Hasenclever’s shot ignites big inning

FORT SMITH — Brooks Hasenclever had no doubt when his three-run homer left the bat Monday night in Bentonville’s 8-1 win over Fort Smith Northside at Hunts Park.

“I did, but I didn’t want to get yelled at so I didn’t pimp it,” Hasenclever said. “The atbat before, I had hit a ball really hard. It felt good.”

The win snapped a three-series losing streak for the Tigers (10-12, 5-8) in 6A-West Conference baseball play.

“This was a good win for us,” Hasenclever said. “We needed it. We’ve had problems putting a full game together. This is a good step forward for us.”

The home run was the first official one for Hasenclever this season although he did hit one in a scrimmage game.

“It’s just one,” Hasenclever said. “I’ve been having a bad problem coming forward. Coach told me stay back. I have quick hands, and I saw it deep. It was a pitch I could handle.”

His homer punctuated a four-run sixth inning that gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

“That was nice to come down here on the road and have a relatively complete game and walk away with a victory,” Bentonville Coach Todd Abbott said. “We’ve struggled with that all season, breaking something open. For us to bust the bubble right there and put a crooked number up in the top of the sixth inning, that was really big for us.”

J.J. Spafford knocked in the first run of the sixth inning with a ground ball that scored Connor Adair, who had walked. With two outs, Hasenclever’s homer scored Bodi Gist and Boyce Read ahead of him for the 7-1 lead.

After loading the bases in the first inning and not scoring, Bentonville scored twice in the second inning on a run-scoring double by Gist that scored Casey Christ, who opened the inning with a ground-rule double. Spafford’s sacrifice fly scored Gist, who had moved up on an error.

Pinch runner Drew Abbott scored a run in the fifth inning and Connor Davis added a run in the seventh inning, scoring on a two-out base hit by Adair.

Max Howerton scored Northside’s lone run in the sixth inning. He led off the bottom of the inning with a single, advanced to second when Elijah Fiery was hit by a pitch, moved up on a ground ball and scored on a wild pitch.

Read earned the win for Bentonville with 4 1/3 scoreless innings before giving way to Carter Allan, who closed out the win and pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning.

“As long as they’re throwing it over the plate and letting the other team put the ball in play, we’ve got a chance,” Abbott said. “It’s when we’re giving away those freebies, walks and hit by pitches, that’s where we get in trouble. We’ve still got some improvement on that but it was a pretty good night for us overall.”

Both teams had runners on base every inning but the Tigers took the most advantage. Bentonville stranded eight runners while Northside left 10 on board.

Northside (6-15, 2-9) visits Bentonville on Tuesday in the second game of the home-andaway conference series.