ROGERS — Rogers started Friday’s game against Texarkana at the Rogers-Fayetteville Invitational American Legion Baseball Tournament with a bang-bang double play, but things quickly soured for the Optimist Club.
Texarkana sent eight straight batters to the plate and four runs to start a 7-2 victory over Rogers at Veterans Park. Texarkana finished with 10 hits and took advantage of three walks and two hit batters in taking a 4-0 lead.
“Overall, a good performance against a good team,” Texarkana coach Dane Peavy said. “I think Rogers was a little shell shocked that we went ahead and put four on the board with two outs. We did a good job of getting guys on and getting runs.”
Rogers coach Tony Anderson said the Optimists never recovered from the early deficit. Rogers cut the lead to 4-2 in the third, but the Razorbacks countered with three runs in the fourth to pull away.
“We got in trouble in the first inning,” Anderson said. “We just didn’t hit the ball well. The pitching was off, and we didn’t bounce back with the bats like we have been doing.”
Blake White went the distance to pick up the victory. White, an all-state selection at Magnolia last season, struck out 12 and scattered five hits. He struck out the Rogers side in the fourth and seventh innings.
“He is probably our third or fourth guy, and he works the knees well,” Peavy said. “Great performance by him by getting strikes and getting outs. That is what we need.”
Rogers got back a run in the bottom of the first on an RBI by Zach Sample, and Reed Brown trimmed the Razorbacks lead to 4-2 in the third with an RBI single, scoring Zac Stewart, who hit a one-out double that nearly left the ballpark.
But Rogers never got closer. Brown finished with two of Rogers’ five hits after getting a double in the sixth.
Trevor Rucker was 3-for-4 with two RBI, while Hunter Wilcher and Trey Hart added two hits each for Texarkana.
Rogers will play Little Rock Post 1 at 5 p.m. today at Veterans Park. They will play a doubleheader on Sunday, with games at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Rogers-Fayetteville Invitational
TEXARKANA 7, ROGERS OPTIMIST CLUB 2
Texarkana 400 300 0 7 10 1
Rogers 101 000 0 2 5 1
White and Buchanan; Besett, Greear (1) and Griffin. W — White. L — Besett . HRs — None