Har-Ber regains control following early miscues
SPRINGDALE — Springdale Har-Ber baseball Coach Dustin Helmkamp admitted his team didn’t play one of its prettiest games against Bentonville.
The Wildcats, however, used their offense to overshadow their defensive lapses Tuesday afternoon and came away with an 8-6 victory over the Tigers during a 6A-West Conference game at Wildcat Field.
Har-Ber (10-3, 4-3) used a five-run second inning to take the lead for good in a game where the Wildcats committed five errors and had four passed balls, which led to three Bentonville runs.
“What I told our team is, for us, it’s very uncharacteristic not to be very good defensively,” Helmkamp said. “But I felt we picked it up offensively when our defense was letting us down. I’m proud of our guys doing that because Bentonville is a very good team.
“It could have been very easy in that first inning to make a couple of errors, be down 2-0 and feel sorry for yourself. But we came back and cut in half, then hung up that five-spot.”
Bentonville (7-6, 4-3) took its early lead when Har-Ber’s first error on Daxton Horton’s
grounder to third allowed J.J. Spafford to score. Brooks Hasenclever raced home moments later on a passed ball. Har-Ber then responded when Bryce Smith’s double drove in Luke Cornelison, who was hit by a pitch to start the inning.
The Wildcats’ more effective hits during their outburst never left the infield as Dylan Gibson was trying to move Caleb Smith to third with a sacrifice bunt, but a Bentonville error allowed Smith to come home and tie the game at 2-2. Zach Brinegar followed with a bunt single before Luke Altom dropped a squeeze bunt to score Gibson and give Har-Ber the lead.
Braden Sprague added an RBI single to make it 4-2 before Ross Felder’s groundout drove in another run. Sprague, who had two of the Wildcats’ six hits, then came home on a wild pitch to make it a 6-2 game.
Har-Ber followed Bentonville’s two runs in the third with two of its own to make it 8-4, which proved to be enough despite the Tigers adding a run in the fourth and another in the sixth.
ROGERS HERITAGE 5, FS SOUTHSIDE 0
Cade Miller threw a no-hitter and Jack Hamm drove in two runs as Heritage remained unbeaten with a victory at home over Southside.
Miller faced three batters above the minimum in a 94-pitch outing as he struck out eight and walked three.
JoJo Martinez gave the War Eagles (12-0, 5-0) the only run Miller needed as his second-inning groundout drove in Price Bedwell, who was a courtesy runner after Josh Hinds walked. Cooper Mann’s bases-loaded walk in the third made it 2-0, then Danny Ralpho scored on a wild pitch before Hamm drove in his two runs with a single to end the scoring.
Bennett Crafton had two of Heritage’s four hits.
BENTONVILLE WEST 10, SPRINGDALE 0
Jake Casey threw a five-hit shutout, while Cole Edmondson had three hits and scored three runs to lead West to a victory over Springdale at the Wolverine Athletic Complex in Centerton.
Casey threw 103 pitches over 6 innings and struck out 6 to pick up the win for the Wolverines (8-5, 5-2).
Edmonson put West on the scoreboard in the first when he walked and scored on Bryce Suiter’s sacrifice fly. The Wolverines erupted for five runs in the third, including a two-run single by Jeremiah Jones and an RBI double by Damion Bridgeman.
Bridgeman added two hits for the Wolverines.
FAYETTEVILLE 9, FS NORTHSIDE 2
Fayetteville broke a 2-2 deadlock with six runs in the fourth inning and completed its series sweep over Northside with a victory at Bulldog Field in Fayetteville.
Jaison DeLamar broke the tie when his single drove on Tab Bryant, who led off the inning with a single. Eli Patrick and Landon Holzhauer each drew a bases-loaded walk after the Grizzlies chose to intentionally walk Landon Schaefer, then Jude Rana belted a two-run single before a Northside error allowed the final run of the inning.
Rana had two of Fayetteville’s seven hits while Holzhauer recorded two RBI. Blake Pennington, the second of three Bulldog pitchers, picked up the win with his inning of work, while Charlie Garton pitched three innings of one-hit ball for the save.