By Dennen Cuthbertson
WARREN, Ark. (3/13/26) – The Warren High School baseball team dropped its 2026 home opener by a score of 11-2 to Magnolia Friday evening in a nonconference clash at the Warren City Complex.
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The Lumberjacks (0-4) continued an early-season theme of not being able to get a timely hit despite solid contact, while the Panthers (5-3) saw two of their nine hits leave the yard.
Warren starter Parker O’Neal retired Magnolia in order on 10 pitches in the opening frame before the offense loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half. O’Neal stepped up to the plate and hit a hard groundball right to the shortstop to start a 6-4-3 double play as the Panthers escaped the threat. The visitors recorded a hit before the first two-run homer of the game made the score 2-0.
Magnolia kept the pressure on with three runs in the third inning on three hits and a couple of errors by the home team to push the score to 5-0. The Panthers added four more runs in the top of the fifth after Warren had retired the first two batters on two pitches. A couple of hit-by-pitches and three hits later the scoreboard read 9-0 in favor of Magnolia.
Warren loaded the bases again in the bottom of the sixth inning with two walks and a single, but a strikeout kept the Orange and Black off the scoreboard. Magnolia extended the lead to 11-0 in the top of the seventh with another two-run long ball. The Jacks put some more traffic on the basepaths in the final frame with Ty Hembree and Ren Reep scoring to get Warren on the scoreboard. A groundout to second base ended the threat to clinch an 11-2 victory for Magnolia.
The Lumberjacks were outhit by the Panthers 9-3, but the home team left 10 runners on base as they had opportunities to score. By contrast, Magnolia only had two runners left on base. O’Neal threw five innings for the Jacks and struck out three. Ryan Spears pitched the final two innings and struck out one.
Tucker McDiarmid went 1-for-3 from the leadoff spot with a walk, but hit the ball hard in his other two at-bats. Jackson Denton and Jude Cathey had the other two hits for the Lumberjacks, who had seven walks as a team and one hit-by-pitch.
Warren is scheduled to play another nonconference matchup versus DeWitt on Monday, March 16 at home. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. at the Warren City Complex.
