Wildcats Lock Up No. 2 Seed With 7-1 Road Win at McGehee

McGEHEE - Noah Matheson hurled a three-hitter and struck out 12 as the Rison Wildcats locked up the 8-3A’s no. 2 seed with a convincing 7-1 win over the McGehee Owls last Friday at McGehee for their sixth straight victory.The Wildcats will now face the Genoa Central Dragons, the no. 3 seed from the 7-3A conference, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 7, in the first round of the Class 3A Region 4 Tournament at Bismarck. Rison enters the game with an 8-10 overall mark. The Wildcats had their six-game win streak snapped Monday in their final regular season game at DeWitt, the 8-3A champions.Genoa Central comes into the Thursday’s regional game with a 13-10-1 record overall. The Dragon finished third in the 7-2A District Tournament last week, falling to Ashdown 3-2 in the first game and beating Bismarck 14-8 in the third-place game.Should Rison pull off the win Thursday, the ‘Cats would earn  berth in the Class 3A State Tournament to be held next week at Harrison. The state tournament is being hosted by Bergman High School.Rison and McGehee entered last Friday’s game in a battle for second place in the conference. The Wildcats had won their previous matchup at Rison, 3-2, on April 14.This one was not nearly as close as Rison plated six runs in the top of the first inning to take early control.Trent Southerland and Matheson both drew walks to start the game before Mason Weaver’s sacrifice but moved them to second and third. An error on Brayden Terry’s grounder allowed both runners to score making it 2-0.CJ Edwards followed with a walk and Easton Billings then singled to bring Terry home. Brody Howard followed with a ground out that scored Billings to make it 4-0.Logan McGarity then walked and Kyson Walker was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Southerland then singled into left to drive in two more runs to make it 6-0.Rison’s final run came in the top of the fourth when Weaver sin...