Fayetteville rebounds against Har-Ber

FAYETTEVILLE — Fayetteville took an opportunity to start a new winning streak by beating the team that ended its old one.

Eli Patrick pitched into the sixth inning and had two hits to lead Fayetteville to a 4-2 victory over Springdale HarBer on Tuesday in 6A-West Conference baseball action at Bulldog Stadium. Patrick earned the victory with relief help from Blake Pennington and Jaison DeLamar.

Fayetteville (16-3, 7-3 6A-West) earned a series split after Har-Ber (16-5, 8-4) won 3-2 on Monday at Wildcat Stadium to end the Bulldogs’ 11-game winning streak. Ross Felder had two hits to lead Har-Ber after Luke Cornelison had the game-winning hit against Fayetteville on Monday.

“We talked beforehand about bouncing back and playing with confidence,” Fayetteville Coach Scott Gallagher said Tuesday. “Their pitcher [Cornelison] is really good. Our guys did a great job in bouncing back.”

Patrick had a single then added a lead-off triple in the sixth inning when Fayetteville failed to increase a 4-2 lead. But DeLamar nailed down the victory with a flyout and strikeout after two Wildcats reached base against Pennington in the seventh.

Patrick and DeLamar each pitched last week when Fayetteville hung on for a 9-6 victory at Bentonville.

“It was a good bounceback for Eli after last week, which wasn’t his best performance,” Gallagher said. “Not that he was bad. He just wasn’t up to his standards. He was able to mix different pitches and, really, just keep them off balance. He did a great job.”

Fayetteville led 4-0 before Har-Ber scored two runs in the fifth inning with the help of singles from Luke Altom, Felder and Brady Smith. Smith drove in a run with a sharp single to center field with two outs, but Felder was thrown out at the plate while trying to scored from second.

Har-Ber put runners on base in the sixth and seventh innings, but the Wildcats could not overcome their 4-0 deficit against Fayetteville.

“In the sixth and seventh, we had a chance to tie it up, but we just didn’t get the timely hit,” Har-Ber Coach Dustin Helmkamp said. “But I was proud of our guys. They played hard and gave us a chance to win against a very good team.”

Fayetteville broke on top with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Charlie Graves and Landon Schaefer had singles in the inning and the Bulldogs benefited from a throwing error on a double play attempt that allowed a second run to score.

Fayetteville then added a run on singles from DeLamar and Patrick, and a sacrifice fly by Jude Rana that scored DeLamar.