ROGERS — A little move down the Rogers High lineup has paid big dividends for Konstantin Storkov and the Mounties.
Storkov struggled at the plate early in the season, but a move by Mounties baseball coach Matt Melson down to the No. 6 spot has allowed the senior to respond in a big way for a surging Rogers team.
Storkov is batting .329 with 16 RBIs, and the rightfielder has nine RBI in the Mounties’ last two 7A/6A-West Conference doubleheaders. Rogers has won five of its last six conference games.
Profile
Konstantin Storkov
SCHOOL: Rogers High
CLASS: Senior
POSITION: Outfield
NOTABLE: Is batting .329 with 16 RBIs. … Hit a grand slam against Springdale High last week. … Has just one error in 25 games in right field.
“I went through a little slump, but we have been getting hits throughout the lineup lately,” Storkov said. “I’m glad to be in the six hole because the guys in front of me are going to get on. I have a better chance of scoring them and getting RBIs. It’s helping me, and it is helping the team.”
Melson said the Mounties’ order was a little top-heavy and that moving Storkov down a few spots has added more punch to the lineup.
“A lot of times we move players down to spread around the run-producers,” Melson said. “That was the thinking there. It seems like Konstantin is a lot more comfortable there, so we left him there. He comes and works hard every day. He has got progressively better every year.”
Rogers (15-9, 8-4) has already secured a berth to the Class 7A State Tournament, but the Mounties can improve their seeding when they entertain crosstown rival Rogers Heritage Thursday at Veterans Park. It is the final conference doubleheader for both schools.
Rogers is currently tied for third in the conference standings with Springdale Har-Ber, but the Wildcats hold the tiebreaker. When Bryant is thrown into the seedings for the state tournament, the Mounties rest in fifth place.
But Rogers could jump ahead of Har-Ber with a sweep of Heritage while Har-Ber loses at least one game to Springdale High. The Mounties could also finish ahead of Bentonville with a sweep and a Fayetteville sweep of the Tigers.
Storkov knows that his high school baseball career is fast coming to an end and that he has been extra focused the past few weeks.
“We had a little rough start, and the bats were not there,” Storkov said. “But the bats have been there the last several games, and they will be there for the Heritage games. After this, I don’t have any baseball left and I am just trying to do what I can for the team and make my mark.”
Storkov isn’t one to watch many pitches go by and has drawn just one walk on the season while having an even distribution of hits across the outfield.
“I like to use the whole field,” Storkov said. “If you are hitting all over the outfield, it’s hard for opponents to position their outfielders. I think that has helped my batting average this year.”