HOT SPRINGS — Pulaski Academy lured Denny Tipton out of retirement a year ago. On Thursday, he took the program to heights it hadn’t seen in 13 years. Tipton completed a dominant season for the Bruins by guiding them to a 6-3 victory over Brookland in a rain-filled showdown to win the Class 4A state baseball title at Majestic Park’s Babe Ruth Field. Pulaski Academy (32-3) built a lead at the start and relied on steady pitching and opportunistic hitting to hold on to it
as it ended a championship drought. The title was the first for the Bruins since 2013. “This was my seventh championship, but it was definitely the weirdest one”, said Tipton, whose Bruins had to withstand a trio of weather postponements. “It was kind of a lot of ups and downs. You get off to a great start, and then you have a rain delay. (Brookland) gets a little momentum, then a rain delay. But I’m just really proud of my guys, and how they competed.”
At the forefront of Pulaski Academy’s latest title win was Tipton, who engineered a turnaround for a team that hadn’t played in a state tournament game since 2022. Tipton has put together a lengthy and successful career, most of which was spent at Sylvan Hills, where he won more than 519 games, 15 conference crowns and 4 state titles during a 25-year stint as the head coach. He was the Bears’ athletic director as well but was enjoying retirement until agreeing to take over at
Pulaski Academy last May after Billy Adams stepped down. The transition had been a smooth one, and it culminated with the program winning its sixth state title. Max Conine was 2 for 4 with 3 runs batted in for the Bruins. Major Jackson, Luke Edwards and Ace DeWese also had two hits apiece, and Chase Kimball was named the Most Valuable Player after supplying a hit and driving in a run. Senior William Svoboda gave up 6 hits and struck out 4 in 4 innings.
Both teams threw haymakers over the first two innings. Pulaski Academy scored three runs on four hits in the top half of the first inning, with Rome Foster following up Conine’s run-scoring single with a two-run double. “You’re going to be tight and nervous, especially when this is your first trip (to the final),” Tipton said. “I think hitting first actually calms you down. So I thought it was big for us to get three runs in the first. “I thought we left a couple
of chances early in the game to really break it open, but I thought getting those runs was important.” Brookland’s answer was immediate during its initial at-bar. Cope Bode crushed Svoboda’s 3-1 pitch and sent it over the left-field wall for a leadoff home run. However, the game was the stopped when what started out as a light rain began to intensify. The delay lasted approximately 15 minutes, which enabled the Bruins to get out of the inning with any additional damage. Pulaski Academy did
increase its lead to 5-1 in the second on a two-run single by Conine, but Brookland’s Eli Foster matched that in the bottom of the frame. The Bruins also generated a run in the top of the third when Rome Foster scored on Kimball’s single. The Bruins maintained that three-run lead before another surge of heavy rain in the bottom of the fourth forced a 10-minute pause in play. Once the game resumed, the Bearcats threatened. After an opening groundout, Blake Lane and Ethan Bales
notched straight singles. Brookland (31-8) loaded the bases after Bode reached on a fielding error, but Eli Foster hit a ball right to Rome Foster, who initiated an inning-ending double play. Rain and lightning led to a the third postponement — which lasted more than an hour — in the fifth. Brookland had runners on first and second with one out, but when the game was re-started, DeWese, who relieved Svoboda earlier, quickly got a pair of outs. That would be the Bearcats’ best chance
to add to its run total. Brookland had a runner at second in the sixth with two outs, but another strikeout from DeWese closed the door on the opportunity. “It’s my first year here, but the thing that I’ve learned the most is that PA is a community,” Tipton said. “They really do kind of stay together. Everybody was like ‘Coach, we’re rooting for you.’ But man, I’m really proud for my kids. This is the first time that this group has ever made a
state tournament. “I’m enjoyed watching them celebrate because they deserve it.”
Denny Tipton, Pulaski Academy, Brookland, Class 4A baseball, Babe Ruth Field, Majestic Park, Arkansas high school baseball