BENTONVILLE -- Fayetteville and Bentonville already had the No. 1 and No. 2 spots locked up in the 7A-West standings before the start of Thursday's baseball doubleheader, but the Purple Bulldogs had to work extra hard to make sure their conference winning streak kept going.
Grant Koch hammered a two-out, two-run double in the top of the ninth to give Fayetteville an 11-10 win in Game 1 to extend the Purple'Dogs' winning streak to 42 games at the Tiger Athletic Complex.
7A West Conference
Game 1
Fayetteville 11, Bentonville 10 (9)
Fayetteville^232^000^202^—^11^14^2
Bentonville^300^132^001^—^10^11^4
Pagnozzi, Boushelle (5), Savin (8) and Koch; Ford, Scroggins (7), Rosales (7) and Bratspies. W-Savin, 5-0. L- Rosales. HRs-Bentonville, Ford (2).
Game 2
Fayetteville 9, Bentonville 7
Fayetteville^400^101^3^—^9^10^0
Bentonville^001^000^6^—^7^7^1
Davenport, Shaw (7), Savin (7) , Davenport (7) and Willis; Young, Williams (6). Brown (7) and Bratspies, Barnes (6). W-Davenport, 6-1. L-Young. HRs- Fayetteville, Pagnozzi (3).
The outcome might not have mattered in the standings, but it felt like a state tournament game as Fayetteville's players piled out of the dugout and celebrated on the field after the final out.
Koch's double into the right-center field gap snapped a 9-9 tie to give Fayetteville a two-run lead. Bentonville scored a run in the bottom of the inning, but the Purple'Dogs finished it off for the win.
Fayetteville coach Vance Arnold was pleased with how his team responded, after blowing an early 7-3 lead and trailing 9-7 going into the seventh. His players know about the conference winnings streak, but he doesn't say much about it.
"We came together in the late innings and just wouldn't be put away, unbelievable," Arnold said. "The kids know about the streak. They read about it in the newspaper, but we don't talk about it."
Koch and Cody Davenport had three hits apiece and combined to drive in five runs. Ethan King also went 2-for-3, drove in two runs and scored twice.
Cody Scroggins went 3-for-4 out of the lead-off spot for Bentonville (18-8, 9-5 7A-West), scored two runs and drove in one.
Fayetteville reliever Joey Savin, who improved to 5-0, came up with a big play in the game to snuff out a Bentonville scoring chance in the eighth. Scroggins led off with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt.
Brian Gloeckler then hit a one-hopper back to the mound. He pump-faked to first and threw to third, catching Scroggins off third for the second out. He then retired Ben Nordin on a fly ball to end the inning to keep the game tied.
Bentonville coach Todd Abbott liked the way his team battled with the state tournament coming up next week. The Tigers were the last team to beat Fayetteville in a league game back on May 12, 2012.
"I'm very proud of our guys," Abbott said. "A tough loss, a fun game. It was inconsistent by both teams. You saw some sloppiness early. But you know what, our guys got out there and got after it. In the end, it becomes a break here, a clutch hit or whatever."
Game 2
Fayetteville 9, Bentonville 7
Davenport picked up the win on the mound and also went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two doubles to lead the Purple'Dogs to the sweep.
Fayetteville (26-3, 14-0 7A-West) scored four runs in the top of the first highlighted by Davenport's two-run double.
The right-hander allowed a run on four hits over 6.2 innings. He struck out eight and walked two, improving to 5-1.
Drew Tyler and Andy Pagnozzi added two hits each. Pagnozzi also hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning.
Sports on 05/08/2015