BENTONVILLE — A costly Rogers Heritage error allowed two Bentonville runners to come home in the bottom of the sixth inning and gave the Tigers a 4-3 victory in the first game a 7A-West Conference doubleheader Tuesday at the Tiger Athletic Complex.
Bentonville loaded the bases when Carter Brown singled, Gunner Barnes was hit by a pitch and Matt Bratspies walked with two out. Blake Werner then hit a grounder toward short, but the ball eluded Chase Kilgore and went into left field, allowing Brown and Barnes to score.
“Baseball is a game of inches,” Heritage coach Keith Kilgore said. “It came down to the sixth inning and taking care of the baseball. We had an opportunity to limit any damage and, against good teams, you have to play solid defense. A couple of inches here or there, and it might have had a different outcome.”
Kasey Ford (4-0) made the Bentonville lead stand in the seventh, despite allowing two singles. The junior righthander briefly went down when Sam Cooper’s linedrive single hit him in the leg with one out but stayed in the game.
Ford did allow a single by Macauley Sams with two out, but he enticed pinch-hitter Connor Hirsh to swing and miss for his 15th strikeout.
“He bowed back,” Bentonville coach Tobb Abbott said of Ford. “As a matter of fact, he basically told me there was no chance he was coming out. I asked if he was all right, and he said Are you kidding me?’ He basically said ‘Give me the ball. Let’s go.’”
GAME 2
ROGERS HERITAGE 5,
BENTONVILLE 0
Ty Harris shut out Bentonville on two hits, and Kacey Murphy belted a two-run homer — his first of the season — as Heritage salvaged the doubleheader sweep.
Harris (2-2) struck out 11 Tigers and issued just two walks in a 107-pitch outing, with only one batter reaching third for Bentonville (8-6, 3-3). He also set up the only run he needed in the fourth inning when he singled, and courtesy runner Sams came home when Garrett Carmical hit an infield single to deep short.
Kyle Lamproe’s RBI single gave the War Eagles (6-5, 3-3) added another run in the fourth, then Heritage added three more in the fourth. Dane Olson doubled and scored when Sams’ fly ball to left was misplayed, then Murphy added his driver over the left-field fence and chased Bentonville starter Preston Rosales (0-4).
7A-WEST
GAME 1
BENTONVILLE 4, ROGERS HERITAGE 3
Heritage ............000 300 0 — 3 4 1 Bentonville ........002 002 X — 4 6 0 Murphy and Lamproe; Ford and Bratspies. W-Ford, 4-0. L-Murphy, 3-1. Sv-None. HR-None.
GAME 2
ROGERS HERITAGE 5, BENTONVILLE 0
Heritage ............000 230 0 — 5 8 0 Bentonville ........000 000 0 — 0 2 2 Murray and Lamproe; Rosales, Young (5) and Bratspies. W-Murphy, 2-2. L-Rosales, 0-4. Sv-None. HR-Heritage, Murphy (1).
Henry Apple can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAHenry.