SPRINGDALE -- Springdale Har-Ber coach Randy Salsbury approached Weston Rogers on the mound and told him he'd hit the magic number on his pitch count in the top of the seventh inning of Tuesday's game against Springdale High.
But the Wildcats' junior left-hander wasn't ready to come out of the game. He wanted to finish what he started.
How They Scored
Springdale Har-Ber 6, Springdale High 2
Har-Ber^001^005^0^—^6^6^1
Springdale^100^100^0^—^2^1^5
Rogers and Mitchell. Sherry and Poulos. W – Rogers, 7-2. L – Sherry, 5-5.
"He's just that guy, 'No, I want to finish the ball game out,'" Salsbury said. "I said, 'OK. But you've got (a certain) number of pitches and then I've got to come get you.' And so he got it done and we're very proud of him for that."
Rogers retired the side in order in the seventh to end the game and finish with a complete-game one-hitter as Har-Ber earned a 6-2 win over its crosstown rival at Arvest Ballpark.
The Wildcats (21-8, 7-6 7A/6A-West Conference) exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth inning to take control of the game.
Rogers (7-2) struck out 10 Springdale hitters and only gave up one earned run, which came when Trevor Beadle scored from second base on a perfectly-placed Chase Carpenter bunt that died on the first-base line as Har-Ber players tried to let it roll foul in the fourth inning. Few Springdale balls even left the infield throughout the course of the game.
Rogers' performance was made even more impressive by the composure he displayed after falling behind 2-1 despite giving up just the one bunt hit, with the other run being a result of an early Har-Ber error.
Springdale (8-20, 1-12) had all the momentum when Beadle dove for home and beat the tag from catcher Jon Mitchell to give the Bulldogs the lead. Senior Matt Sherry (5-5) allowed just two hits through five innings, striking out two and retiring the first six batters he faced in another steady outing from the Bulldogs' top pitcher.
"I'm proud of the way the kids played," Springdale coach Billy Ray Rutledge said. "We played hard. Didn't swing the bat very well, but we found a way to get a couple runs. For a while there, it looked like it was going to be enough."
But Har-Ber's bats woke up and struck for five runs to break the game open in the top of the sixth.
The Wildcats had three hits in the inning and also took advantage of three Springdale errors, which helped extend the frame and resulted in one of the runs being unearned. Brandon Still delivered a two-run single up the middle to give the Wildcats a 4-2 lead, then designated hitter Phillip Cebuhar capped a 2-for-2 day with an RBI single to help the Wildcats break out of the mini offensive slump.
"We've got to do a better job of reading the park and conditions," Salsbury said. "We hit five of the first six balls right on the button, but they're fly balls. And so we talked about it and saw a whole lot more ground balls and line drives after that."
Springdale couldn't recover, failing to reach base in the final two innings to end what was its most competitive game in a nine-game conference losing streak.
"Anytime we play against these guys our kids get up for it and they play hard," Rutledge said.
The second game of the series is today at 4:30 p.m. at Tyson Park.
Sports on 05/07/2014