FAYETTEVILLE — Andy Pagnozzi wasn’t perfect on the pitching mound Monday for Fayetteville, but he was sure close.
Pagnozzi, a sophomore righthander, allowed just three baserunners the entire game and handcuffed the Springdale Har-Ber lineup for a full seven innings. Aside from one error, one infield single and one walk, Pagnozzi was in complete control with 15 strikeouts and no balls even hit out of the infield as Fayetteville opened up a key 7A/6A-West Conference doubleheader with a 5-0 win against the Wildcats at Bulldog Field.
“His breaking pitch tonight jumped and it kept the hitters off balance,” Fayetteville coach Vance Arnold said. “And they couldn’t tell when he was throwing his curve ball or his fast ball or his slider, and his fast ball was just dynamite, hitting all his spots.
“So Andy kept them off balance and we got a couple of breaks to score and the kids just kept building on it.”
Pagnozzi (2-0) retired 17 of the first 18 Springdale Har-Ber batters he faced, with an infield error being the only blemish through the first five innings. Wildcats rightfielder Hunter Patrick finally broke up the no-hit bid with a twoout, infield single in top of the sixth on a slow roller down the third base line.
PREP BASEBALL
Fayetteville 5, Springdale Har-Ber
Springdale Har-Ber 000 000 0 — 0 1 2
Fayetteville 221 000 X — 5 6 1
Thompson and Rasmussen; Pagnozzi and Shaddy. W - Pagnozzi (3-0). L - Thompson. HR - none.
Har-Ber (12-3, 4-2 7A/6AWest) added another baserunner with a walk in the seventh, but that was all.
“I was proud of our team, because we made some uncharacteristic mistakes early but we kept fighting,” Wildcats coach Randy Salsbury said. “Zac Thompson pitched a great game for us in game one and John Jaro pitched well in game two.
“But tip your hat to those guys. Fayetteville has no weaknesses. They have hitting up and down the lineup and they have pitching everywhere, and tonight was just their night.”
Fayetteville (8-1, 6-0) got all the offense it needed in the first three innings. Two Har-Ber errors helped lead to two runs in the first. The Bulldogs then added two more in the second on an RBI double from Blake Power and an RBI single by Austin Allen.
In the third, Fayetteville rounded out the scoring when Davis Huddleston came through with a two out double off the right field wall to score Logan Hiatt for a 5-0 lead.
“I think all the kids were relaxed because they didn’t know we were playing until two o’clock when we moved the game up a day,” Arnold said. “That’s why we moved the first pitch of the first game back a little bit, so they could come out here and hit and get ready. And I thought everybody responded really well.”
GAME 2
FAYETTEVILLE 9, SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 4
PREP BASEBALL
Fayetteville 9, Springdale Har-Ber 4
Springdale Har-Ber 001 100 2 — 4 5 1
Fayetteville 112 023 X — 9 11 1
Jaro, B. Patrick (4), Daniels (6), Williams (6) and Rasmussen; Pate and Shaddy. W - Pate (3-0). L - Jaro. HR - Fayetteville, Tyler (2), Hiatt.
Pitching on three days rest after throwing a complete game shutout at the Jenks, Okla., Classic last week, Kyle Pate followed up with another solid seven innings to help Fayetteville finish off the doubleheader sweep.
Pate allowed four runs — three earned — on five hits, with two walks and 13 strikeouts and Drew Tyler had a two-run home run and a two-run double to spark the offense in a 9-4 win.
Logan Hiatt also added another two-run homer and an RBI single, as the Bulldogs bats came alive in the second game with 11 hits total.