Blackhawks advance at 4A-North Regional

DOVER — Pea Ridge got just the performance it needed from Tyler Odell out of the bullpen to advance Friday in the first round of the 4A North Regional Baseball Tournament.

Odell pitched four scoreless innings while allowing just one walk and getting five strikeouts to help Pea Ridge pull away in an 8-4 victory against Dardanelle at JP Lovelady Park.

“He came in there and did a great job for us,” Pea Ridge coach John King said. “He was huge. We have all the confidence in the world in our starter. But sometimes things happen. We really needed Odell today.”

Pea Ridge (21-5) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning using five consecutive hits to get to Dardanelle starter Tate Vestal.

Westin Church, who finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs, got the offense going with a tworun double in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead for the Blackhawks.

Vestal settled down on the mound after that inning,

pitching scoreless frames in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

Dardanelle (15-13) took advantage of that to tie the game at 4-4 by scoring three runs in the third and another run in the fourth inning.

“I’m very proud of these guys,” Dardanelle coach Phil Vega said. “We’ve gotten down a lot this season. But we’ve been able to battle back. We showed that today. We got the starter out early, and he is really good. We were still in the game until late.”

Jakota Sainsbury started the game for Pea Ridge and pitched three innings while allowing four runs. He struck out five while walking just one batter.

“It’s just one of those things sometimes in baseball,” King said. “He has pitched well for us. He’ll be ready to go next time out.”

Vestal helped his own cause at the plate by hitting a single that drove in two runners because of an error in the outfield. The two-run RBI cut the lead to 4-2 in the third inning.

The Blackhawks put the game away with a four-run inning in the sixth to take a big 8-4 heading into the last inning of the game.

Pea Ridge used back-toback one-out doubles from Hayden Holtgrewe and Garrett King to get the offense going in the inning. Then A.J. Anderson, Church and Cole Wright followed with singles.

The bottom of the order was key on offense for Pea Ridge. The last four hitters in the lineup scored six of the team’s eight runs.

Booneville 5, Huntsville 1

Booneville was able to jump out to a 4-0 lead after two innings of play and didn’t look back .

Brandon Ulmer and Brady Brasher each scored after being hit by a pitch in the first inning to help take a 2-0 lead for Booneville.

Blakely Cobb and Cam Brasher hit back-to-back singles in the second inning and both came in to score, pushing the advantage out to 4-0.

Huntsville was able to cut into the lead by scoring a run in the fifth inning but could get no closer after that lone rally.

Pottsville 17, Gravette 3 (5 inn.)

Pottsville scored seven runs and runruled Gravette.

Pottsville batted around to score its seven first-inning runs then added four more in the second inning to take a commanding lead.

Greyson Stevens got on base four times and scored each time to lead the way for Pottsville.

Shiloh Christian 4, Dover 3

Dover had the tying runner on third base in the final inning, but Shiloh Christian was able to close out the game in the final game of the day.

Shiloh Christian, the defending Class 4A state champions, took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. But Dover bounced back after that to take a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning.

A three-run sixth inning then gave Shiloh Christian a 4-2 lead.

Conor Germann led the way for Shiloh Christian finishing with two walks, two runs and two stolen bases.

CLASS 7A

NONCONFERENCE Branson, Mo. 8, Rogers Heritage 1

Kaleb Gavin accounted for two of the War Eagles’ five hits in a season-ending loss Friday at Veterans Park.

Kaleb Gavin went 2-for-4 for Heritage (7-21) while Montana Kennan drove in Heritage’s lone run with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Ben Pollock took the loss, allowing five runs in 32/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two.