SPRINGDALE — Fayetteville took advantage of a late breakdown from Springdale Har-Ber.
The Bulldogs scored four runs without a hit in the top of the seventh inning and defeated Har-Ber 6-1 on Tuesday in 7A/6A-West Conference play at the Tyson Sports Complex. The loss wasted a fine pitching performance by Brady Patrick, a sophomore left-hander who pitched into the seventh inning.
How They Scored
Game One
Fayetteville 6, Springdale Har-Ber 1
Fayetteville^001^100^4^—^6^4^1
Springdale Har-Ber^001^000^0^—^1^4^4
Pagnozzi and Koch; Patrick, Williamson and Mitchell. W - Pagnozzi. L - Patrick. HRs - None.
Game Two
Fayetteville 4, Springdale Har-Ber 0
Fayetteville^010^000^3^—^4^6^1
Springdale Har-Ber^000^000^0^—^0^3^3
Pate and Koch; Rogers and Lloyd, Mitchell (5). W - Pate. L - Rogers. HRs - None.
Andy Pagnozzi struck out 13 to improve to 7-0 on the season for Fayetteville.
"Andy struggled early a little bit with his control," Fayetteville coach Van Arnold said. "He started throwing his curve ball and even when he missed, he came back with it. That was key because they couldn't just sit on his fastball."
Patrick was lifted after an error and a walk to open the seventh. Duck Dunn reached to load the bases after a ball in short right field dropped between three players for an error. Reliever Paul Williamson walked in consecutive runs and another scored on a passed ball.
Pagnozzi then added an RBI groundout to put the Bulldogs ahead 6-1.
"You've got to make plays," Har-Ber coach Randy Salsbury said. "There's nothing to be said about it except we've got to work harder to where we can make those plays."
Pagnozzi finished strong by striking out six of the final seven batters and he did not walk a batter until two outs in the seventh. Har-Ber only trailed 2-1 heading into the seventh behind Patrick, who struck out seven and allowed just four hits.
"(Patrick) was unbelievable," Salsbury said. "He doesn't throw 90 miles an hour, but he throws three pitches and he executed a plan. He's a competitor, but he got tired and I had to go get him."
Cody Davenport had an RBI single for Fayetteville before the Bulldogs took advantage of two Har-Ber errors in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead. Drew Tyler reached on an error by third baseman Matt Kimbel and advanced to second after a sacrifice bunt from Blake Power. Catcher Jon Mitchell threw low trying to catch Tyler off second and another throw by second baseman Alex Schemel got past third base, allowing Fayetteville to take the lead.
"Tyler got the catcher to throw behind him and he took third, and then scored" Arnold said. "That put us up 2-1 and gave Andy a little room to breathe. He got on a roll and by the seventh, he was smelling it."
Har-Ber scored its only run in the third inning when Schemel reached on an error, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on an RBI single by Matt Garrison.
Game Two
Fayetteville 4, Springdale Har-Ber 0
Left-hander Kyle Pate struck out 16 and allowed three hits as Fayetteville defeated Har-Ber 4-0 to complete the sweep.
Blake Power had a two-run single in the seventh inning when Fayetteville (18-3, 8-0) scored three of its runs. Pate retired 12 consecutive batters before Zach Stanley hit a one-out single in the sixth. Stanley reached third before Pate struck out Matt Kimbel to end the inning.
Weston Rogers took the loss for Har-Ber (14-6, 3-5), despite allowing just one run over the first six innings.
Sports on 04/16/2014