BENTONVILLE -- Devin Sok-Amnouay broke for second base a little quicker than Springdale Har-Ber baseball coach Ron Bradley would have liked Thursday afternoon, especially since Dylan Thompson threw over to first moments later for the pickoff move.
The Wildcats, however, caught a break, and Zach Stanley made Little Rock Catholic pay for it.
Class 7A State Baseball Tournament
Springdale Har-Ber 1, Little Rock Catholic 0
LR Catholic^000^000^0^—^0^4^1
Har-Ber^000^001^X^—^1^4^0
Thompson and Hancock; Rogers and Lloyd. W-Rogers, 4-2. L-Thompson, 6-6. Sv-None. HR-None.
Class 7A State Baseball Tournament
Thursday’s Scores
at Fayetteville
Game 1: E2 Little Rock Central 2, W6 Rogers High 1, 10 innings
Game 2: W4 Fort Smith Southside 9, E3 North Little Rock 6
at Bentonville
Game 3: W5 Rogers Heritage 6, C2 Bryant 3
Game 4: W3 Springdale Har-Ber 1, C3 Little Rock Catholic 0
Today
at Fayetteville
Game 5: Little Rock Central vs. W1 Fayetteville, noon
Game 6: Fort Smith Southside vs. C1 Conway, 2:30 p.m.
at Bentonville
Game 7: Rogers Heritage vs. W2 Bentonville, noon
Game 8: Springdale Har-Ber vs. E1 Cabot, 2:30 p.m.
Saturday
at Fayetteville
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, noon
at Bentonville
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, noon
Championship
May 22 at Baum Stadium
Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 3 p.m.
Sok-Amnouay slid into second ahead just before he was tagged, and Stanley -- who was medically cleared to play Tuesday after a six-week absence -- drove him in with a two-out single in the sixth inning as Har-Ber advanced to the Class 7A State Tournament quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory at the Tiger Athletic Complex.
"The throw was a little high and a little slow," Bradley said. "Hey, it's a game of inches when it comes to a 1-0 game, and the guy hadn't picked all day. We run twice and he picked both times, so we were fortunate.
"Usually, that's what it takes -- getting a break and capitalizing on the break with a two-out hit. It was sad to see a team lose like that because both pitchers were outstanding. That's been the story of our conference: one-run games."
It was all Har-Ber lefty Weston Rogers (4-2) needed to claim the win as he pitched a four-hitter and struck out 15 Catholic batters. The Rockets (20-10), however, made things interesting in the seventh when Jonathan Nichols belted a deep shot that went off Tyler Blackston's glove for a one-out double near the center-field fence.
Nichols might have had more on the play, but he turned his ankle while rounding second and had to retreat and eventually be replaced by a pinch-runner. Rogers then struck out the next two batters to complete his 117-pitch performance.
"That's the way it goes, and it was tough," Catholic coach Dustin Strube said. "Thompson had been cruising all game long, and he left a pitch up. They made him pay for it, and that's what good ball teams do.
"We had a chance to get it done in the seventh and didn't do it. That's the story of the day. We had opportunities, about the same number that they did. They took advantage of one of them, and we took advantage of none of them."
The win means Har-Ber advances to today's quarterfinal round game, where the Wildcats (22-9) will play East top seed Cabot at 2:30 p.m.
Sports on 05/15/2015