Benton Academy’s baseball Raiders defeated Winona Christian 16-10 on Thursday night’s home contest to send the seniors off with a win.
Winona Christian led off the game with a double before another double allowed them to add their first run on the evening, giving them a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the first inning, Cody Prescott led off with a walk and moved to second on a balk before an error allowed him to take third. A Tolar Purvis RBI single and Hayden Middleton sac fly gave Benton a 2-1 lead.
An error and a pair of hits helped the Stars take a 3-2 lead in the top of the second.
Bruner Chandler was hit by a pitch to start the bottom half of the second inning and that started a wave of walks, hits, and passed balls that allowed Benton to regain a 5-3 lead.
The Stars struck back in the top of the third with a run to cut the lead to 5-4, but a pair of walks, a hit by pitch, and an RBI single by Bruner Chandler set up a grand slam by Clark Saxton, making it a 10-4 game.
But there was a refusal to quit from the Stars, and on the third pitch of the fourth inning, a solo home run cut Benton’s lead to 10-5. That was followed by a walk, an error, and an RBI single to make it 10-6.
In the bottom of the fourth, Purvis walked, Middleton was hit by a pitch, and Zac Nesbit walked to set up a Bruner Chandler walk that would allow Purvis to score; Cole Ables then got on base due to an error, which allowed Middleton to score; Prescott hit into a fielder’s choice, allowing Nesbit to score; and Blackstock hit an RBI single to bring home J.B. Middleton, giving them a 15-6 lead.
Winona Christian responded with another run in the fifth to make it 15-7.
A single by Bruner Chandler and a stolen base set up Cole Ables to bring home the final run of the season for the Raiders with an RBI single to bring the score to 16-7.
The Stars scored three more runs in the top of the seventh, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Benton took the game 16-10.
The Raiders ended the season with a 9-11 record.
