Suffering their worst loss of the year to open 5A South Conference play in a 9-2 defeat to the Sheridan Yellowjackets in mid-March, the Benton Panthers exacted revenge Tuesday in a 10-0, five-inning shutout win at Everett Field at Panthers Stadium.
The Panthers improve to 6-2 in the South, 13-4 overall, and gave the Yellowjackets (17-4, 9-1) their first loss in conference play. Benton is now tied with the Lakeside Rams, the Panthers’ opponent on Thursday, at 6-2, with Texarkana third at 7-3.
“With a team like this, you can’t stop,” Benton Coach Mark Balisterri said of putting it on the Yellowjackets. “You get a 5-run lead, you’re not safe. We did what we needed to do. We needed to keep pouring it on.”
Benton senior Jesse Barker pitched a complete-game shutout Tuesday while the Panther offense got the job done at the plate as senior Logan Easterling got the ball rolling in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI double to knock in junior Jaden Woolbright, who walked, from first base for the 1-0 lead after one.
“Barker did a great job, he kept them off-balance, we played really good defense behind him and came up with really big hits,” Balisterri said.
Barker struck out the side in the second inning and the Benton offense got back to work against Sheridan starter Tyler Cacciatori in the third. Senior Peyton Pallette reached with one out after being hit by a pitch and went to second on sophomore Aidan Garrett’s single. After a strikeout for the second out, Easterling was hit by a pitch to load the bases before a balk plated Pallette for the 2-0 lead.
Junior Peyton Hudgins followed with an RBI single to left field, but the Yellowjacket left fielder allowed the ball to slip under his glove, letting courtesy runner Kip Tracy to score and Hudgins coming all the way around to score, with Benton leading 5-0 after three.
Cacciatori’s day was done after three innings, but sophomore reliever Brandon Arledge had even less success in the bottom of the fourth inning vs. the Panthers. Benton sophomore Tristan Hawkins doubled to start the inning and senior Wes Guerra singled sending Hawkins to third. Pallette singled Hawkins in for the 6-0 game before an error by the Sheridan third baseman allowed Guerra to score.
Woolbright walked, Easterling was hit by a pitch and Pallette scored on a passed ball for the 8-0 advantage. Twin brother Caleb Easterling would cap Benton’s scoring with a 2-run single to right field for the 10-0 game as Barker shut down the Jackets in the fifth to invoke the sportsmanship rule of being up 10 runs after five innings.
Barker gave up five hits without walking a batter and struck out six in five innings for the win. Pallette went 1 for 2 with two runs and an RBI, Garrett was 1 for 2 with two runs, Caleb Easterling was 1 for 3 with two RBIs, Logan Easterling 1 for 1 with an RBI, Hudgins 1 for 3 with an RBI, and Hawkins and Guerra each added a hit in the win.
“This team, if we take care of ourselves and do the things we know we can do, we’ve got a chance of being really good,” Balisterri said. “When we lose our focus, things start to snowball on us pretty easily. If we can just keep our focus, pitch well and do everything like we’re supposed to do, we can do some good things. We’ve got all the elements. We just have to perform.”
The Panthers head to Hot Springs to take on the Lakeside Rams Thursday, weather pending.
“If we can get that one, we’ll have a real good chance of being in the driver’s seat for the one seed,” Balisterri said.