FAYETTEVILLE -- A little rain delay turned out to be just what Preston Rosales needed in the Mid-America Baseball Showcase on Thursday afternoon.
The right-hander shook off some first-inning struggles after 45-minute rain delay and his Yard Dogs rallied for a 5-4 win over the Midwest Nationals 18 Blue team at Fayetteville's Bulldog Stadium.
Yard Dogs 5, Midwest Nationals 18 Blue 4
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Midwest Nationals^300^010^0^—^4^6^0
Rosales and Warren; Wiley, Lumley (5) and Biggs. W-Rosales. L-Wiley. HRs-Midwest Nationals, Koch.
The Yard Dogs, which is made up of players from Northwest Arkansas and Oklahoma, answered the Midwest Nationals' three-run first inning with a four-run fifth and Rosales, a Bentonville graduate, did the rest with some help from his defense.
Rosales gave up three hits over the final six innings, after allowing three runs on three hits and a walk in the bottom of the first inning. He gave up a solo home run to Arkansas signee Grant Koch of Fayetteville in the fifth as the Nationals pulled within 5-4.
Rosales retired six of the final seven batters to close out the win, but the pitcher also got a nice leaping catch by right fielder Devin Sok-Amnouay, who attends Springdale Har-Ber, in the seventh.,
The former Bentonville Tiger acknowledged he was much better after the rain delay, which came in the top of the second inning.
"I think it was actually a good thing for me," Rosales said. "My arm angle was a bit off, release point. I got to really think about what I was doing wrong and was able to change it. I wasn't completely on, but I was able to get the job done."
Yard Dogs coach Mike Stephens said Rosales has been outstanding for his club this summer.
"We saw the first inning from Preston what we hadn't seen all summer long," Stephens said. "But he got back into a groove and started competing and throwing strikes with multiple pitches."
The Yard Dogs combined three hits, two walks and a hit batsman to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead in the big fifth inning.
Koch led the Nationals, based out of Springfield, Mo., offense, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Koch's Fayetteville teammate Cody Davenport also contributed a sacrifice fly in the Nationals' big first inning.
The Yard Dogs loaded the bases in the fifth on two walks and a hit batsman. Shayne Warren of Kansas, Okla., then slapped a two-run single to right field, while Har-Ber teammates Kurt Phillips and Reed Fell contributed consecutive RBI-singles to grab the lead. Fell, the Yard Dogs' lead-off man, finished 3-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored.
Nationals coach Randy Merryman said his starting pitcher, Logan Wiley, who will play in the fall at Kansas State, was not the same following the rain delay.
"You never know how they are going to come out of a delay," Merryman said. "When he went back, it wasn't the same command. They got a knock when they needed one after the walks. We kinda struggled offensively a little bit. We had opportunities to get their guy out of the game and didn't do it."
Sports on 07/10/2015