SPRINGDALE -- Ron Bradley would like for his Springdale Har-Ber baseball team to have more than two games under its belt heading into 7A-West Conference play next week.
At least the Wildcats will carry an unbeaten record into its Tuesday clash with Rogers High.
Prep Baseball
Mountain Home^100^230^0^—^6^5^2
Har-Ber^302^004^x^—^9^8^1
Kruse, Rose (4), Gross (6) and Henderson; Grace, Paschal (5), McCallister (7) and Rasmussen. W-Paschal, 1-0. L-Rose, 0-1. Sv.-McCallister (1). HRs-Har-Ber, Adams (1).
Har-Ber (2-0) squandered an early 5-1 lead, but rallied for four runs in the sixth inning to claim a 9-6 win over Mountain Home on Friday at Tyson Park on the final day of the Best Sports Classic.
"It's early in the year, so every inning could be adversity right now," Bradley said. "It was good to see us get behind and respond in a positive way."
Har-Ber catcher Lincoln Rasmussen smoked a lead-off double down the left-field line to open the bottom of the sixth inning with the Wildcats trailing 6-5. After back-to-back walks loaded the bases, Har-Ber plated four runs, including RBI singles by Blake Thompson and Blake Adams and a pair of bases-loaded walks.
Mountain Home coach Jim Tejcek said his team was feeling the effects of playing its fourth game of the week with a thin pitching staff.
"I started a sophomore today," Tejcek said. "And the kid who threw second has never pitched in a varsity game until today, so we were down to the bottom of our barrel pitching but I was really impressed with the way we competed."
Har-Ber jumped on Mountain Home starter Luke Kruse for three runs in the first inning, all touching the dish on Adams' three-run home run to left that scored Blaze Brothers and Thompson ahead of Adams. The Wildcats added two more runs in the third inning on a lead-off single by Brothers and an RBI double by Thompson. Adams also drove in Thompson with what appeared to be a single, but he missed first base when he advanced to second on the throw to the plate. It was one of four base-running mistakes by the Wildcats in the game with three base runners thrown out at third base.
"We ran ourselves out of too many innings early," Bradley said. "We were being aggressive with dirt balls, which the other night against Conway it was the difference in the game. But there's a big difference when you're already in scoring position."
Mountain Home rallied for a pair of runs in the fourth, then added three more in the fifth off Har-Ber reliever Treshon Paschal. Kruse did most of the damage with a 2-run single that gave the Bombers a 6-5 lead.
Har-Ber was able to get to Mountain Home reliever Kyle Rose in the sixth to rally for the win.
Wildcats starter Caleb Grace was solid over four innings, allowing three runs with six strikeouts. Landon McCallister pitched a perfect seventh inning for Har-Ber to earn the save.
The Wildcats will open 7A-West play on the road at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday against Rogers at Veterans Park.
Bentonville High 8, North Little Rock 5
The Tigers scored six runs in the sixth inning to secure their first win of the season at the Tiger Athletic Complex on Friday.
Bentonville (1-3) trailed 5-2 when it came to bat in the sixth inning, but five hits, three walks and a North Little rock error led to six runs. Justin Hines delivered the big blow with a two-run double for the Tigers that plated Jackson Huskey and Kyle Knight.
Nathan Lyons, Cameron Duncan and Cade Lastovica each had two hits for Bentonville.
Lyons, Austin Garrett and Ryan Kneeshaw all combined to limit North Little Rock to five hits. Garrett earned the win and Kneeshaw locked down the save with a perfect seventh inning.
Bentonville will open 7A-West Conference play at home Monday against Fayetteville.
Sports on 03/11/2017