Walk-Warped State 5A Baseball Game

FARMINGTON — Defending 5A state baseball champion Magnolia (29-1) benefitted from a tight strike zone while Farmington was hurt by the loss of starting pitcher Tyler Gregg.

Those two factors weighed heavily in tipping the scales in Magnolia’s favor as they defeated Farmington (21-11), capitalizing on 8 walks against Farmington pitchers in a 5-inning, 14-3, win Saturday at Mike Bromley Field in Sherwood.

The Panthers advanced to take on 5A West champion Greenbrier in Monday’s state semifinal, while Farmington’s season reached a conclusion after recording their first-ever win in 5A State tournament play against Batesville in the first-round.

Magnolia took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning against Gregg. Jay French singled to lead off and went to second on Kurt Pletcher’s sacrifice fly. Matt Goodheart drew the first of 8 Panther walks, then Parker Ribble hit a 2 RBI double.

Farmington coach Jay Harper pulled Gregg after the first inning because of tightness in his right arm.

“We thought we could bring Tyler back after a day rest and the rain, but he had stiffness in his arm and we didn’t want to risk anything with his future,” Harper said.

Drake Vinyard came on in relief, but Kevin Zhao led off the second with the second Magnolia walk, which helped set up a 7-run inning that included 4 more walks as Magnolia built a large lead.

A single by Connor Harrington was followed by a walk to Brooks Lynch to load the bases for Magnolia. French and Pletcher were walked with the bases loaded, scoring 2 more runs to push Magnolia’s lead to 4-0.

In the midst of the long sequence of 3 consecutive walks, the Panther’s finally picked up a pair of runs off the swing of a bat when Goodheart hit a double to left field for a 6-0 Magnolia advantage. The damage was compounded when Pletcher scored on a throwing error, extending Magnolia’s walkwarped lead to 7-0.

“They are a real good baseball team, they’re real difficult to get out up and down their lineup,” Harper said. “They are 29-1 for a reason. They had seven players returning from the team that won

the state championship (in 2016).”

Reliever Ben Silvis came on, but Dayton Dickson singled to score a run. Payton Campbell added a double RBI to put Farmington in an 0-9 deficit after two innings of play.

Farmington tried to rally in the top of the third inning off senior Cade Fenton’s 3-run home-run blast, but Magnolia ended the contest in the bottom of the inning with 5 runs. Campbell went 2 for 3 and added a 2-run homer to lead the Panther surge. Magnolia won by run-rule in a 14-3 final.

“We just never could get them out,” Harper said.

French walked 9 batters for Magnolia, but that didn’t hurt the Panthers nearly as much as the walks charged against Farmington. The Cardinals had 3 runs on 3 hits in 5 innings, while the Panthers had 10 hits.

“One of our goals was getting back to the state tournament and winning a game,” Harper said. “We wanted to be the first boys team from Farmington to do that and we accomplished that goal. We feel real good about the future of our program.”