When Cody Davenport chased down a liner in center field to end the first inning it set the tone for the remainder of the afternoon for the Fayetteville Bulldogs.
Senior left-hander Kyle Pate struck out nine and junior Blake Power drove in two runs as the defending state champions knocked out the Cabot Panthers 5-0 in Monday's Class 7A state tournament semifinal game at Burns Park.
Davenport's running catch was nothing new for the Bulldogs (31-3).
"We played great in the outfield the other day when we ran down two big ones," Fayetteville Coach Vance Arnold said, referring to Fayetteville's game with Little Rock Central. "For Cody to do that again, it just lets the pitcher know that they've got his back out there."
Fayetteville's victory sets up a 4:30 p.m. championship showdown with 2012 state champion Bryant Friday at Baum Stadium.
Taking down pesky Cabot (17-13) was no easy task for the Bulldogs.
The sixth-seeded Panthers came into Monday's semifinal after defeating Rogers Heritage and Catholic, and Cabot leadoff batter Lee Sullivan reached second with an infield single and an ensuing throwing error.
Sullivan was at third with two outs when Cabot cleanup batter Tristan Bulice hit a line drive that appeared headed for the center-field wall.
But Davenport caught up with the ball to end the inning, and Cabot managed one base runner past second base the rest of the afternoon.
"The wind was blowing to left and it looked like it was going to be a little lower," said Davenport, who was 2 for 3 with two runs scored. "The wind took it a little further than I first thought, but I got a secondary read on it and was I able to catch up to it."
Pate earned his second victory of the state tournament. He allowed five hits -- all singles -- and he walked one in his complete-game victory. He retired the final five batters he faced.
Cabot starter Adam Hicks retired Fayetteville in order on 10 pitches in the first inning, but he allowed four consecutive singles to start the second. Power drove in two runs with his line single to center. A third run came home when Hicks' pickoff throw to first hit Power's shoe and wound up in foul territory.
Fayetteville added runs in the fourth and fifth innings as Ethan King and Drew Tyler came up with RBI singles.
Sullivan had two singles for Cabot.
BRYANT 2, CONWAY 0
Zack Jackson walked the bases loaded in the first inning and gave up back-to-back one-out singles in the second.
The Hornets' sophomore gave up very little of anything during the next five innings.
"I was nervous. This was the biggest game I've ever pitched in in my life," said Jackson, who finished with seven strikeouts and a four-hitter. "I just had a big adrenaline rush."
Conway's Jacob Adams and Cade Jones drew one-out walks off Jackson, who at one point threw nine consecutive balls out of the strike zone in the first. Jackson struck out Connor Williams on a 1-2 pitch, but he walked Evan Wilson to load the bases.
Bryant Coach Kirk Bock came out to talk with Jackson, but Bock said assistant coaches Mark Cain and Brent Noble had confidence in Jackson and that that was good enough for him to leave Jackson in the game to escape the jam.
"I asked him if he was all right and he said 'I feel fine,' " Bock said. "I had my doubts. I'm not going to lie about it. ... But once he found it, he was fine."
Conway's Kyle Alexander and Adam Winter picked up back-to-back singles in the second, but Jackson retired 15 of the next 16 batters.
"He kept us off balance," Conway Coach Noel Boucher said. "Our opportunity was to catch him early when he was still wild and nervous. But we let him off the hook and he settled down."
Conway starter Matt Strickland threw four shutout innings but was pulled after Bryant's Dalton Holt opened the fifth inning with a double. Senior Korey Thompson laid down a sacrifice bunt that Williams, the Wampus Cats' relief pitcher, threw into the left-field foul territory in a failed attempt to nab Holt at third.
Holt scored on the error and senior Trevor Ezell followed with a run-scoring double to the left-field wall.
It was all the scoring the Hornets (31-2) needed, although the Wampus Cats (17-9) were given a seventh-inning reprieve.
Alexander singled with one out. Lane Carter hit a two-out infield fly that was botched when Thompson and Holt ran into each other near first base. Jackson struck out Adams to end the game.
Sports on 05/20/2014