Arkansas will represent the Mid-South Region in the American Legion Baseball World Series later this week, but a downpour Sunday afternoon kept a regional champion from being crowned.
Minutes after Texarkana pitchers Patrick Flanagan and Logan Vidrine combined for an eight-hit, 5-0 shutout of Sedalia, Mo., in an elimination game, heavy rains fell at Gary Hogan Field, forcing tournament officials to postpone the championship game between the Razorbacks and the Bryant BlackSox.
The championship game is now tentatively set for 1 p.m. today at the Little Rock park, but tournament officials may be forced to move the game's site and time. One possibility being considered is Henderson State University in Arkadelphia.
"We were ready," Bryant Manager Darren Hurt said. "Our pitching was going to be fresh tonight, but [the rain] does bring back the possibility of us bringing back another pretty good pitcher [University of Arkansas signee Zach Jackson]. ... The weather changes things in that aspect."
The World Series is scheduled to start Thursday in Shelby, N.C., but the winner of the Mid-South Regional will not play its first game until 11:30 a.m. Friday.
"Friday doesn't happen unless we get through [today]," Hurt said. "We'll worry about that when we have to."
After being shutout in Wednesday's regional opener, Texarkana (37-4) has battled back through the losers' bracket for another shot at Bryant (31-9). The Razorbacks have won four of six meetings between the two teams this season, including the last three. However, the last time Texarkana faced Jackson, the BlackSox ace tossed a shutout.
Jackson has thrown shutouts in his last two outings -- in the winners' bracket finals of the Arkansas State Tournament against Texarkana and Thursday's 6-0 victory over Ada, Okla., in the regional semifinals.
Flanagan, who suffered a loss in the regional opener against Pontotac, Miss., was near his best Sunday afternoon. Flanagan limited the Missouri champions to five hits in Sunday's first game.
Flanagan used 101 pitches in seven innings. He struck out six and walked four. Vidrine allowed three hits in two innings of relief. Missouri had only one runner to reach third base.
"To bounce back after what Flanagan went through on the first day just shows his mental toughness," Texarkana Manager Dane Peavy said. "It shows what he's capable of. He's one of our best guys. We knew we had to get to this final game, and we did the job."
Texarkana scored four runs in the fourth inning. Beau Burson's one-out triple to right scored Parker Ribble and Vidrine followed with a RBI single. The Razorbacks used a double steal and a RBI single from Cole Boyd to notch their final two runs of the inning.
Vidrine capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.
Gable Dull took the loss for Sedalia (39-17). Dull gave up four runs on seven hits. He struck out two and walked three. Reliever Tristen Jackson also went four innings, allowing one run on four hits. He walked one and struck out no one.
Texarkana's defense shined. The Razorbacks turned a double play and shortstop Riley Orr made two notable defensive efforts -- making an over-the-shoulder catch of Christian Jones' pop fly in the third inning and making a diving catch of Jake Kindle's line drive for the first out of the seventh inning.
"Defensively, we've been playing great," Peavy said. "For the last three days, after we had two bad innings against Mississippi [in the opener], it's going to take two or less errors to win these games. If we can keep it to two or less, we give ourselves a chance to win.
"I believe we put all phases of the game together today," Peavy said. "The guys are at an all-time morale high right now; they know what's at stake. That played into the situation because early we got some guys on but couldn't get them in, and we busted through in the fourth inning. It's the factor of, they know how to get it done and when to get it done."
Sports on 08/08/2016