CLASS 7A BASEBALL

Har-Ber Downs Cabot to reach semifinals

BENTONVILLE -- Springdale Har-Ber senior right-hander Kurt Phillips allowed a first-inning run Friday afternoon, but he got plenty of help from his friends and a little bit from Cabot, too, in the Class 7A state high school baseball tournament.

Class 7A State Baseball

Springdale Har-Ber 8, Cabot 1

Har-Ber^004^022^0^—^8^10^0

Cabot^100^000^0^—^1^6^4

Phillips and Lloyd; Tillery, Kyzer (3), Brockington (6) and Mullins. W-Phillips, 7-2. L-Tillery, 7-3.

Class 7A State Baseball Tournament

Friday’s Scores

at Fayetteville

Game 5: Fayetteville 10, Little Rock Central 0 (5)

Game 6: Conway 4, Fort Smith Southside 2

at Bentonville

Game 7: Bentonville 85, Rogers Heritage 5

Game 8: Springdale Har-Ber 8, Cabot 1

Saturday

at Fayetteville

Game 9: Fayetteville vs. Conway, noon

at Bentonville

Game 10: Bentonville vs. Springdale Har-Ber, noon

Championship

May 22 at Baum Stadium

Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 3 p.m.

Har-Ber took advantage of four Cabot errors to the tune of five unearned runs, advancing to today's semifinals with an 8-1 win over the Panthers at the Tiger Athletic Complex.

Har-Ber coach Ron Bradley was pleased to see his team put together a big four-run third inning, then keep adding on.

"You never know, sometimes one is enough, it was yesterday," said Bradley, referring to his team's 1-0 win over Little Rock Catholic on Thursday. "I felt like we got some quality at-bats the first at-bats we had, but them we put them together in that third inning. They made some mistakes. They opened the door for us in some circumstances and we got big hits.

"In a state tournament, you never know how much is a enough. I saw (Fort Smith) Southside score nine in the sixth yesterday and come back from down 6-0."

Har-Ber will now face 7A-West Conference rival Bentonville at noon today for a spot in next week's state title game. The two teams split a doubleheader during the regular season.

Caleb Gray supplied the offensive punch for the Wildcats, going 3-for-4 and driving in four runs. The senior cleanup hitter ripped a run-scoring single up the middle Har-Ber's four-run third inning to take control. He added a two-out, two-run double in the sixth after two Cabot errors for an 8-1 Har-Ber lead.

The Wildcats (23-9) put together six hits to knock out Cabot starter Gavin Tillery (7-3) in the third inning. Devin Sok-Amnouay added an RBI-single after Gray's hit and lead-off man Tyler Blackston had an RBI double as Har-Ber took a 4-1 lead.

That was plenty for Phillips, who improved to 7-2 and kept the Panthers, the No. 1 seed from the East, off the scoreboard after the first inning. The right-hander scattered six hits, struck out seven and walked four in the complete-game effort.

Cabot coach Ronnie Goodwin said his team did not play as well on Friday as it did throughout the season.

"Today was not indicative of who we are," said Goodwin, whose team finished 18-9. "They took advantage of our mistakes is what it boiled down to. Their guy on the mound got into a nice rhythm. We have one inning where we have four out of five that have quality at-bats and we didn't even really threaten that inning.

"It went their way today. They are a well-coached team."

Sports on 05/16/2015

Upcoming Events