Fayetteville Falls Victim To Harpenau Gem

FAYETTEVILLE -- Kyle Pate and Andy Pagnozzi paired up to deliver a strong performance on the mound, as usual, for Fayetteville on Thursday.

Ty Harpenau just happened to be a little bit better.

How They Scored

Fort Smith Southside 1, Fayetteville 0

FS Southside^010^000^0 —^1^4^0

Fayetteville^000^000^0 —^0^3^0

Harpaneau and Pollard; Pate, Pagnozzi (6) and Koch. W - Harpaneau, 1-0. L - Pate, 1-1. HRs - none.

Harpenau, a junior right-hander at Fort Smith Southside, tossed seven shutout innings and allowed just one Fayetteville baserunner to reach second base. Meanwhile, his Rebels teammates provided just enough offense. Tanner Wiley and Tyler Gray's back-to-back doubles in the second inning led to the game's only run in a 1-0 win at Bulldog Field.

"I was telling myself before the game, if we get one (run), we're going to win this one," Harpenau said. "We had some guys step up and make it happen.

"I think people will have to come out and respect us more now. Teams are going to have to throw their best against us. The past couple of years, we've been losing in the first round (of the state tournament). But to come out and beat Fayetteville, it's a nice feeling to beat the defending state champs."

Pate looked nearly unhittable right from the start, striking out the first five Southside (4-3) batters he faced. With two outs in the top of the second, though, Wiley snuck in a hard liner in front of Fayetteville left fielder Blake Power, which rolled past Power for a double. The next hitter, Gray, smashed a double over Power's head, scoring Wiley from second.

Pate quickly returned to form and allowed just one more hit in five total innings on the mound, striking out 10 batters with just one walk. Pagnozzi followed with two shutout innings for Fayetteville (2-1) in the sixth and seventh. But on the other side, Harpenau kept throwing up zeroes as well.

"He was throwing his off speed for a strike. He would throw it in the dirt, and we were diving and chasing," Fayetteville coach Vance Arnold said. "I thought we'd get the pitch we'd want, and it would dive out of the zone and we would chase.

"They get the only back-to-back hits of the game, and you don't expect that. Kyle pitched well; he just elevated a couple. And we just can't get the big hit. But (Harpenau) did a great job. He was tough."

Fayetteville suffered its first loss to an in-state opponent since dropping a game against Bryant at the 2012 Class 7A State Tournament.

"We knew the runs were going to be tough to come by today," Southside coach Craig Jones said. "It was a great win for us -- great for our program."

Fayetteville opens 7A/6A-West Conference play with a 4:30 p.m. doubleheader Tuesday at Siloam Springs.

Sports on 03/14/2014

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