Ty Helton went 0-for-1 with two walks.
•For Leesville, Honeycutt went 1-for-3 with a single and a run.