Pirates begin season with benefit game 

Gosnell Pirates 7, West Memphis Blue Devils 3 in 4; Marion Patriot 7, Gosnell Pirates 0 in 3

MARION— The Gosnell Pirates kicked off the 2025 season Saturday afternoon at a windy John Robbins Field on the campus of the Marion School District where Aaron Coots’ Pirates won the first four innings of the day over the West Memphis Blue Devils 7-3. A rough second inning led to Gosnell falling 7-0 in the three inning matchup with the host Patriots.

“It’s not a typical day. This is kind of what it is in Gosnell, it's windy everyday there,” said Coots. “It’s funny, as you think as you get older it gets easier coaching, or just in age. But I couldn’t sleep last night. I couldn’t do it. I knew the first game was today and I just couldn’t do it. It’s good to get out here and we kick things back up (this coming) Thursday against Greene County Tech.”

Junior ace Hunter Riggs started on the bump for Coots where he made quick work of the Blue Devils getting a strike out, pop up, and a strikeout.

“It was good to see Hunter Riggs back out there on the mound especially after last year with the injury that shut him down around spring break,” said Coots.

The Pirates offense started early as senior Connor Whitehead blasted a two-run shot over left-center giving the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

“Good to see Connor,” explained Coots. “Good to move him out of the lead off and down to the three-hole and just kind of see what he can do. He showed it. It shows the off-season work that he’s put in.”

Gosnell added to their lead in the second inning as sophomore Grant Glintborg scored after a double by sophomore Easton Dickson giving the Pirates a 3-0 lead.

GHS took advantage of several walks and errors by the Blue Devils to give them a 7-0 lead.

Junior Chase Perkins came in to pitch the second inning making quick work of West Memphis with a ground out and back- to-back strike outs.

The Blue Devils were able to score a run in the bottom of third off of a Whitehead error.

Whitehead came in to pitch the fourth inning and was unable to find the plate allowing a walk and hit by pitch, with the next batter hitting a triple to left field cutting the Pirates lead to four.

After the triple, Whitehead settled down with a strikeout and groundout to complete the game.

The Pirates picked up five hits on the day and drew six walks.

The four Pirate pitchers — Riggs, Perkins, junior Camden LaCotts, and Whitehead—combined to fan seven batters in the matchup.

Gosnell senior Ashton Suthern started game two where he was able to get out of early trouble as the Patriots batter opened the game with a triple.

Heads up defensive play by the Pirates was able to erase the triple as a Patriot bunt was grounded by Suthern, who flipped to Pirates senior catcher Chad Stewart and applied the tag for the out.

Suthern was able to escape more trouble as he had the Patriot batter flyout with bases loaded.

“We’re always looking for that third or fourth day starter if we make that deep run at it,” Coots explained. “Ashton stepped up today, I know it wasn’t a full outing today but it was good to see him get out there and throw strikes.”

During the bottom half of the first, Stewart nearly hit a homer of his own to right but the ball stopped just short of the fence and was able to get to third with a stand-up triple.

The next batter, Whitehead, struck out but a dropped third strike led to a throw down to first, which was successful for the Patriots and then a throw to home led to a double play as Stewart was caught stealing.

Junior AJ Rocha took the mound where he lasted two-thirds of an inning giving up seven runs.

LaCotts came in and on the second pitch of the at-bat led to a fly ball to get out of the inning.

The two outs came away by Patriot runners unsuccessfully attempting to test the arm of Stewart behind the plate as he hosed two runners attempting to steal second.

“Chad, that's just what Chad Stewart does,” said Coots. “That’s why he’s regarded as one of the best catchers in the state and being able to shut down a run game.”

Stewart and Perkins were the only hits for the Pirates against the Patriots.

Gosnell looks to open their regular season today as they host the GCT Golden Eagles