Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Har-Ber runs win streak to 12 games
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 2, SPRINGDALE 1
SPRINGDALE — Ross Felder allowed only 3 hits in 6 innings as Springdale Har-Ber defeated rival Springdale 2-1 on Monday during 6A-West baseball action at Wildcat Field. Gavin Moore earned a save by retiring three of the four batters he faced in the seventh inning for Har-Ber (13-3, 6-3), which stretched its winning streak to 12 consecutive.
The start time was moved up an hour to beat a forecast that called for thunderstorms and the well-played game was completed in just over two hours.
Springdale missed an opportunity to tie or take the lead with Har-Ber clinging to a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning. Springdale loaded the bases with no outs on a hit-batsman, a walk and a single deep in the hole at shortstop by Jack Pounders.
But Felder retired three consecutive batters on two strikeouts and a popup near the Har-Ber dugout. The Arkansas signee also worked out of trouble in the second inning with three straight strikeouts after Springdale scored an unearned run.
Felder had nine strikeouts and two walks before yielding to Moore in the seventh.
“Ross is a mature pitcher, obviously, and he did a good job of bowing his neck and pitching out of two jams,” Har-Ber Coach Dustin Helmkamp said. “Both of those were huge. Seems like whenever runners are on like that, he just dials it in a little more and spots it up even better.”
Springdale (3-18, 1-8) battled Har-Ber close throughout the game. The Bulldogs went ahead 1-0 in the second inning on an infield single by Andrew Lind, an error and a run-scoring double from Nick Brady. Felder avoided more damage when he retired the next three batters on strikeouts.
“[Our players] haven’t hung their heads yet and there’s been a lot of chances they could’ve this year,” Springdale Coach Tim Carver said. “They keep plugging away, trying to learn and get better. The only negative is we had runners at third, at second, with the bases loaded, and we go down looking too many times.”
Har-Ber went ahead 2-1 with the help of four walks from Pounders, who was replaced by David Rodriguez in the third inning. Luke Cornelison had two hits and a walk for the Wildcats.