Bentonville Edges Mountain Home, Completes Best Sports Classic Sweep

BENTONVILLE -- A little extra pop in Bentonville's bats couldn't have come at a better time Friday night.

The Tigers belted five hits -- four for extra bases -- and scored three runs in the sixth inning, and they went on to complete a sweep in the Best Sports Classic with a wild 14-12 victory over Mountain Home at the Tiger Athletic Complex.

BENTONVILLE 14, MOUNTAIN HOME 12

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Bentonville^400^253^x^—^14^11^1

Smith, Jacobelli (5), Hall (5) and Anderson. Brown, Gorman (4), Fitch (4), Cahill (7) and Bratspies. W-Fitch, 1-0. L-Hall, 0-1. Sv-Cahill (1). HR-None.

"We struggled a little at the plate early, but we persevered," Bentonville coach Todd Abbott said. "I'm very proud of them. Nobody panicked, and we continued to have good at-bats and put together a couple of good innings."

Kane Koenigseder, a middle-inning replacement in right field, broke an 11-11 tie when his doubled just out of the reach of a diving Skylar Culver in right field and drove in Matt Bratspies, who led off with a double to right-center field. Paul Rouse then drove in Bentonville's final two runs when he laced a double just past the first baseman and down the right-field line, scoring Chad Musteen and Blake Werner.

This outburst came after the Tigers (4-0) rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fifth and erased an 11-6 deficit. Bentonville batted around with the help of two Mountain Home errors, a wild pitch that allowed a run to score and a balk that allowed Troy Cahill to score the tying run.

"We made a few errors, and Bentonville was able to get some momentum there," said Mountain Home coach Jim Tejcek, whose team fell to 1-1 with the loss. "It was hard for us to catch up in those last two innings. It's just from not playing. The competition we got from Bentonville was good for us."

Payton Fitch (1-0), the third of four Bentonville pitchers, relieved with nobody out in the fourth and pitched three innings to pick up the win. Cahill pitched the seventh and picked up his first save, despite allowing a run in the seventh.

Bratspies, who had his first start at catcher, had three hits and scored three times to pace Bentonville's 11-hit attack. Rouse had a double and a triple and drove in three runs, while Brian Gloeckler added two hits and drove in a run.

The Tigers open 7A/6A-West Conference play Tuesday with a doubleheader at Van Buren.

Sports on 03/15/2014

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