SPRINGDALE -- Caleb Grace's sacrifice fly scored Brady Patrick with the winning run as Springdale Har-Ber edged Rogers High 5-4 on Tuesday in Arvest Ballpark.
Patrick, who was 2 for 4 on the day, singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for the Wildcats. After Brandon Still laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Patrick to second, a walk and hit batter loaded the bases for Grace, who hit a medium-depth fly ball to left, and Patrick was able to tag up and score.
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Templeton, Dobler (2) and Field; King and Pardun, Thompson (4). W - King, 1-0. L - Dobler 0-1. HRs - none.
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The win helped Har-Ber (3-1, 1-1 7A-West) salvage a split in the two-game series to open conference play. The loss was the first of the year for the Mounties (5-1, 1-1).
"I think this is pretty typical of our conference," Har-Ber coach Ron Bradley said of the split. "I think this is going to be a balanced race all the way up and down the conference. The key is not to get swept."
Rogers came in hoping to do just that after Monday's 6-3 home win, and the Mounties had a chance with a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning. But the Mounties left five runners in scoring position and never could put up a big inning.
"We had some opportunities, but give their guy (Har-Ber pitcher Michael King) a lot of credit," Rogers coach Matt Melson said. "He battled, and got a big double-play. I thought that inning it looked like we were going to score multiple runs and we had the right guys up. Our guy hit it hard, but I thought that was kind of the turning point."
Melson was referring to the third inning when the Mounties had runners at the corners with one out, but grounded into a 6-4-3 double-play to end the threat.
Har-Ber led 2-0 in the first inning on Tyler Blackston's lead-off double and Patrick's infield single. Caleb Kimbel had an RBI double for the 2-0 lead.
The Mounties put together single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to tie the game a 3-3 as Bradon Mabry crushed a triple into the left-center field gap and later scored Jackson Field's RBI single. Rogers took a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning when Max Horton led off with a walk. Jeb Brain pinch ran for Horton and worked his way around to score on Grayson Lee's single.
Har-Ber tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth when Josh Thompson doubled off the wall in right field, and scored on sacrifice fly by Blaze Brothers.
Springdale High 12, Rogers Heritage 2
A Ben Roach grand-slam home run in the bottom of the sixth capped an offensive explosion for Springdale as it turned a tight game into a run-rule victory to salvage a split in the teams' opening 7A-West series.
Springdale (6-3, 1-1) led 3-2 entering the sixth before exploding for nine in the bottom of the inning to end the game, capped by Roach's grand slam, which pushed the lead to 10. The win gave the Bulldogs a split after Heritage (3-2, 1-1) won game one at home 12-5 on Monday.
Senior Kyler Johnson earned the win, striking out six while giving up four walks and two hits in five innings. Heritage scored both of its runs off him in the top of the fifth before Springdale re-took the lead in the bottom half of the inning, setting up the sixth.
In addition to Roach's big hit, Carson Johnson and Michael Harrington each went 2 for 3 with two RBIs for the Bulldogs. Jacob Morris drove in one of Heritage's two runs with one of the War Eagles two hits, while senior Macauley Sams started and took the loss after five innings of work.
The War Eagles tied the game 2-2 when Taylor Easley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth.
Fort Smith Southside 6, Fayetteville 4
Fayetteville loaded the bases with just one out in the seventh inning, but grounded into a game-ending double play, as the Rebels finished off a two-game sweep of the Purple'Dogs at Bulldog Field.
Fayetteville fell behind 4-1 after 1½ innings but stayed close thanks to two runs in the bottom of second, sparked by an RBI triple from Braden Jordan.
Barrett Banister and Jordan led the Bulldogs with two hits each, while Miller Pleimann worked a strong three innings in relief. Ryan Horn got the pitching win for Southside (7-2, 2-0 7A-West), allowing four runs in four innings.
Fayetteville (2-6, 0-2) dropped its first two conference games for the first time since 2012.
Bentonville 13-13, Fort Smith Northside 3-1
Tyler Johnson's hit-and-run single and a Northside throwing error allowed Tyler Jones to score the go-ahead run, and Bentonville went on to defeat Northside in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader at the Tiger Athletic Complex.
Bentonville scored 10 unanswered runs, including a four-run fourth and a five-run fifth, to end the game early. Johnson also had an RBI triple in the fourth and drove in a run with a double in the fifth.
Kasey Ford (2-1) allowed two hits over five innings, but the right-hander also hit three batters. Northside also took advantage of a pair of Bentonville errors to score its runs in the second and tie the game at 3.
The Tigers (5-1, 2-0) had no problems completing the doubleheader sweep as they scored 10 runs in the first inning and cruised to victory.
Matt Bratspies had two hits in the inning and drove in two runs. Bentonville had only five hits, but also took advantage of seven walks and six Northside errors.
Drew Young (3-0) pitched five innings and allowed just four hits with six strikeouts.
Sports on 03/16/2016