RISON - Noah Matheson tossed a one-hitter and the Rison Wildcats were aggressive on the base paths as they knocked off the McGehee Owls, 4-0, to claim the 8-2A conference championship on a rainy Friday afternoon at Wildcat Field.Rison Head Coach Chad Cope, in his second season at the helm of his alma mater’s baseball program, led the Wildcats to their first conference title in 21 years and only the third since the school started its baseball program in the early 1990s.The Wildcats’ last league championship came in 2004 when Rison shared the 7-2A East title with Hampton. The Wildcats, however, were league’s no. 1 seed going into the regional tournament that year.Rison and DeWitt both finished with 11-1 marks in conference action this year, but the ‘Cats get the nod for the overall no. 1 seed by virtue of its four-run victory at DeWitt compared to the Dragons’ two-run win at Rison.By virtue of earning the 8-3A’s top seed, Rison will face the Smackover Buckaroos, the no. 4 seed from the 7-3A conference, at 3 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the Class 3A Region 4 Tournament at Ashdown.A victory Thursday give the Wildcats one of four bids from the Region 4 Tournament to advance to the Class 3A State Tournament set May 15-17 at Greenland High School.The winner of the Rison-Smackover game will face the winner between winner of the Ashdown-McGehee at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Ashdown.Smackover is 14-10 overall and finished 4-4 in conference play. The Buckaroos finished fourth in the 7-3A District Tournament. They beat Fouke 3-2 in the first round last Thursday before falling to Ashdown, 16-0, in the semifinals on Friday and then to Bismarck, 6-2, in the third-place game on Saturday.After his team gathered for a photo beneath the scoreboard following their win over McGehee to win the conference title, Cope reflected on what the program has been able to achieve over the past two seasons.“...
To access content, please login or purchase a subscription.