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Baseball Bears Draw Top Seed In Class 3, District 10 Tournament

The Ava Bears dropped three decisions in baseball action this week. Next action for the Bears will be in the Ash Grove Tournament this weekend.

All three losses this week were to non-conference teams.

On Thursday, the Bears were in Rogersville where they dropped a 6-3 decision. Coach Rex Sawyer said his Bears played well, and lost to a very good Wildcats team.

Zach Leonard was 2-for-4 at the plate for Ava and scored a run. Driving in runs for the Bears were Chase Gastineau, Ben Loge and Jesse Johnson.

Loge pitched for Ava and went the distance; he struck out five while walking three Rogersville batters.

On Monday the Bears hosted Forsyth in the final home game of the season.

Ava got off to a rocky start, giving up three runs in the first inning and lost 6-3.

After being blanked for three innings the Bears finally put runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring all three runs in that frame.

Kody Kutz started for the Bears and went six innings, striking out seven Forsyth hitters.

Cody Wallace pitched the seventh inning for Ava.

Jesse Johnson was 3-for-4 at the plate and made a dazzling defensive play in left field to end the seventh inning. On a hard-hit ball, Johnson ran the fly ball down and made the catch with his back to the infield for the third out with two runners on base.

Zach Leonard and Loge were each 2-for-4 and Dillon Adams was 2-for-2 with an RBI. Loge and Johnson also drove in one run each.

Tuesday afternoon the Bears were in Ozark County where they dropped a 3-2 decision to the Gainesville Bulldogs.

Leonard was 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Adams was 2-for-3 with a run batted in.

Loge pitched for the Bears, allowing eight hits and four walks. Loge also struck out five in the game.

The Bears will play Ash Grove at 10 a.m. this Saturday to open the Ash Grove Tournament. At 12:30 the Bears will face Marionville, and on Monday, as the tournament continues, the Bears will play Fordland at 4:30.

Finals are scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, beginning with the third place game at 4:30, with the championship game at 7 p.m.

Coach Sawyer attended the district seeding meeting Wednesday, with district tournament action to begin Saturday, May 12, at Houston.

The Bears will enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed and will play the winner of the Cuba-St. James game at 2 p.m. Monday, May 14.

 

Tournament seeding by placement includes Ava, Mtn. Grove, Salem, Cuba, St. James, Houston and Liberty.

Ava has a first-round bye in the seven-team tournament.