Prep Baseball Notebook: Fayetteville Locks Up Conference Crown, Closes In On Top Seed

Andy Pagnozzi of Fayetteville pitches against Springdale Har-Ber on April 1 at Bulldog Stadium in Fayetteville.
Andy Pagnozzi of Fayetteville pitches against Springdale Har-Ber on April 1 at Bulldog Stadium in Fayetteville.

The quirky Arkansas Activities Association power rankings system has reared its ugly head in the chase for the top seed in the 7A/6A-West Conference baseball standings.

Fayetteville clinched an outright conference championship Thursday with a doubleheader sweep of Siloam Springs, blanking the Panthers, 7-0 and 22-0 in back-to-back games. Despite a perfect 12-0 record in the 7A/6A-West, the Purple’Dogs have not clinched the overall top seed from the conference in postseason play.

Thank the power ranking system for this, which allows Bryant — a member of the 7A/6A-South — to count in the 7A/6A-West Conference once playoff seeding is determined. Bryant currently sits tied for first in the 7A/6A-South Conference and could actually pass Fayetteville in power ranking points if the Bulldogs were to get swept by Bentonville this week.

All Fayetteville needs to do to lock up a one seed is win one game against Bentonville, regardless of Bryant’s outcome in its remaining conference games. The Bulldogs (21-2, 12-0) and Tigers play their doubleheader Wednesday in Bentonville.

VERNON TARVER

Har-Ber To Split Games With Springdale

Springdale Har-Ber and Springdale High will break up its baseball doubleheader and play single games today and Wednesday.

Har-Ber and Springdale will play at the Tyson Complex at 4:30 p.m. today before moving the series to Arvest Ballpark at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Arvest Ballpark is home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the AA farm team of the Kansas City Royals.

“We can only play one game out there instead of two,” Har-Ber coach Randy Salsbury said. “It’s exciting for our players to be able to play in a park where the professionals play.”

Har-Ber (17-8, 8-4) will finish the week by hosting Ozark, Mo., on Friday at the Tyson Complex. Har-Ber is coming off a doubleheader sweep over Rogers Heritage in league play while Springdale (6-14, 2-10) was swept in a doubleheader by Rogers High.

RICK FIRES

Tigers, Bulldogs To Play Day Earlier

Bentonville coach Todd Abbott isn’t going to take any chances concerning the weather, especially since it’s already caused some 7A/6A-West Conference doubleheaders to be rescheduled.

Abbott said the Tigers’ doubleheader with Fayetteville has been moved to Wednesday in order to avoid the rain and the cold front that is supposed to hit the area Thursday. It was a more logical choice to play the last league doubleheader early than try to play Friday, especially since Bentonville has a nonconference game scheduled Saturday against Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst.

“With the state tournament next week, you don’t want to run into making up conference games the week of state,” Abbott said. “So we wanted to be proactive and move it up instead of backward.”

Bentonville (17-7, 9-3) shouldn’t be affected by having one less day to prepare for Fayetteville, which has already clinched the conference championship. Abbott plans on keeping his pitching rotation the same, with Cody Scroggins pitching the opener.

The Tigers could finish as a No. 2 seed with a little help, meaning they could earn a first-round bye in the Class 7A State Tournament. Bentonville could also finish as low as the No. 5 seed if everything doesn’t go their way.

HENRY APPLE

War Eagles In Likely Must-Win Situation

The Rogers Heritage baseball team have advanced to the state tournament in all four years of its existence, but that streak is in jeopardy heading into Thursday’s 7A/6A-West doubleheader against cross-town rival Rogers High.

Heritage might need a doubleheader sweep of the Mounties to get into the tournament if the season trend holds.

Heritage is in a battle for the sixth and final tournament berth in the conference with Van Buren. The War Eagles are currently 5-7 and one game up on Van Buren with two to play. However, the Pointers have the tiebreaker by virtue of their 13-3 win over Heritage. In addition, Van Buren finishes the season against last-place Siloam Springs, which has not won a league game, on Thursday.

If the Pointers sweep Siloam Springs, that means the War Eagles, the defending Class 7A state runners-up and three-time conference champs, would need to sweep Rogers to get the final state tournament berth.

“It’s a situation where we know what we have to do,” Heritage coach Keith Kilgore said. “Our backs are against the wall so to speak. We’ll see how we respond.”

Springdale Har-Ber swept Heritage in two close games last week. The Wildcats won the opener 2-0, then edged the War Eagles 7-6 in eight innings.

Heritage led early in the nightcap 6-3, but miscues in the field led to the extra-inning loss. Five of Har-Ber’s seven runs were unearned.

PAUL BOYD

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