ROGERS — Paul Williamson and Landry Harris hadn’t seen much action for Springdale Har-Ber this season, but they sure came up big Tuesday afternoon.
Williamson tossed a three-hitter and Harris slapped an RBI-single to lead the Wildcats to a 2-0 win over Rogers Heritage in 7A/6A-West Conference baseball at Veterans Park.
A junior right-hander, Williamson picked up his first win of the season and almost doubled his innings total for the season in the complete game.
Har-Ber coach Randy Salsbury had nothing but praise for Williamson, who had pitched just nine innings in five games before Tuesday.
“What can you say about Paul?,” Salsbury said. “We asked him to throw strikes and he did that. They hit the ball a few times. But we’ve got a really solid defense. We had certain spots we wanted Paul to hit and for the most part he did that.” Williamson (1-0) was in trouble throughout, but each time got key outs. He allowed just three singles, struck out three, walked two, but hit four batters.
Harris replaced starting first baseman Zac DeShazo, who was injured sliding into second in the first inning, got his first varsity hit of the season with a run-scoring single in the fifth.
DeShazo also had a run-scoring single to right in the top of the first, after back-to-back walks to start the game. He left the game, after stealing second base because of an injury.
The War Eagles stranded eight base runners and also hit into an inning-ending double play. Heritage coach Keith Kilgore said his team just failed to come up with a key hit.
But left-hander Kacey Murphy kept the War Eagles in the game.
“We just need a timely hit and couldn’t get it,” Kilgore said. “I was proud of the way Kacey battled. He settled down and made some big pitches.”
Murphy (5-3) allowed two runs on five hits over six innings. He struck out eight and walked four.
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 2, ROGERS HERITAGE 0
Har-Ber^100^010^0^ — 2^6^1
Heritage^000^000^0^ — 0^3^1
Williamson and Rasmussen; Murphy and Ward. W-Williamson, 1-0. L-Murphy, 5-3. HRs-None.
Game 2
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 7, ROGERS HERITAGE 6 (8 innings)
Zach Vogel scored from second on a Heritage throwing error in the top of the eighth inning to lift the Wildcats to the doubleheader sweep.
Har-Ber (17-8, 8-4 7A/6A-West) trailed 6-3 after three innings, but tied the game with three in the fourth. The Wildcats took advantage of War Eagles errors as five of their seven runs were unearned.
Vogel started the game-winning rally with a one-out single off War Eagles reliever Colton Wetzler, then stole second. After Matt Garrison struck out, Gus Vitt hit a ground ball to the third baseman and his throw sailed over the first baseman’s head to allow Vogel to score easily.
Sophomore Caleb Daniels retired Heritage (16-12, 5-7) 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth for the save. Left-hander John Jaro earned the win to improve to 6-1, throwing more than 125 pitches over seven innings.
Vitt, Hunter Patrick and Jon Mitchell had two hits each for Har-Ber. Patrick drove in two runs, while Vitt drove in one and scored three times.
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 7, ROGERS HERITAGE 6 (8)
Har-Ber^201^300^01^ — 7^10^4
Heritage^132^000^00^ — 6^9^3
Jaro, Daniels (8) and Rasumussen; Lovelace, Wetzler (7) and Ward. W-Jaro, 6-1. . L-.Wetzler HRs-Har-Ber, Vitt (3).