Salinas enables Rogers to tops Van Buren

ROGERS 5, VAN BUREN 1

ROGERS — One good inning at the plate and a stellar relief performance was enough for Rogers against Van Buren on Friday.

The Mounties scored three runs in the third inning to overcome an early deficit and defeat the Pointers 5-1 in a nonconference baseball game at RHS Field. Caleb Champion had a triple and single to lead Rogers, which went 3-0 during spring break to improve to 9-1 on the season.

Gael Salinas, who began the game at third base for the Mounties, earned the victory with five scoreless innings in relief.

“[Salinas] got hurt in football, so he’s late to the party a little bit,” Rogers Coach Matt Melson said. “This is the first time we’ve been able to extend his pitches a little bit. He’s a senior and we look for him to help us out of the bullpen down the stretch.”

Rain fell for most of the day in Northwest Arkansas and a game that was originally scheduled for noon began at 4 p.m. under a light drizzle. Rogers starter Joe Canzonari got off to a rough start when Van Buren took advantage of two walks, three wild pitches, and a throwing error by Canzonari to take a 1- 0 lead. Rogers avoided further damage when second baseman Zach Lawing dove to snag a line drive then threw across the diamond to catch a runner off third base for the double play.

“That was a diving catch and key moment in the game,” Melson said of Lawing’s play. “It looks like they could score three runs right there.”

The Mounties then settled in behind Salinas, who took over on the mound in the third inning and held Van Buren (3-4) scoreless the rest of the way.

Rogers scored three runs on four hits in the bottom of the third inning to take a 3-1 lead over the Pointers. Champion lined a single to start the inning and moved to third base when the ball get past the center fielder for a twobase error. JT Melson, Lance Wike, and Keller Christenberry followed with RBI singles to give Rogers the lead.

“Not a lot of hard contact, but we were able to scratch a few there in the third,” Melson said. “We put it in play. You do that on a day like today, you can make some things happen.”

Rogers added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI single from Cooper Addison and a wild pitch that scored a runner from third.

Rogers will return to 6A-West Conference play at Fort Smith Northside on April 3.