The Ava High School Baseball Bears scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning here Tuesday night to defeat Houston 9-8 in SCA action.
The Bears are 3-3 in league play with a game at Mtn. View-Liberty today (Thursday) to wrap up the conference. The Bears will host Mansfield on Friday and will play in the Ash Grove Tournament Saturday before starting district play at Salem next week.
Trae Shelton was 3-for-5 at the plate Tuesday with a home run and a triple, and two runs batted in. Jeff Smalley was 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Shelton also started the game for Ava on the mound and pitched 5 1/3 inning before giving way to Cody Wallace who finished the game and got the win.
The Houston game was the nightcap of a double-header for the Bears. After a week of rain, the Bears took advantage of a sunny day and played Gainesville at 4:30, before Houston came in for the second game.
Ava defeated Gainesville 11-1 in six innings.
Zach Leonard was 3-for-4 in the Gainesville game with four RBIs and two runs scored. Leonard had a single, a double and a triple in the contest.
Austin Casey was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Jesse Johnson was 2-for-3 with one RBI and two runs scored.
Kody Kutz gave up four Bulldogs hits and struck out five batters.
On April 26, the Bears traveled to Dora and took a 7-5 non-conference loss.
Casey had two of Ava’s four hits and drove in two runs.
Shelton was 1-for-2 with a double and hit by pitches twice in the game.
Shelton pitched for Ava and struck out seven Falcon batters.
Tuesday was also Senior Night for the Bears, with Shelton, Taylor Coonts and Garrett Baird recognized before the start of the Gainesville game.
