FAYETTEVILLE -- Andy Pagnozzi and a quick-strike offense helped Fayetteville get off to a perfect start Friday in the Class 7A baseball state tournament.
Pagnozzi, a senior right-hander, threw five innings without allowing a base runner for his first perfect game of the year and the Bulldogs' offense chipped in with three home runs in a 10-0 victory over Little Rock Central in five innings in the quarterfinals at Bulldog Field.
Baseball at a glance
CLASS 7A AT FAYETTEVILLE
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
Game 5 Fayetteville 10, LR Central 0 Game 6 Bentonville 8, Rogers Heritage 5 Game 7 Conway 4, FS Southside 2 Game 8 Springdale Har-Ber 8, Cabot 1
TODAY’S SEMIFINALS
Fayetteville vs. Conway, noon Bentonville vs. Springdale Har-Ber, noon
CLASS 6A AT TEXARKANA
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
Game 5 Benton 8, Marion 0 Game 6 Sheridan 7, Greenwood 0 Game 7 Russellville 11, El Dorado 4 Game 8 Jonesboro 8, Alma 4
TODAY’S SEMIFINALS
Benton vs. Russellville, noon Sheridan vs. Jonesboro, 2:30 p.m.
CLASS 5A AT HARRISON
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
Game 9 Harrison 7, Jacksonville 3 Game 10 White Hall 5, Valley View 1 Game 11 Magnolia 6, Greene Co. Tech, 3 Game 12 Sylvan Hills 8, Watson Chapel 1
TODAY’S SEMIFINALS
Harrison vs. Magnolia, noon White Hall vs. Sylvan Hills, 2:30 p.m.
CLASS 4A AT GOSNELL
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
Game 5 Arkadelphia 20, Lonoke 5 Game 6 Star City 9, Pea Ridge 5 Game 7 Hamburg vs. Shiloh Christian, ppd. Game 8 Brookland vs. Ashdown, ppd
TODAY’S GAMES
Game 7 Hamburg vs. Shiloh Christian, 10 a.m. Game 8 Brookland vs. Ashdown, 10 a.m.
CLASS 3A AT GENOA CENTRAL
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
Game 9 Mayflower 8, Genoa Central 1 Game 10 Horatio 17, Harding Academy 3 Game 11 Benton Harmony Grove 5, Rivercrest 3 Game 12 Fordyce 3, Bismarck 1
TODAY’S SEMIFINALS
Mayflower vs. Benton Harmony Grove, noon Horatio vs. Fordyce, 2:30 p.m.
CLASS 2A AT MARKED TREE
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
Game 9 Magnet Cove 8, Conway Christian 6 Game 10 Ouachita 13, Tuckerman 2 Game 11 Riverside 6, Woodlawn 1 Game 12 Junction City 1, Walnut Ridge 0, 8
TODAY’S SEMIFINALS
Magnet Cove vs. Riverside, noon Ouachita vs. Junction City, 2:30 p.m.
CLASS 1A AT TAYLOR
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
Game 9 Armorel 3, Kirby 2 (8 inn.) Game 10 Scranton 3, Bay 1 Game 11 Sacred Heart vs. County Line, ppd. Game 12 Taylor vs. Viola, ppd.
TODAY’S GAMES
Game 11 Sacred Heart vs. County Line, 10 a.m.
"Give it up to my defense," Pagnozzi said. "There were a couple of plays, a scary catch in the outfield and a great play on the right side by Connor Shaw at second base. I thought that was a hit right there, but Connor made a great play.
"Then you've got to thank the offense for coming out and scoring all those runs so we could finish it in five innings."
Pagnozzi (9-1), who has signed with Ole Miss, was locked in from the start. He struck out the side in the first inning just 11 pitches, had only two outs leave the infield and finished with eight strikeouts.
"He threw as well as he's thrown all year," Fayetteville Coach Vance Arnold said. "So it was easy to ride that."
Little Rock Central (17-14) ran into trouble right from the start. The Bulldogs (27-3) scored three runs in the first inning on an RBI single from Grant Koch, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Blake Power. Then Fayetteville broke open the game with five runs in the second inning, including home runs by Walker Powell and Connor Shaw.
Cody Davenport added another home run in the bottom of the third, sending a towering two-run shot over the left-center field wall for a 10-0 lead.
"We ran into a buzzsaw," Central Coach Rusty Passani said. "There's a reason why they're the No. 1-ranked team in the state and ranked nationally.
"They do a great job, and we knew that coming in. We knew we were going to see Pagnozzi, and that's a kid that just keeps getting better."
Fayetteville plays Conway, the top seed from the 7A-Central Conference, in the semifinals at noon today.
CONWAY 4, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 2
FAYETTEVILLE -- Conway (24-4) took advantage of some timely well-placed hitting to defeat Fort Smith Southside (18-14) in the second round at Bulldog Field.
The Wampus Cats scored three runs in the second inning, hitting just one ball out of the infield, and held off a Southside rally in the seventh inning to advance.
Conway got on the board in the first inning when Kolby Reck tripled to right field with one out and scored on a passed ball.
The Wampus Cats tacked on three runs in the second inning. With one out, the bottom of Conway's order put together three consecutive hits off Southside starter Dalton Reeves. All three eventually scored on an error, a sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Reck for a 4-0 lead.
Southside got a run back in the third when Jace McCrea launched a home run to left-center field to close the gap to 4-1, then added another run in the third on McCrea's RBI single off Conway freshman left-hander Jordan Wicks, who earned the victory.
Reeves settled in after the second inning and retired 11 straight batters at one point.
BENTONVILLE 8, ROGERS HERITAGE 5
BENTONVILLE -- Paul Rouse's triple over the right fielder's head broke Bentonville's 22-inning scoreless drought in the state tournament that dated to 2012, and the Tigers (19-8) poured it on from there in a quarterfinal victory over Rogers Heritage (17-11) at the Tiger Athletic Complex.
Heritage starter Ty Harris (4-5) didn't make it out of the first inning as the Tigers batted around, starting with Cody Scroggins' double and Rouse's triple, and scored six runs. The War Eagles didn't help their cause when an error on Matt Bratspies' grounder to first gave Bentonville two more runs and kept the inning alive.
Blake Werner's single drove in the Tigers' fifth run of the inning before getting caught in a rundown, but not before Garrett Keithley scored and made it a 6-0 game.
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 8, CABOT 1
BENTONVILLE -- Springdale Har-Ber (23-9) took advantage of four errors by Cabot (18-9) to score five unearned runs to advance to today's semifinals.
Senior right-hander Kurt Phillips (7-2) allowed a first-inning run, but that was all that Cabot could manage. Phillips scattered 6 hits, struck out 7 and walked 4 in a complete-game effort.
Caleb Gray supplied the offensive punch for the Wildcats, going 3 for 4 and driving in 4 runs. The senior cleanup hitter ripped a run-scoring single up the middle during Har-Ber's four-run third inning to take control.
The Wildcats put together six hits in the inning against Cabot starter Gavin Tillery (7-3). Devin Sok-Amnouay added an RBI single after Gray's hit, and leadoff man Tyler Blackston had an RBI double as Har-Ber took a 4-1 lead.
Sports on 05/16/2015