FAYETTEVILLE -- Joey Savin settled in on the mound after a small hiccup in the first inning and Fayetteville picked up right where it left off with the bats Monday as the Purple Bulldogs completed a two-game sweep of Rogers High at Bulldog Field.
The Purple'Dogs capped a strong two days of baseball with good work from Savin and key contributions up and down in the lineup, taking Tuesday's game 9-3 to sweep the series.
Fayetteville 9, Rogers High 3
Rogers^100^110^0^—^3^8^5
Fayetteville^104^121^x^—^9^12^0
Templeton, Mitchell (3) and Field; Savin, Shaw and Blagg. W - Savin. L - Templeton. HRs - Fayetteville, Banister (2).
Fayetteville (12-8, 5-3 7A-West) won 12-6 at Rogers on Monday, and now sits just one game back from the top of the conference lead while the Mounties (14-4, 5-3) drop from the top of the standings into a tie with the Bulldogs in second.
"The recipe we took into (Monday's) game we took into this game," Fayetteville coach Scott Gallagher said. "We didn't swing early in the count, didn't get ourselves out and we made them make some pitches. Tried to get them deep in some counts and get some counts in our favor where we could take some aggressive swings and we did that."
Rogers and Fayetteville traded runs in the first inning, as Grayson Lee doubled and scored on a Harrison Hefley RBI single to put the Mounties on top early. Savin settled in over the course of six innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on seven hits, with just one walk and 11 strikeouts while throwing 112 pitches.
Even more difficult for the Mounties (14-4, 5-3) to overcome than Savin's good mix of curve and fastball was their own mistakes. Rogers pitchers McKaden Templeton and Mason Mitchell walked a combined six Fayetteville batters while the Mounties committed five errors in the field.
"That was the name of the game the last two days. Walks and errors killed us," Rogers coach Matt Melson said. "They outhit us, they outpitched us and they definitely played better defense.
"It was frustrating to watch and that's uncharacteristic of the way this bunch has played. But we've got to go back to work and make sure that doesn't happen anymore."
Savin helped his own cause, going 3 for 5 with an RBI and a run in the leadoff spot. Fayetteville broke the game open with a four-run third inning, then got a solo home run from Barrett Banister in the fourth to make it 6-2.
Banister, who finished 2 for 2 with a hit by pitch, would added another RBI single in a two-run fifth and Fayetteville then tacked on another run following a throwing error into the Bulldogs' dugout in the sixth.
"You can't take anything for granted," Gallagher said. "Rogers was coming off two great wins last week and they were rolling and then we played well here (this week). And we've had some tough breaks along the way, but you can't take anything for granted.
"We've got to go out the rest of the week and work hard and get ready next week for Rogers Heritage."
Springdale High 13, Fort Smith Northside 3
Freshman Ben Roach, sophomore Jake Williams and senior Hunter Necessary each drove in three runs to lead Springdale to a convincing home win Tuesday as the Bulldogs earned a much-needed sweep of Northside.
Roach was 2 for 2 at the plate, Necessary 2 for 3 and Williams 2 for 4 for the Bulldogs (13-7, 4-4 7A-West). Senior right-hander Kyler Johnston started, pitched five innings and earned the key win against the struggling Grizzlies (2-17, 0-8).
Bentonville 11, Rogers Heritage 1 (6)
Tyler Johnson went 2 for 3 with a triple and a home run and drove in three runs to lead the Tigers to the big run-rule 7A-West Conference win on Tuesday at Veterans Park.
The Tigers (11-6, 6-2 7A-West) broke it open with a five-run top of the third keyed by Johnson's two-run homer and a two-run double by Carter Brown to take a 7-0 lead.
Dalton Herrera also went 2 for 3, scored twice and drove in two runs for Bentonville. Drew Young picked up the win on the mound, allowing a run on four hits over six innings. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter.
Macauley Sams drove in the lone run for the War Eagles (7-11, 2-6) with an RBI-single in the third.
Springdale Har-Ber, FS Southside ppd.
Tuesday's game was postponed to today due to wet fields in Fort Smith. The two teams will meet at 4:30 p.m. today.
Sports on 04/13/2016