SPRINGDALE -- Blake Adams still had enough juice left in his right arm to do a little fist pump as he ran off the field Monday afternoon.
The Springdale Har-Ber junior right-hander fired his 113th and last pitch of the day past Springdale High's Nick West to preserve the Wildcats' 4-3 win in eight innings at Tyson Park in 6A-West Conference action.
Adams (5-0) struck out 14 batters including the final two of the game as Har-Ber (13-3, 3-2 6A-West) won its third straight conference game after starting league play 0-2. The two teams will meet again at 5 p.m. today in the second game.
"He pitched well, but he kept us in the game with his bat also," Har-Ber coach Ron Bradley said of Adams' outing. "He lived up to his billing today."
With several pro scouts behind the backstop, Adams rung up impressive numbers on the radar gun, punching 94 miles per hour on several fastballs. And Har-Ber needed everything he had to earn the win against the hard-luck Bulldogs (6-11, 1-4), who lost their seventh one-one game of the season.
Adams launched a two-run home run over the left-field fence in the fifth to snap a 1-1 tie, giving Har-Ber a 3-1 lead. Clay Burtrum singled with two outs and scored ahead of Adams' homer.
Springdale was able to weather the punch and battled back in the sixth inning to tie the game at 3-3. Christopher Harvey singled and Will Mueller smacked a double into the gap between left and center. Austin Gill ran for Harvey and scored on a passed ball, and Mueller touched the dish on a Har-Ber throwing error to tie the game at 3-3.
Neither team threatened in the seventh, but Har-Ber's Kirby Jenkins led off the top of the eighth with a single. Walker Immel, running for Jenkins, moved to second on a fielder's choice and stole third before scoring on Charlie Acuff's infield single for a 4-3 lead.
Adams made the one-run lead stand with a groundout and back-to-back strikeouts, the last against what would have been his last batter of the game after hitting the 110-pitch mark.
"Kirby had left some guys on earlier in the game, but I told him 'Hey, this is a big AB right here,'" Bradley said. "He did a good job of taking the ball up the middle instead of hitting the ball in the air, and that changed the whole inning. Then Charlie Acuff coming off the bench to get the game-winning hit. It was a good team win for us."
The Bulldogs got a solid outing from starter Tanner Sargeant, who went 6 innings and struck out six. Dylan Rollins took the loss, but struck out three over 2 innings.
Har-Ber 001 020 01 -- 4 8 3
Springdale 001 002 0 -- 3 4 0
Adams and Ross, Kimbel (7); Sargent, Rollins (7) and Doshier. W - Adams, 5-0. L - Rollins. HRs - Har-Ber, Adams.
Rogers Heritage 4, Bentonville High 3
Jeb Brown got Keaton Cloyd to fly out with the tying run at third base to pick up the save and help the War Eagles knock the Tigers out of sole possession of first place in the 6A-West.
Bentonville (11-4, 4-1 6A-West) scored a run in the seventh as Cade Appleman led off the seventh with a triple off Heritage starter Ben Pollock. Payton Allen followed with a sacrifice fly off Brown to pull the Tigers within 4-3.
Karson Coffee was intentionally walked with two outs and nobody on, but Brooks McDowell followed with a single to put runners at the corners. But Cloyd flied out to center field to end the game.
Bentonville is now in a three-way tie for the lead with Fayetteville and Bentonville West.
Heritage (5-9, 2-3 6A-West) snapped a 2-2 tie in the top of the fifth on Ryan Carlson's sacrifice fly. The War Eagles pushed the lead to 4-2 in the top of the seventh when Alex Nowak drew a lead-off walk and later scored on an errant pick-off throw by Allen.
Josh Llewelyn led Heritage with two hits, while Carson drove in two runs. Coffee also went 2-for-3 and drove in two for Bentonville.
Pollock picked up the win, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits over six innings. He struck out three and walked four. Devin Hearn took the loss for the Tigers, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits over six innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Fayetteville 7, Van Buren 5
Fayetteville scored three runs each in the first and third innings to beat Van Buren.
Matthew Magre had three hits and Beau Stuckey two hits to lead Fayetteville, which outhit the Pointers 7-5. Magre, Stuckey and Andrew Walker drove in two runs each. Trevor Johnson went 2-for-4 and drove in a run for Van Buren, which trailed 7-1 after five innings.
Luke Davenport earned the win, allowing three runs on four hits over 5.1 innings. Ethan Trivitt finished up allowing two unearned runs on just one hits over the final 1.2 innings.
Bentonville West 2, Rogers High 0
Maddox Thornton blanked Rogers on just four hits as West slipped past the Mounties at the Wolverine Athletic Complex.
Thornton (5-0) struck out 11 batters, the last coming on his 110th pitch, and walked one batter. He bailed himself out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth when he picked up a strikeout and ground ball to short to end the inning.
West (9-6, 4-1) did it scoring in the second inning as John McElroy singled and came home on Hunter Mayes' triple past a diving Mountie outfielder. Mayes then scored moments later on Landon Grigg's sacrifice fly to center.
Marc Sussman went 4.1 innings and took the loss for Rogers (6-7, 2-3), which has scored just one run in its last four games. The right-hander allowed six hits and struck out five while walking two.
Sports on 04/02/2019