WARREN, Ark. (5/5/25) – The Warren Lumberjacks baseball squad defeated Malvern 16-1 in its final tune-up before the 4A-4 Regional Tournament and honored its six seniors Monday evening at the Warren Sports Complex.
By Dennen Cuthbertson, SRN Baseball Contributor
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The Lumberjacks improve to 16-6 overall and look ahead to Thursday, May 8 when the 4A-4 Regional Tournament gets underway. Warren is the second seed from the 4A-8 and will play the regional host De Queen at 12:30 p.m. Malvern fell to 10-13 overall, but finished second in the 4A-5 South conference and will also play in regional action Thursday.
Prior to the ballgame, the Jacks honored their six seniors with a ceremony on the field. Hayden Cathey, Kolby Pope, Nathan Spears, Bryson Harris, and Mason Wardlaw all donned the Orange and Black in front of a home crowd for the final time, while Antonio (AJ) Jordan was recognized as well, but was not in attendance due to the 4A State Track Meet.
Spears sat the Leopards down in order in the top of the first and the Jacks offense scored three in the bottom half, highlighted by a RBI single by Hayden Cathey and RBI double by Jude Cathey. Malvern appeared poised to get some of it back in the next frame after loading the bases with no outs. However, Spears worked some magic with two strikeouts sandwiched around a short fly out to right field to keep the Leopards off the scoreboard.
The Lumberjacks began the bottom of the second with three straight singles from Tucker McDiarmid, Aceen Jurado, and Pope before Harris drove in two runs with a double to make the score 5-0. Ren Reep then swatted a three-run triple to the right-center gap to extend the lead to 8-0. The Leopards would score their only run of the contest on a RBI single in the top of the third to get within 8-1.
The home team batted around in the bottom half of the third inning with six runs coming across. Harris drove in two runs on a base knock while Spears and Reep drove in a run apiece before another double by Jude Cathey plated two more runs to push the score to 14-1. Pope tripled home a run in the fourth and Harris picked up another RBI on what should have been a groundout to push the score to 16-1. Malvern went 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth with a fly ball to Wardlaw in left field clinching the win for the Orange and Black.
Warren registered 17 hits in the game to just three for the visitors. Pope and Reep each tallied three hits, including a triple apiece, while Pope, Jurado, and Spears all scored three times each. Harris led the team with five RBIs followed by Reep (four) and Jude Cathey (three).
Spears tossed the first three innings to earn the win on the mound and allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts against two walks. Parker O’Neal pitched a scoreless fourth inning with two punchouts, while Hayden Cathey recorded the final three outs on the bump.
Warren will take on another set of Leopards to open the 4A-4 Regional Tournament Thursday, May 8 when they play host De Queen at 12:30 p.m. The winner of the game will clinch a berth in the 4A State Tournament.
More Photos from Senior Day:
