Black evens Fall World Series behind Battles' bat

FAYETTEVILLE — Jalen Battles provided all the offense the Black team needed to even up the Fall World Series on Wednesday.

The junior college transfer tied the game with a solo home run and then drove in the game-winning run on an RBI single in the sixth inning, lifting the Black team to a 2-1 win over the Red team at Baum-Walker Stadium. The result ties the seven-game series at two games apiece.

Those were two of only six total hits the teams combined for in the seven-inning scrimmage, as pitching had its best day of the series so far.

Freshman Jaxon Wiggins, a 6-foot-6 right-hander, was charged with the only run allowed by the Black team. He gave up just one hit and walked three in 3 ⅓ innings.

He was followed by Miller Pleimann (1 ⅔ innings), Nate Wohlgemuth (1 inning) and Elijah Trest (1 inning), who combined to allow only two base runners over the final 3 ⅔ innings.

On the flip side, corona-freshman Blake Adams went four innings for the Red team, with his only blemish being the aforementioned Battles home run.

In the sixth inning, Cayden Wallace drew a one-out, four-pitch walk against Evan Gray. The right-hander’s command issues continued into the next at bat, as a wild pitch moved Wallace into scoring position. That set up Battles’ game-winning hit.

It was a much different game than the first three in the series, in which the Razorbacks combined for 50 runs.

Game 4 MVP

Known more for his glove at shortstop, Battles delivered at the plate Wednesday afternoon.

Even when he didn’t get a hit, as was the case in his first at bat, the San Antonio native made contact.

After taking a slider, Battles got a barrel and on an Adams fastball up in the zone. However, he hit it to center and it got up into the wind, which knocked it down and turned it into a fly out.

The next time he got up to the plate, he took another off-speed pitch before making Adams pay for leaving another fastball up. He crushed it and it landed in the Hog Pen beyond the left field fence.

“I kind of squared it up to left,” Battles said. “Usually if you hit it to left, it’s gone, so I already knew it was going to be out. The first one, I thought it was going to have a chance, but I was still running hard out of the box, just in case.”