SPORTS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KAIT) - A Diamond Pioneer is now in the starting rotation for the Diamond Hogs. Dave Van Horn announced in his weekly press conference that Gage Wood will start Friday for #2 Arkansas. He made a pair of relief appearances last weekend versus Mississippi State. Wood has 3 wins, 2 saves, and a 3.03 ERA this season. He has 44 strikeouts in 29 and 2/3 innings of work. One of his saves came in dramatic fashion.

SOUTHSIDE, Ark. (KAIT/Edited News Release) - One local school board is recognizing its baseball team for a successful season. The Southside School Board recently recognized the baseball team at the May board meeting for a successful season. The team finished conference runner-up and district champions of 4A - East. They...

PALESTINE - Tate Hall's torrid pace at the plate continued Saturday afternoon as he had yet another triple and double to drive in four runs as the Woodlawn Bears grabbed an early lead to cruise past the Cedar Ridge Timberwolves, 8-5, in the Class 2A state tournament semifinals at Palestine-Wheatley High School.With the win, Woodlawn advances to play in the Class 2A state finals at 4 p.m. Saturday at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. The Bears, ther 8-2A conference champions, will face a familiar opponent in the Ouachita Warriors, the 8-2A conference runners-up.Ouachita, the no. 3 seed from the South Region, knocked off Rector, 8-4, in the early semifinal game on Saturday.After having to squeeze out a 1-0 victory over Riverside in the quarterfinal game on Friday, the Bears wanted to get off to a quick start against the Timberwovles and they got that.Peyton Wells singled to start the game and Garrett Weatherford then drew a walk to put two aboard with no one out. With one out, Hall blasted a triple into left field, scoring both Wells and Weatherford. Hall's courtesy runner, Gage Boykin, then scored on Dillon Lunsford's ground out to give the Bears a quick 3-0 lead.Woodlawn Coach Tommy Richardson said building that three-run lead early was critical in giving the team some breathing room, especially after having to sweat out that narrow win in the quarterfinals on Friday. "Collectively, you could hear the (sigh) in the dugout because last night we didn't get that," Richardson said. "We didn't get it (any runs scored) a for a while. .. Everybody was tight. Today, everybody was relaxed and we hit the baseball a lot better."We hit the ball really well against a good pitcher (Cedar Ridge's Kyle Provence)," he said.Cedar Ridge used a lead-off walk and a one-out single by Provence to plate a run in the top of the third to make it 3-1. The Bears turned a double-play against the next batter to end the inning.While the Timberwolves managed to get runners on base…