Alva Review-Courier -

PERRY, Okla. – The Alva High School Goldbugs’ baseball team had a good start in the Hector Tovar Invitational that started on Thursday despite beginning with a loss against No. 18 of Class 3A, Lindsey.

Game One

Both teams were strong on the mound on Thursday, but Lindsey had a better showing at the plate as they picked up five hits against Alva’s three that was enough for the win.

Stanton Earnest and Max Parsons led Alva the plate against Lindsey hitting 1-for-2 while Parsons picked up the lone RBI of the game and Earnest the only run for the Goldbugs. T.W. Beiswanger picked up the other hit (1-for-4) for the Goldbugs.

After two innings went by scoreless for both teams, Lindsey was the first on the board in the top of the third after a sac bunt to pitcher, Ethan Swanson scored a runner to get the 0-1 lead over Alva.

Lindsey picked up their final run in the top of the fourth before Alva was able to respond in the bottom half of that inning. With one out and a runner at second, Parsons hits a double fly ball out to center field to score Earnest on the play and cut Lindsey’s lead to one run, 1-2.

Unfortunately, Alva wasn’t able to rally during the final four innings of the game and took their first loss of the Hector Tovar Invitational against Lindsey.

Ethan Swanson started on the mound for the Goldbugs pitching 4.0 innings allowing four hits and two runs, but striking out 10 hitters at the plate. T.W. Beiswanger came in to pitch 3.0 innings allowing one hit while striking out six.

Game Two

Despite taking a loss in their first game in Perry, Alva rallied big in game two on Thursday as they blew out Dewey in a 10-2 victory.

Though the first inning went by scoreless for both teams, Alva had their big inning in the bottom of the second with Parsons leading them off with a double fly ball out to center. A sac bunt from Earnest advanced Parsons to third, while a single fly ball out to right field from Chase Jones picked up Alva’s first run of the game.

Alva plated four more runners in that innings to get a five-run lead over Dewey.

Despite a two-run inning for Dewey in the top of the fourth, Alva continued to command the bats as they responded with four runs in the bottom-half of that inning to lead 9-2. Alva plated one more runner in the fifth to get the 10-2 win.

Jones led the Goldbugs at the plate hitting a perfect 2-for-2 for a single RBI and two runs. Other contributors at the plate were Zeth Warren (1-for-2, 1 run), Brooks Hadwiger (1-for-2, 1 RBI, 1 run) and Parsons (1-for-3, 1 run). Though Dalton Hess was 0-for-1 at the plate he added two RBIs and one run for the Goldbugs to contribute to the win.

On the mound, Earnest pitched all 5.0 innings for the win allowing three hits and two runs while walking five and striking out seven at the plate.

Game Three

The Alva Goldbugs picked up another big win on Friday as they faced off with Perry, grabbing an early lead in the first innings to lead them to a 6-1 victory.

After going three-up and three-down on defense, Alva plated their first two runners in the bottom-half of the first inning starting with Warren. After a wild pitch from Perry, Warren advanced across home for the first run of the game. Swanson was Alva’s second run of the innings off a hard ground ball from Jones to right field to lead the Maroons 2-0 at the end of the first.

The Goldbugs continued to see success at the plate as they plate one runner in the second and their three final runs in the third to get a commanding 6-0 lead.

Perry kept the game from being a shutout win for Alva after scoring their solo run in the top of the fifth, but they couldn’t gain enough traction to overcome that deficit. The Goldbugs picked up a five-run victory over their hosts, the Perry Maroons, 6-1.

The Goldbugs picked up eight hits against Perry with Warren leading the way hitting 2-for-3 to go with his two runs. Other contributors were Jacob Faulkner (1-for-2, 1 run), Swanson (1-for-2, 1 RBI, 1 run), Jones (1-for-2, 1 RBI, 1 run), Earnest (1-for-4), Dalton Rose (1-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 run) and Beiswanger (1-for-4, 1 RBI).

Rafferty Brown pitched all six innings to get the win allowing six hits and one run while striking out six at the plate.

Up next, the Goldbugs will host Newkirk on Monday, March 20, for a 5 p.m. game against Newkirk. They’ll then be back on the road on Tuesday to face Oklahoma Bible Academy at 4 p.m. Alva will face a tough opponent on Thursday, as they host No. 3 of Class B, Leedey at 4:30 p.m.