ROGERS — Five 7A/6A-West Conference teams will get to hit the baseball diamond today against quality opponents with the start of conference play looming in less than a week.
Rogers High, Rogers Heritage, Bentonville, Springdale Har-Ber and Siloam Springs are all in the annual Best Sports Classic which starts today at various fields across Northwest Arkansas.
Best Sports Classic
Today
at Veterans Park, Rogers
Greenwood at Rogers Heritage, 4:30 p.m.
Alma at Rogers High, 5 p.m.
at Tiger Athletic Complex
Greenwood at Bentonville, 7 p.m.
at Siloam Springs
Gravette at Siloam Springs
Thursday
at Veteran Park, Rogers
Greenwood at Rogers High, 4:30 p.m.
Alma at Rogers Heritage, 4:30 p.m.
Greenwood vs. Gravette, 7 p.m.
Alma vs. Siloam Springs, 7 p.m.
at Tiger Athletic Complex
Conway at Bentonville, 5 p.m.
Friday
at Veterans Park, Rogers
Conway at Rogers High, 4 p.m.
Conway at Rogers Heritage, 7 p.m.
at Tiger Athletic Complex
Mountain Home at Bentonville, 4:30 p.m.
Mountain Home vs. Greenwood, 7 p.m.
at Tyson Complex, Springdale
Gravette at Har-Ber, 5 p.m.
For the Rogers Mounties, today's game against Alma at Veterans Park will be the Mounties season opener. Heritage is also in action today at Veterans Park when they host Greenwood at 4 p.m. while Bentonville hosts Greenwood at 7 p.m. at the Tiger Athletic Complex. The other first round game has Siloam Springs entertaining Gravette.
The classic ends Friday.
Rogers had its season opener at Broken Arrow, Okla., cancelled last weekend and coach Matt Melson is anxious to start playing. The Mounties lost to Fayetteville in the Class 7A State Championship Game last May and they return several key players from that team.
"The Best Sports Classic games are always key because we have Springdale High next Tuesday, so it is always important to get these three games in," Melson said. "We will play three quality opponents, and that is always a good barometer right now. We will know some things we will need to work on before we go into conference."
Nolan Farnan will start today's game with returning three-year starter Brett Gentz slated to pitch Friday against Greenwood. Brett D'Amico could start Friday against Conway but that could change if the senior sees any relief time the first two games.
Regardless, Melson said he expects to use as many pitchers as possible.
"We will have those guys on a pretty strict pitch count," Melson said. "We will have to see what the weather is like, and how the games flow."
Melson said the Mounties will have to be focused every game after last year's late season run to the title game.
"Our senior class is large, and it looks to be strong," Melson said. "I also like the pitching depth that we have. If we can hit in the back third of the lineup, I think we will have a chance to score some runs. I think we will be a pretty competitive baseball team. But there are so many good baseball teams around here that you could be pretty good and be fourth and fifth in the league."
Bentonville (1-0) defeated Alma 8-5 in the season opener and Tigers coach Todd Abbott is hoping to build off that win this week.
"We have three top-notch teams coming in, and we should get a better feel, " Abbott said. "We expect to throw a lot of arms this week, trying to get everybody opportunities early. We saw a consistent approach in our first game all across the board, and we hope that continues."
Sports on 03/12/2014