Baseball: Bentonville runs to top seed in state tourney

Bentonville’s Kasey Ford delivers a pitch against Fayetteville on Monday in Bentonville.
Bentonville’s Kasey Ford delivers a pitch against Fayetteville on Monday in Bentonville.

BENTONVILLE -- Joey Savin's slow pitching delivery was too tempting for Bentonville's baseball team to resist.

The Tigers tested the Fayetteville left-hander any time they were on the basepaths Monday, and they went on post a 6-1 victory over the Bulldogs in 7A-West action at the Tiger Athletic Complex.

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Bentonville^220^110^X^—6^7^1

Savin, Pleimann (5) and Blagg; Ford and Bratspies. W-Ford, 5-3. L-Savin, 5-3. Sv-None. HR-None.

Rogers High 10, Rogers Heritage 1

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Easley, Sams (5) and Gates; Heffley and Field. W-Heffley. L-Easley. HRs-Rogers, Field (2).

The win gives Bentonville (17-7, 10-3 7A-West) a share of the conference title and the league's top seed in the Class 7A state tournament next week in North Little Rock. The Tigers can take the conference title outright with a win today at Fayetteville or a Springdale Har-Ber loss to Springdale High.

"It is a good feeling," Bentonville coach Todd Abbott said. "I'm proud of our guys, and they have battled. They did a good job to secure that top seed. We're certainly enjoy it and be ready to play again.

"We were trying to take advantage of that slow delivery, and it worked to our advantage. He had some struggles early with walking and throwing balls, and we jumped on that early."

Leadoff batter Matt Bratspies started things off with a single, and courtesy runner Bryce Davis followed with two of his stolen bases off Savin (5-3). He later scored when Savin made an errant pickoff throw to first, then Dalton Herrera added a bases-loaded infield single to give Bentonville a 2-0 cushion.

The Tigers made it a 4-0 game in the second on RBI hits by Nathan Lyons and Tyler Poole to add more pressure. Lyons' hit came after a Fayetteville throwing error thwarted a pickoff attempt on Davis, who ended up at third on the play, and Poole's hit came after a hit batter and a balk.

"We weren't very sharp," Fayetteville coach Scott Gallagher said. "We walk some guys in the first inning and didn't make a couple of plays behind them. We just didn't take some outs when we got them. I think we were at 60 pitchers after the first two innings, and that's never a recipe for winning a game."

The Purple'Dogs (17-11, 8-5) had their chances to make thing interesting as Thomas Broyles' sacrifice fly in the third made it a 4-1 game. Fayetteville then had the bases loaded with nobody out in the fourth against Bentonville starter Kasey Ford (5-3) when Quin Rudzinski hit a fly ball to right field.

Hayes Cox broke for home but retreated when Carter Brown made a strong throw to the plate. He took off for home again when Bentonville catcher Bratspies tried to get an out at second, but Kam'ron Mays-Hunt's throw to the plate was in time for the out.

"That was huge for our guys to be heads-up," Abbott said. "We not only made the throws but good throws. We took advantage of a miscue out there."

Rogers High 10, Rogers Heritage 1

ROGERS -- Rogers High used a huge two-out rally to take control of its game against crosstown rival Rogers Heritage on Monday at Veterans Park.

The Mounties scored eight runs in the bottom of the second, all after two were out, punctuated by Jackson Field's three-run home run, for an 8-1 lead and never looked back.

Field and Harrison Heffley provided a potent 1-2 punch on Senior Night for the Mounties (19-7, 8-5 7A-West). Field finished 3 for 4 with four RBIs, while Heffley drove in three runs and picked up the complete-game victory.

The left-hander allowed only one first-inning run, while scattering five hits. He struck out 10 and did not walk a batter.

Rogers coach Matt Melson said his players were able to take advantage of some control trouble by Heritage starter Logan Easley.

"It looked like their guy was having trouble locating his breaking ball and we were able to jump on the fastball," Melson said. "Five at-bats in a row I think we were able to jump on that first pitch."

Bradon Mabry and Grayson Lee chipped in two hits each. Both scored twice and also drove in a run for the Mounties.

Macauley Sams led Heritage (10-16, 4-9), going 2 for 3. The War Eagles were eliminated from state tournament contention with the loss and Fort Smith Southside's 4-2 win over Fort Smith Northside.

The two teams will meet today at 4:30 on the Heritage side at Veterans Park to close out 7A-West Conference play.

Sports on 05/03/2016

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