Sand Lizards aim to crawl back from late season finish

Head coach Phil Vega is looking to take the Dardanelle Sand Lizards to the state tournament this year after the team fell to Pea Ridge in the first round of the 4A-North Tournament last year. “I’ve been coaching at Dardanelle for 13 years,” Vega said. He has been the head baseball coach for the past two years. This isn’t Vega’s first run as head coach at Dardanelle. Besides being the head coach for the past two years, he was also head coach for many years leading up to 2013. Will McCrotty was head coach during the 2014-2015 season, with Vega re-fulfilling the head-coaching role for the 2015-2016 season. “Our best hitter is [senior] Tate Vestal,” Vega said. He said Vestal is also the team’s best power hitter. Vestal finished the 2016-2017 season with a .282 average and 2 home runs. Vega said junior Caynan Taylor is the team’s best runner, and sophomore Jordan Metcalf has the best arm. The coach also said Vestal is the Sand Lizards’ best pitcher. Vega believes the game to watch this season will be against Mayflower. This will be the first meeting between the teams since the 2016 season, when Mayflower defeated Dardanelle 16-8. Vega cited “making it into the postseason and making it to the state tournament” when discussing his expectations for the upcoming season. The Sand Lizards had a 14-13 record last season and went 8-5 at home and 4-5 on the road. Things looked bright early on in the season, when they won nine of their first 11 games. The team then lost 11 of its last 16 games.