7A STATE BASEBALL: Rogers, Har-Ber, Bryant, LR Catholic advance

CENTERTON -- Jeb Brain's bases-loaded triple in the seventh inning lifted Rogers High to a 9-5 victory over Conway in the first round of the 7A State Tournament at Bentonville West on Thursday.

The third-seeded Mounties (16-11) advance to play Fayetteville at noon today. The Purple'Dogs received a bye after earning the top seed from the 7A-West Conference.

Conway (16-9) never led as Rogers answered each time the Wampus Cats attempted to steal momentum. Brain's three-run triple down the left field line came after Conway had tied the score at 6-6 in the sixth. It was set up by a leadoff double by McKaden Templeton and a pair of hit batsmen.

"Jeb Brain has been on the bench and been back and forth and hasn't had his best year," said Rogers coach Matt Melson. "But then he comes in a gets the hit of the season. Real proud of guys like that because he just always wants to do whatever's best for the team, so it was good to see him have a big hit there."

It came off of Conway junior left-handed ace pitcher Jordan Wicks, an Arkansas State pledge. Brain later scored on the Wampus Cats' fourth error.

"We made those mistakes that just kill you," said Conway coach Noel Boucher. "Right at the end of the game, leave a pitch up and the guy gets a triple to clear the bases. That's just a mistake."

Wicks was the Wampus Cats' fifth pitcher used and Boucher explained why he didn't go to him sooner.

"We didn't come into the tournament trying to win a game," Boucher said. "If we did, we would have pitched Jordan the whole game ... No one has ever won this tournament without a bye, so you've got to do things outside the box a little to try to put yourselves in a position -- and we almost pulled it off."

Melson believed a turning point in the game, which was delayed 50 minutes because of weather, came in the first inning after Matt Lloyd hit a one-out triple to right center.

"They had their big guy, their four-hole hitter coming up and we strike him out and then get a groundout to escape," Melson said. "I thought it was big to not ever give the lead away."

The Mounties spotted themselves a 2-0 lead thanks to an error and Max Horton's RBI double in the second inning. After Conway tied the score at 2-2 on Jake Stroth's RBI double and Parker Gavazzi's safety squeeze bunt, Rogers answered with two runs in a fifth inning with Grayson Lee's RBI double serving as the key swing.

Melson said freshman right-hander Matthew Watson "showed a lot of poise" after coming on in relief in the sixth. He allowed one hit in 1 2/3s innings to record the win. Horton, Templeton and Brain each had two hits for Rogers. Kolby Reck was 3-for-4 for Conway.

Little Rock Catholic 3, Van Buren 1

Junior left-hander Evan Hiatt allowed just four hits and struck out 13 to lead the Rockets to a minor upset win.

The 6-foot-3 junior, who has verbally committed to Arkansas, allowed only one Van Buren base runner past second base to improve to 8-2. He struggled with command at times, which drove up his pitch count. Hiatt was forced out of the game after reaching the daily limit with two outs in the seventh inning.

Van Buren (18-6) rallied against reliever Tate Stine as Ethan Holmes walked and Conner Catron reached on an error. Ethan Rauser singled to right field to drive in a run, but Catron was caught in a rundown between second and third and tagged out to end the game and send the No. 4 seed from 7A-West home.

Catholic coach Dustin Strube was thrilled to advance in the state tournament.

"We had to take him out and they capitalized," Strube said. "We didn't make a couple pitches when we needed to and they did what they're supposed to and one thing leads to another and we're in a jam. Luckily, we made a heads-up play at the end and salvaged this thing."

Catholic, the No. 5 seed from the 7A-Central, was opportunistic as two of its three runs were unearned and aided by Van Buren throwing errors. The Rockets (19-12) will face 7A-Central champion Cabot at noon today in a quarterfinal matchup at Bentonville High.

Landrey Wilkerson accounted for two of Van Buren's six hits, while Cody Hogg went 2-for-3 to lead Catholic.

Bryant 1, Springdale 0

Logan Chambers broke up a pitchers' duel with an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to lift the Hornets to the first-round win over the No 6 seed from the 7A-West.

The sophomore hit a sinking line drive to right field that Springdale's Tanner Sargent made a diving attempt to catch. However, the ball rolled past Sargent and to the fence. In the meantime, Chambers circled the bases for the lone run of the game.

Bryant coach Travis Queck said when Springdale misfired on the cutoff, he was sending Chambers without a doubt.

"When I looked up and he was at third base and they missed the cutoff, I was screaming," Queck said.

That was enough for senior Beaux Bonvillian, who tossed a one-hitter and struck out 13. He outdueled senior Andrew Roach, who allowed just the one run on five hits over seven innings.

Bryant (19-9) will now take on Bentonville, the No. 2 seed from the 7A-West, today at 2:30 in a quarterfinal matchup at Bentonville High.

Springdale (12-16) managed only Will Mueller's single in the fifth and Andre Munoz' walk in a 10-pitch at-bat against Bonvillain (6-2), a Central Arkansas signee.

"It was a great win. Guys came through in the clutch," Queck said. "We knew what we were getting with the Roach kid. Very impressive young man. Beaux just did Beaux things. He went out and competed."

Springdale Har-Ber 10, Fort Smith Southside 7

The Wildcats answered the Mavericks' big inning with a big inning of their own to advance to today's quarterfinals, where they'll play North Little Rock at 2:30 p.m. at Bentonville West.

Following an hour weather delay, Har-Ber (20-9) came out swinging to build a 6-1 lead before Southside (8-19) exploded for a six-run sixth inning to take the lead. It was short-lived as Har-Ber scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to create the final margin.

"We dodged a bullet," said Har-Ber coach Ron Bradley. "We were fortunate to have a chance to come back and it was good to see our kids respond in a positive way like that with a couple of hits when we needed them."

A two-run single by Blake Thompson proved to be the game-winner. Blaze Brothers was 2-for-4 with two triples and Kirby Jenkins was 2-for-3 with a double to pace the Wildcats' offense.

Mac Moody was 2-for-4 with a solo homer and a two-run triple during Southside's big inning, which also was highlighted by a two-run homer by Jake Melton that carried over the left field fence.

"They hit those two down the line and a home run that was wind-blown," Bradley said. "In this type of conditions, you never know how many you need, so those runs we tacked on early really paid a big difference."

Sports on 05/12/2017