FAYETTEVILLE -- Conway took advantage of well-placed timely hitting to down Fort Smith Southside, 4-2, Friday in the second round of the Class 7A state baseball tournament at Bulldog Field.
The Wampus Cats (24-4) scored three runs in the second inning, hitting just one ball out of the infield, and held off a Southside rally in the seventh inning to advance to face Fayetteville at noon today. The winner will advance to the state championship next Friday at Baum Stadium.
7A State Baseball Tournament
Conway 4, FS Southside 2
FS Southside^001^100^0^—^2^6^1
Conway^130^000^x^—^4^8^0
Reeves and Demondesert, Testa (6); Wicks, Strickland (5), Tucker (7) and Pinkett. W-Wicks, 3-2. L-Reeves, 6-3. Sv.-Tucker. HRs-Southside, McCrea.
"We got the hits when we needed them early," said Conway coach Noel Boucher. "We didn't execute some there at the end, but we had enough to win and that's what it takes this time of year."
Conway got on the board in the first inning when Kolby Reck tripled to right field with one out and scored on a passed ball.
The Wampus Cats tacked on three runs in the second inning. With one out, the bottom of Conway's order put together three straight hits off Southside starter Dalton Reeves. And all three scored on an error, a sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Reck for a 4-0 lead.
'The second inning kinda got us there," Southside coach Craig Jones said. "Defensive we weren't very good in the second. We made a few mistakes here and there and that's the way baseball goes sometimes."
Southside (18-14) got a run back in the third when Jace McCrea launched a solo home run to left-center field to close the gap to 4-1, then added another run in the third on McCrea's RBI single off Conway freshman left-hander Jordan Wicks, who earned the win.
Reeves settled in after the second inning and retired 11 straight batters at one point.
The Rebels threatened in the seventh inning, getting their first two batters on with no outs. After a fly out, Mason Edgmon launched a fly to deep right that at first appeared to be catchable. Kinner Brasher, who was on second, went back to the bag to tag up, said Jones, but Ty Harpenau, who was on first, saw the ball would not be caught and took off. The two runners raced around third, but Brasher was thrown out at the plate and Harpenau scampered back to third base. Both Harpenau and Edgmon were left stranded as Christian Brasher grounded out to end the game.
"We were going to get an out either way," Jones said of the play at the plate. "The only way we were going to score was if they threw the ball away at home."
Sports on 05/16/2015