Murphy Shuts Down Springdale Har-Ber

 STAFF PHOTO ANTHONY REYES Holden Thornton of Springdale Har-Ber tries to tag Ty Harris of Rogers Heritage out at second Tuesday during Game 2 of a doubleheader at Tyson Sports Complex in Springdale. Harris was safe on the play.
STAFF PHOTO ANTHONY REYES Holden Thornton of Springdale Har-Ber tries to tag Ty Harris of Rogers Heritage out at second Tuesday during Game 2 of a doubleheader at Tyson Sports Complex in Springdale. Harris was safe on the play.

— Rogers Heritage used pitching and defense to defeat Springdale Har-Ber on Tuesday.

Kacey Murphy struck out 12 in 5 2/3 innings to lead Heritage to a 2-0 victory over Har-Ber in the 7A/6A-West Conference opener at the Tyson Complex. Murphy allowed five hits before Colton Wetzler came on in the sixth inning to earn the save.

HOW THEY SCORED

Game 1

Rogers Heritage 2, Springdale Har-Ber 0

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Springdale Har-Ber^000^000^0^—^0^6^2

Murphy, Wetzler (6) and Norris; Rogers, Williamson (7) and Mitchell. W — Murphy, 1-0. L — Rogers, 1-1. HRs — None.

Game 2

Rogers Heritage 9, Springdale Har-Ber 2

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Springdale Har-Ber^100^010^—2^4^1

Sanchez, Lamproe (3), Cooper (3), Wetzler (4) and Norris; Pianalto, Williamson (4), Patrick (5), Bates (5), Daniels (7), Gray (7) and Mitchell. W — Wetzler. L — Pianalto HRs — Heritage, Harris (1).

Har-Ber was held scoreless despite putting runners on third and first in four different innings. The Wildcats made a bid to tie the game in the sixth inning after Gus Vitt led off with a walk.

Jon Mitchell, who had a double and single, lined a ball that was headed into the gap in center field, but Daniel Sanchez made a running catch from left field. Sophomore third baseman Dane Olsen then caught a line drive off the bat of Matt Kimbel for the second out. Vitt moved to third after an infield hit by Landry Jones before Wetzler got Phillip Cebular on a deep fly to center to end the threat.

Har-Ber put two more runners on base in the seventh inning but still failed to score after fine defensive plays at third by Olsen and at shortstop by Dalton McKaughan.

"We pride ourselves on defense," Heritage coach Keith Kilgore said. "That's the first thing we do when we get to the ball yard and we do it every day. Daniel Sanchez, that was a great running catch. If that ball drops, it scores two. Olsen, he's just coming off basketball but he's real smooth with the glove. We understand that defense wins championships and that's what we were able to do tonight."

Murphy had a double and Wetzler and RBI single for Heritage, which scored in the first and fifth innings. Wetzler put Heritage ahead 1-0 with a two-out single that scored Chase Kilgore, who reached on an error to begin the game.

The teams then mostly took turns striking out against the left-handers, Murphy and Weston Rogers, who finished with nine strikeouts for Har-Ber. Rogers had two more strikeouts in the fifth, when Heritage added a second run on two walks, a stolen base, and a passed ball that scored Olsen.

Murphy struck out the side in the second inning when he pitched around a hit batter and leadoff double by Mitchell. Har-Ber also had two runners on in the fourth inning before Murphy struck out Harris on a high fastball to end the inning.

"(Making) contact, obviously is something we're going to have better at," Har-Ber coach Randy Salsbury said. "A lot of that goes to the kid that pitched, but we struggled to get timely hits and that was the difference in the ball game."

Game 2

Rogers Heritage 9, Springdale Har-Ber 2

Ty Harris hit a grand slam and a two-run single as Rogers Heritage (4-1, 2-0) completed a doubleheader sweep.

Harris put the game away with a grand slam in the seventh after he hit a two-run single in the fifth to put the War Eagles ahead 5-1.

Har-Ber (2-2, 0-2) threatened in the fourth after Matt Kimbel led off with a double and Landry Harris reached on an error. But Zach Stanley grounded hard back to the mound, where Colton Weztler started a double play to end the inning.

Sports on 03/19/2014

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