Abbott earns 300th with Tigers

BENTONVILLE — The announcement over the Tiger Athletic Complex loudspeaker that Todd Abbott had just recorded his 300th career victory caught Bentonville’s baseball coach totally off-guard Tuesday.

Abbott might have considered an easier way to get the milestone win, though, as relief pitcher Ethan Arnold bailed the Tigers out of a seventh-inning jam and Bentonville held off Fayetteville for a 4-2 win and a split in their 6A-West Conference series.

Fayetteville (9-11, 3-5) had the tying runs on second and third with nobody out in the seventh, but Arnold retired the next three batters to give Bentonville (15-6, 4-4) the win.

“I told him he was going to give me a heart attack,” Abbott said of Arnold. “I’ve been here long enough, I think I’m eligible for one of those. It wasn’t what we wanted, but we’ll take it. He made the pitches, and we made the plays, so that was outstanding.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. We had a tough one (Monday), and it was a good game. To come back and battle like that and pull that victory out, it was good for them.”

Stephon Gryskiewicz, meanwhile, provided most of the Tigers’ offense with two clutch hits. The junior designated hitter followed Connor Taylor’s single in the first inning with a two-run home run that went over the center-field fence and gave Bentonville the early 2-0 cushion.

When Fayetteville cut the lead on half in the third with a walk to Landon Holzhauer and a double by Keaton Ford, Gryskiewicz answered with a single to drive in Luke Crumpler and give the Tigers their two-run cushion.

“We were talking about that,” Abbott said of the home run by Gryskiewicz. “There have been only two other players that could have done that — Trenton Hill and Tyler Johnson. Not many people hit the ball out of center field, so that ball was hit well.”

That was all the offense Zac Sohosky needed to pick up the win as the left-hander allowed just two hits and struck out 10 batters over six innings. Fayetteville did get a run in the sixth when Landon Schafer was hit by a pitch and scored when a passed ball on a third strike allowed him to score, but Bentonville countered with a double by Nolan Oliver and an RBI single by Kieper Pate.

Sohosky returned to the mound in the seventh and gave up a walk to Zach Adams. Arnold took over and gave up a double to Holzhauer to set up Fayetteville’s threat before he bounced back and retired the next three batters.

“Zac Sohosky, great job on the mound. Awesome,” Abbott said. “These guys have worked really hard and tried to play a very clean, fundamental game of baseball. We have our moments now and then, but these guys have gotten after it. We saw a good ball game from them.