Bluejays win season opener

PORTAGEVILLE -- The Portageville Bulldogs and the Charleston Bluejays baseball teams dusted off the cobwebs on Monday afternoon as they took to the field in Portageville for opening day. The Bluejays featured junior hurler Jamie Barber who went the distance giving Charleston the victory 3-1.

The game was deadlocked 0-0 until the top of the fourth when Zach Rowland got things started with a double to left field. Garrison Eastman and James Miller then both struck out, leaving Eric Rowling at the plate with two outs in the book.

Rowling then stroked a single to left field and an errant throw by left fielder Bruce Mathis went by Portageville catcher Mikey Johnson allowing Rowland's pinch runner Nick Johnson to score the go ahead run.

The Bulldogs quickly answered in their own half of the fourth.

TJ Smith led things off with a walk, then a few pitches later, reached second base on a delayed steal.

Cody Cook, who started on the hill for Portageville, then flied out to shallow left field, followed by Brandon Dennison who went down swinging.

With two outs already recorded, it was freshman Caden Robbins who ripped a double down the left field line bringing in Smith to even the score at one run apiece.

Paul Johnson led off the top of the fifth for Charleston, then quickly stole second. Colin Gilooly belted a double down the line in left to bring in Johnson to go up 2-1. Gilooly was then caught stealing, and at the end of the Bluejay half of the fifth, two runners were left stranded.

Charleston added one more in the top of the sixth on another Gilooly sacrifice fly to left field that brought in James Miller who doubled to start the inning. The home team, Portageville, could only come up with three more hits in the last three frames, bringing across no more runs as they fell in the season opener 3-1.

Bluejays head coach Michael Minner was content with his team's performance in the season debut.

"I tell you what, I couldn't be more pleased after not being able to be outside on the field as much," said Minner on the victory. "Jamie Barber steps in, in mid-season form and goes seven innings. He pumped strikes down the zone all day, and they continued to swing."

Barber threw all seven innings, allowing just one earned run, on five hits, while racking up nine strikeouts, and was awarded the win for the Charleston.

Leading the way at the plate for the Bluejays was Eric Rowling and Zach Rowland.

Rowling was 3-for-4 on the day, with three singles and an RBI, while Rowland was 2-for-4 with a single, a double and a run scored.

Gilooly picked up two RBI on a single and a sacrifice fly.

"We did enough at the plate," said Minner. "Hopefully we're going to do some things better at the plate, but I was very pleased for the first day out."

For Portageville, head coach Lee Wallace said that though the season is young, his club just wasn't as ready as Charleston was to play on Monday.

"We knew Charleston was going to be an improved ball club," said Wallace on the loss. "They drew walks, sacrificed and moved runners over. They out-hit us, they drew walks and we made more errors. That's a bad combination to try to win a ball game."

The Bulldogs were charged with four errors in the contest, while the Bluejays recorded just one.

Cody Cook was handed the loss for Portageville, throwing five innings, allowing two earned runs, on seven hits and two walks. Cook struck out six in the five innings he tossed.

Brandon Dennison threw two innings in relief, giving up one earned run on three hits.

At the dish, Smith was 2-for-2 with two singles, a walk and a run scored. Smith also recorded two stolen bases.

Robbins was 1-for-3 at the plate with a single and the lone RBI for the Bulldogs.

"Just like anybody else, we haven't been out as much as we would've liked," said Wallace. "We've got to go back to work, work some things out and get some people going."

Portageville (0-1) is scheduled to play North Pemiscot today, weather permitting, while Charleston (1-0) will face East Prairie on Thursday in another road game. Both games are scheduled for 4 p.m. starts.

Charleston 3, Portageville 1

Charleston 000 111 0 -- 3

Portageville 000 100 0 -- 1

WP -- Jamie Barber (1-0); LP -- Cody Cook (0-1); 2B -- (Charleston) Paul Johnson, Colin Gilooly, Zach Rowland, James Miller, (Portageville) Caden Robbins.

ADVANCE -- The Chaffee Red Devils defeated the Advance Hornets in seven innings on Monday afternoon by a final score of 9-0.

The visiting Red Devils recorded three runs in the first inning, four in the fourth and two more in the fifth.

Chaffee's Jared Steger was 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI, while teammate Andy Hendrix was 2-for-3 with three RBI. The two combined for four of the Red Devil's seven hits in the game.

Freshman Andrew Dooley took the victory for Chaffee, going five innings, allowing just three hits and one walk, while striking out eight.

Aaron Horrell threw two innings in relief, giving up no runs and no hits, while striking out two.

Advance pitcher Adam Cato was handed the loss.

The Red Devils recorded nine stolen bases in the victory.

Up next for Chaffee (1-0) is another home game, Wednesday at 4 p.m., against the Cape Central Tigers.

Chaffee 9, Advance 0

Chaffee 300 420 0 -- 9

Advance 000 000 0 -- 0

WP -- Andrew Dooley; LP -- Adam Cato; 2B -- (Chaffee) Horman, Jared Steger 2, Andy Hendrix.