BENTONVILLE — Bentonville American Legion Baseball coach Kyle Blevins had enough Saturday afternoon.
After watching the Tigers commit five errors in the fifth inning and give up 10 runs in the fifth and sixth innings as Rogers Optimist Club took a 13-5 lead, Blevins summoned his team out of the dugout for a team meeting.
“It was frustrating to watch baseball like that,” Blevins said. “I said to the team, ‘If you are not embarrassed, you need to get your stuff and get out of here.’”
Bentonville got the message in a big way.
Bentonville scored three runs in the home half of the sixth, and the team then plated 11 runs in the eighth to rally for a 19-16 win over Rogers in the championship game of the Zone 1 District Tournament.
Bentonville (14-5) will open the American Legion State Tournament on Friday at 10 a.m. in Mountain Home.
“It finally registered with them, and it was just a matter of being focused,” Blevins said. “We have good athletes and baseball players. They got focused.”
Rogers (10-10) will also have a chance to make the state tournament field as it will face the runner-up from Zone 2 in a play-in game Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Cooper Park in Mountain Home.
Rogers scored two runs in the top of the ninth and had the tying run at the plate when the game ended.
Rogers coach Ric Lisi said he was proud of his team’s effort on a hot and humid day. It was Rogers’ fourth game in as many days as it qualified for the finals by beating No. 2 seed Fort Smith Kerwins twice.
“We got there,” Lisi said about making the play-in game. “We went down swinging. We are starting to gel.”
Bentonville finished with 21 hits, with Trent Hill leading the way with a 5-for-6 effort. He had three doubles, a triple and a single for two RBIs. No. 8 batter Kane Koenigseder was 4-for-5, while Clay Lewis had a three-run double in Bentonville’s 11-run eighth inning.
Rogers finished with 18 hits as Nolan Farnan, Derek Sallee and Jacob Ivey had three hits each. Farnan had a two-run single in the fifth and finished with three RBIs. Sallee also had three RBIs after a bases-loaded double in the fifth.
“We have hit the ball well all year,” Lisi said.
Rogers^000^373^102^—^16^18^3
Bentonville^005^003^0(11)X^—^19^21^6
Griffin, Sallee (2), Treacy (6), Forbis (8), Taylor (8) and Myers; Rosales, Fitch (5), Stark (9) and Lewis. W — Fitch. L — Forbis. HRs — None