JONESBORO -- Senior pitcher Connor Johnson put Van Buren in a position to win every game he pitched this season.
The hard-throwing right-hander held his form Saturday with a spot in the Class 5A baseball title game at stake.
Johnson pitched 7 innings while giving up 4 hits and striking out 13, and he jump-started a sixth-inning burst to lead Van Buren to a 6-2 victory over Greenwood in the semifinals of the Class 5A state baseball tournament at Woodland Field. The Pointers advanced to their first championship game since 2010.
When Greenwood's Caden Brown turned on a pitch and sent a ball high over the left-field wall for a two-run home run that tied the game 2-2 in the top of the sixth, Johnson didn't flinch.
He struck out the next batter, then drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the inning to ignite a four-run answer.
"Obviously, it took a little wind out of the sails," first-year Van Buren Coach Luke Weatherford said of Brown's home run. "But like I told the guys, it's one swing, it's a tie game. We're the home team. All we've got to do is score a run and get three outs.
"They responded like we have all year."
The Pointers struck in the first with consecutive RBI from Johnson and junior Eli Gilreath to open up a 2-0 advantage. Johnson dominated the next 5 2/3 innings until Brown's blast got Greenwood (20-11) going.
Van Buren (26-7) answered. Gilreath and sophomore Presley Nichols followed Johnson's walk with back-to-back singles to load the bases. Senior Jaiden Henry, who was running for Johnson, scored on a wild pitch before junior Breckin Waters drilled an RBI single. Two batters later, senior Haden Roark ripped a two-run double give the Pointers their four-run lead.
Johnson, a University of Central Arkansas commitment, came back out in the seventh to close it out.
"This whole thing has kind of gone full circle," said Weatherford, who was in his first year as an assistant coach at Van Buren the last time the Pointers played for a championship. "I'm so proud of our guys. We knew we had a great team coming back this year, and we knew we had a shot. They've been so resilient and so consistent all year."
JONESBORO 13, GREENE COUNTY TECH 3 (5)
Another early offensive outburst has Jonesboro back in the championship game.
The Hurricane put up five runs in the second inning and four in the third to help run-rule their 5A-East Conference rival in the semifinals.
Ty Rhoades, Jake Henry Williams, William Barre and Rhett Hosman all had two hits for Jonesboro (27-5), which will play in next week's finals for the first time since 2017. Hosman also had three RBI, and pitcher Brennan Payne picked up a complete-game victory on the mound.
"I thought we played really good baseball all the way around," Jonesboro Coach Mark Dobson said. "We didn't offer at any bad pitches, we took what they gave us, we got runners on. We played a clean game. And I thought Payne pitched well."
Payne, a senior, ran into trouble a few times, but he kept the Eagles' lineup from doing any real damage. He scattered 10 hits but struck out 7 over the 7 innings.
"He's one of our top guys," Dobson said of the Connors State (Okla.) Junior College commitment. "There's been times where he's come out early, but I know he never wants to come out. He's a competitor, and I thought he threw well and persevered when things got tight."
Jonesboro, which outscored Greene County Tech 18-4 in two earlier victories, led 2-0 after the first on a two-run single from Sawyer Bentley.
A bases-loaded walk, along with a sacrifice fly from Cross Jumper, pushed Jonesboro's lead to 4-0 in the second before Hosman drilled a three-run double.
The Eagles -- who got two hits each from Nate Crider, Zayne Stricker and Jonathan Sullinger -- notched their first run in the top of the third on an RBI from Chandler Robinson, but run-scoring hits from Rhoades, Barre and Williams in the bottom half of the inning opened things up for Jonesboro. After Greene County Tech got single runs in the next two frames to close its gap to 11-3, Jonesboro ended things on RBIs from Rhoades and Williams.
"This win is huge," said Dobson, whose team will try for its first championship in five years. "I don't know if this group totally understands how special it is, but they're certainly special, and I like them and what they've been able to do."