Patrick Leads Springdale Har-Ber To Victory

 STAFF PHOTO SAMANTHA BAKER • @NWASAMANTHA Hunter Fine of Gravette throws in a ball hit to left field Friday during the game against Springdale Har-Ber at Randal Tyson Recreational Complex in Springdale.
STAFF PHOTO SAMANTHA BAKER • @NWASAMANTHA Hunter Fine of Gravette throws in a ball hit to left field Friday during the game against Springdale Har-Ber at Randal Tyson Recreational Complex in Springdale.

SPRINGDALE -- Brady Patrick helped Springdale Har-Ber win its home opener both on the mound and at the plate.

The sophomore left-hander allowed just four hits and struck out three to earn the pitching win, then went 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI as the Wildcats claimed an 11-0 run-rule win over Gravette on Friday at the Tyson Sports Complex in the Best Sports Classic.

HOW THEY SCORED

SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 11, GRAVETTE 0

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Har-Ber^460^1x^—^11^9^1

Shaw, Fields (2), Gibbons (3) and Soule; Patrick, Bates (5) and Mitchell. W - Patrick, 1-0 . L - Shaw, 0-1 . HRs - None.

"Obviously the kid can play," Har-Ber coach Randy Salsbury said. "He can play in the field, he can pitch, he can do a lot of things for us."

Har-Ber (2-0) jumped on Gravette (3-2) for four runs in the bottom of the first and never looked back. Phillip Cebuhar cranked a three-run double in the right-center field gap to give the Wildcats the early cushion.

"Basically the double that Cebuhar hit was the ballgame," Salsbury said. "Every game you have a moment where something happens. Phillip has been swinging it well in practice. So we're not surprised by it, and we're sure proud to have it."

Har-Ber scored six more runs in the second inning, including an RBI triple by senior Gus Vitt and an RBI single by catcher Jon Mitchell to blow the game open. The Wildcats added another run in the fourth when Zach Stanley lined a hit to left and got a hustling double out of it, and scored on Patrick's RBI single to right for the 11-0 final.

Gravette, coming off a no-hit win over Greenwood on Thursday, ran itself out of a couple of innings, said coach Randall Hunt. Twice the Lions had runners thrown out on fly balls. But the Lions have already shown that this season could be pretty special.

"It's been fun so far," Hunt said. "We're excited to play some baseball. We've had a good stretch of games this week. Our guys are trying to turn the program around and we're really proud they have bought into that."

Salsbury announced earlier in the day on Friday that he is resigning as the Har-Ber coach at the end of the season.

"That is correct," said Salsbury. "There are some things I have been putting on hold in my life that I have been wanting to get around to. I feel real good about where the program is right now.

"To get a guy in for everybody to be able to rally behind, I really think will help them get to the next level."

The Wildcats will host Rogers Heritage on Tuesday in the 7A/6A-West Conference opener. The doubleheader starts at 4:30 p.m. at the Tyson Complex. Gravette will take on Stilwell, Okla. on Monday at 4:30 p.m. at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale in a nonconference game.

Sports on 03/15/2014

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