CLASS 6A BASEBALL

Sheridan rides Cleveland, Smith to semifinals

SHERIDAN -- Sheridan didn't get as much pop from its bats as they would have liked Friday, but the hosts relied on the pitching of Tyler Cleveland and Jessie Smith to knock off Searcy.

Cleveland allowed 5 hits and struck out 8 in 5 innings, and Smith got six consecutive outs in two innings of relief to lead the Yellowjackets to a 6-3 victory over the Lions in the second round of the Class 6A state baseball tournament.

"Tyler is such a competitor, and he plays with a lot of confidence," Sheridan Coach Mike Moore said. "I can't say enough about him. Searcy would rally, but he just kept fighting. And Jessie has been a plugger his whole career.

"He gave us those last two innings when we needed him, and he got us through it."

Sheridan (20-8) didn't register its first hit until the bottom of the fourth inning and finished the game with just five, but the defending state champions seemingly made the most out of each one and capitalized off several Searcy mistakes to stay in control.

The Yellowjackets, who will face Mountain Home today at noon in the semifinals, grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when Noah Carraway scored on Justin Pruitt's grounder. Brady Bibb scored on a wild pitch in the second to up Sheridan's cushion to 2-0 before the Lions finally answered. Searcy (18-6) didn't have a runner advance past first base for the first three innings but got an RBI-single from Flave Carpenter in the fourth to cut its deficit to 2-1.

Sheridan pushed its lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the inning, with Dustin Reid scoring on an error and McKinley Williams running home on Hunter Hicks' single. Clayton Palmer also scored on a wild pitch, but the Lions did put together a rally against Cleveland in the top of the fifth, getting RBI singles from Michael Parsley and Adrian Hannah to pull within 5-3. Smith, however, came on in the sixth to close the door on Searcy's comeback.

MOUNTAIN HOME 5, ALMA 3

Carson Yarbrough delivered on the mound and at the plate to push Mountain Home (9-19) to its second upset in a row.

Yarbrough had four RBI, including a two-run single in the seventh, and scattered seven hits to carry the Bombers to the semifinals. Alma (12-14) had tied the game at 3-3 in the fifth before Yarbrough came through with the game-winning hit.

JONESBORO 4,

LAKE HAMILTON 3

Mac Wagner scored on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh inning to send Jonesboro (16-6) to the semifinals.

Cameron Poston had three hits for the Hurricane, who took a 3-0 lead into the fifth inning before Lake Hamilton (18-11) tied it at 3-3 on back-to-back RBI-singles from Conrad Lax and Jacob Treat, who eventually scored on an error. The Wolves had a chance to grab the lead after loading the bases in the sixth but came up empty.

GREENWOOD 8, BENTON 4

Jake Smith's sacrifice bunt allowed Connor Nolan to score and give Greenwood (17-10) the lead for good against Benton.

The Bulldogs, who advanced to the semifinals for the first times since 2013, were down 4-0 but scored three runs on a throwing error and got an RBI single from Jake Phelps to tie the game at 4-4 in the fifth inning. Greenwood tacked on three more runs in the seventh to open up a four-run lead.

Colton Nix had a three-run home run for Benton (20-5-1), which loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh but couldn't push across any runs.

Sports on 05/14/2016

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