Van Buren, Greenwood set to clash

Greenwood and Van Buren spent spring break in Alabama, and they both appear ready for Tuesday’s key 5A-West doubleheader.

Both went 2-2 in Gulf Shores, Ala., during the week against good competition.

Luke Brewer had a good week for Greenwood with six hits in 15 at-bats, including a grand slam in a 19-5 win over Normal (Ill.) Community. Bryce Morgan rapped out two singles, a double and a homer in the game.

Austin Mitchell allowed just an earned run in six innings with four strikeouts in a 10-2 win over Pulaski Academy.

“It was a really good team trip,” Greenwood coach Chad Mercado said. “The guys spent a ton of time together. We had a huge condo. For them to be with each other all day and night there was a lot of team bonding. We learned a lot about ourselves and our team.”

Greenwood pounded out 50 hits in the four games, which raised the team batting average over 100 points.

“We ran out four different lineups,” Mercado said. “A lot of guys got on the mound. A lot of guys got at-bats. We had a chance to win every game. I feel really good about our progress.” Van Buren threw six different pitchers in the four games with Eli Gilreath allowing just an earned run and four hits over six innings in two different games. Connor Brady also threw in two games and allowed two hits over six innings and an earned with 10 strikeouts.

Presley Nichols slugged a home run in the 8-4 win over Tallasee, Ala., in the tournament opener.

Gilreath and Malachi Henry each scored three runs in the 12-3 win over Dale County, Ala., to wrap up the tournament on Thursday.

Tuesday, the conference doubleheader is a big one.

Greenwood split against Russellville in the 5A-West opener, losing to touted hurler Colton Sims in the opener.

Now, the Bulldogs face the defending state champion Pointers.

“I think we have a lot of confidence going into this week,” Mercado said. “When I’m doing the schedule, I’m looking at those two conference series knowing that we’re going to be tested and that we’ve got to play some tough games before we get to those guys.”

Van Buren split against Greenbrier, also losing the opener before winning the nightcap.

The two teams played three times last year with the teams splitting the conference doubleheader with Van Buren winning the opener, 2-0, and Greenwood taking the nightcap, 4-2, in nine innings. The two then met in the Class 5A state tournament semifinals with Van Buren winning, 6-2.

FS SOUTHSIDE Four-game sweep

The Mavericks capped their week in Gulf Shores with a power surge.

Zeb Allen, Ben Beland and Kent Carlisle slugged home runs in the final inning of their spring break trip to cap a 17-7 win over Haleyville, Ala., on Wednesday.

“Guys were seeing the ball well,” Southside coach Dale Harpenau said. “The thing I was most proud of is when you get involved in those types of innings then everybody goes up there and tries to hit one, and you don’t hit them. Then you don’t put together very good atbats. They continued to put together good at-bats as the game went over.”

The win completed a 4-0 sweep on their trip with a 3-2 win over Normal, Il., West, a 14-12 win over Charles Henderson High of Troy, Ala., and 2-1 win over Smiths Station, Ala.

“It was the result of a lot of hard work this bunch has put in,” Harpenau said. “They’ve come together as a group and played really well over the spring break. We had a lot of guys that played well for us.”

Southside won close games, showed a lot of offense and had good pitching performances.

“It was a good mixture of a lot of things,” Harpenau said. “The close wins were against really good clubs. We were able to walk them off, which were nice wins. We were involved in a couple of games that we had to score runs to win, which we did. We came up with some timely hitting at times and pitched it well.”

David Sorg struck out seven in six innings of work against Normal West with Ben Chastain earning the win with two innings of relief.

Against Smiths Station, Jones went the distance allowing just three hits with seven strikeouts.

Braxton Waller and Blake Mitchell also earned wins during the week with Jackson Pruitt, Duncan Cravens, Noah Brown and Carlisle also receiving work on the mound.

Southside returns home for the usual 7A-West Monday-Tuesday homeand-away series against Bentonville, which also was undefeated in Gulf Shores and won their particular tournament with a 6-0 mark.

“We’ve got some momentum going forward,” Harpenau said. “Going into conference play, our focus is turning in good performances, pitching well and having good at-bats. Next up for us is Bentonville. They’ve got a very good club. Where we went 4-0 down there, they went 6-0. They scored some runs as well. It was good showing for Arkansas schools in the gulf this week.”

FS NORTHSIDE Home sweet home

The Grizzlies will play at Hunt’s Park for the first time in almost a month on Tuesday when they return to 7A-Central play against Little Rock Catholic.

“We played our season opener at home and then got on the bus and went to Texas,” Northside coach Will Hankins said. “We haven’t played a home game since March 1.”

Northside is 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 2013 when the Grizzlies opened 7A/6ACentral play with wins over Little Rock Hall, Catholic and Russellville before losing to Conway.

Northside evened its season record at 7-7 with three wins in four games over spring break in Alabama.

The Grizzlies closed out the week with a 7-1 win over Boaz, Ala., on Wednesday.

Jett Frazier earned the win on the mound, going five innings and allowing a hit and a run with three strikeouts.

Frazier also was the only Grizzly with hits in all four games.

Frazier ended the four games with seven hits in 14 at-bats and scored six runs. He started the week with a 4-for-4 day in a 10-9 win over Stagg, Ill., with a pair of doubles.

Jayden Darnell was just a single shy of the cycle with a double, triple and a homer in a 23-12 win over Pleasant Valley, Iowa, with two runs scored and knocking home two runs.

In the same win, Jayden Dilworth had a perfect 4-for4 day with two doubles, three runs scored and three runs batted in.

Will Rollans may have had the biggest game, though, with three hits in five at-bats with a homer and seven runs knocked in.

Eli Caldarerra, Logan Lundquist, Drew Giacinti, and Perkins also had a multihit game in the win.

In the four games, Northside sent 10 different players to the mound.

BOONEVILLE Bearcats 3-for-3

The Bearcats went into spring break with three wins in three days.

Booneville romped past Hackett, 9-3, beat Lamar, 16-6, in six innings and downed rival Charleston, 11-1, roll into the break.

Brooks Herrera earned his third victory of the season with the complete-game gem against Charleston, yielding two hits and no earned runs. Dax Goff belted two homers in the win while Rylen Ray knocked in three runs.

In the win over Lamar, the Bearcats pounded out 17 hits. Peyton Tatum, Matt O’Bar and Ray all had three hits. Ray and Dun Daniel drove in three runs each. O’Bar threw 2- 1/ innings of hitless relief 3 to earn the win, entering with a runner on and the game tied at 6-6.

Against Hackett, Goff earned the save, striking out the side in the seventh, in relief on Tatum, who struck out eight in 51/ innings. Goff 3 had two hits.

In the three games, Goff had six hits.

Booneville returns to action on Tuesday, hosting Danville.