GRAVETTE — Adam Ness’ gray uniform was stained a bright green as he laid out for a run-saving catch, sliding several feet with the baseball clutched in his glove.
Ness made the catch in center field, robbing what appeared to be a two-out hit from Gravette’s Cody Fields as Farmington held on for a 3-2 win in a 4A-1 Conference baseball game on Thursday.
Farmington, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A in this week’s Arkansas High School Baseball Coaches Association poll, overcame stranding 11 base runners to remain unbeaten at 12-0, and 4-0 in league play.
“I got a pretty good read off the bat,” said Ness, who was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double. “I was a little worried about it getting past me and the runner being able to advance all the way home. It was kind of a risk and reward thing, but I just decided to lay out.”
The Cardinals had numerous scoring chances throughout the game, but Gravette starter Aaron Means worked his way out of jams time and again.
Farmington scored the first run of the game on just two pitches as Josh Mueller led off with a single and scored on Levi Strope’s double. The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out, but Means (1-2) got out of the jam with a 1-2-3 double-play.
Gravette (6-6, 3-1) scored twice in the bottom of the first on a double by Quinten Parker, who was 2-for-4, and a pair of Farmington errors.
The game settled into a scoreless battle over the next six innings as Means and Strope put up zeros into the seventh inning thanks to several nice defensive plays by both teams. Gravette nabbed two Farmington runners trying to score from third, while Cardinals right fielder Jacob Thompson made a sliding catch on a sinking liner in the sixth
“You have to give it to Gravette, they played their butts off,” Farmington coach Jay Harper said.
Finally Farmington got to Means in the seventh with one out when Strope tripled off the base of the wall in right-center. But Strope was gunned down at the plate attempting to score on a wild pitch. With two outs, Spencer Boudrey walked and Ness scorched a hit to center. On the throw in, the ball skipped into the Lions’ dugout and Boudrey scored what proved to be the game-winner, thanks to Ness’ sliding catch.
“Our guys battled,” Gravette coach Dustin Dean said. “It was a great game.”
Farmington 200 000 1 — 3 8 2
Gravette 200 000 0 — 2 6 3
Strope, Oxford (5) and Burba; Means, Vanderpool (7) and Soule’. W - Oxford, 1-0. L - Means, 1-2. HRs - None.