PREP BASEBALL: Bentonville West makes most of seventh-inning miscue, claims 8-7 victory over Bentonville

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BENTONVILLE -- A potential inning-ending ground ball turned out to be the play Bentonville West needed to earn a victory over Bentonville to begin their 6A-West Conference series Monday evening.

A low throw to first couldn't be handled probably as Dylan Peters crossed the bag, and that allowed Alex Downing to score the decisive run in the seventh inning and give the Wolverines an 8-7 victory over the Tigers at the Tiger Athletic Complex.

"You hustle everything out and take nothing for granted," West coach Don Thomas said. "It's never over until it's over, and you run hard every time you get on base. Our guys were pushing it, and that's what happened. If you have hard work and dedication, good things will happen for you."

Downing started the seventh with a walk and moved to second on Will Anderson's single, then both runners advanced on Laiton Hall's grounder to second. That set the stage for Peters, who then hit a grounder to short but reached base when the throw to first was low and couldn't be handled.

Bryce Suiter, who relieved starting pitcher Luke Dawson in the sixth, preserved the lead as he only allowed a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh and picked up the victory to Thomas' delight.

"I was looking forward to this," said Thomas, who became West's baseball coach last summer. "I wanted to see what it was about, and our players relaxed. We didn't come tense, and we talked and kept it like a normal game. They came through for us, and I'm excited for them. They've been looking forward to this one, and they got it."

West (3-5, 2-3) used clutch two-out hitting with runners in scoring position to build a 7-2 lead. Hall capped the Wolverines' four-run first when his single to left drove in two runs, then Anderson followed Nate DeFries' RBI groundout with a two-run single in the fifth.

Bentonville (2-4, 2-3), however, answered in the fifth when Brian DeLozier's double drove in Connor Adair, who reached on an error. The Tigers then tied the game with a four-run sixth as Eli McCall had an RBI double, Carter Nye drove in a run with a single, then DeLozier singled in another run before a West error allowed the tying run to cross the plate.

Anderson had two hits and drove in two runs for West, while Peters also had two hits and Hall had two RBIs. DeLozier led the Tigers with two hits and three RBIs.

The two teams will conclude their series this afternoon at the Wolverine Athletic Complex.

Rogers 6, Fayetteville 0

JT Melson, Cooper Addison and Keller Christenberry each drove in two runs as Rogers earned a home victory over Fayetteville.

The win, coupled with Fort Smith Northside's victory over Springdale Har-Ber, gives the Mounties (5-1, 4-1) sole possession of first place in the 6A-West standings.

Christenberry's bases-loaded walk in the first gave Rogers the lead, then Melson belted a two-run double in the third to make it a 3-0 game. Addison made it 5-0 in the fourth with his two-run home run to right before Christenberry drove in his second run with a fielder's choice.

Ty Anderson picked up the win as he pitched six innings and allowed two hits and struck out seven. Ashton Chronister needed only eight pitches to finish the seventh and close out the game.

FS Northside 3, Springdale Har-Ber 1

Joe Roque's sixth-inning single drove in Jaxson Stephens with the go-ahead run as Northside came from behind to defeat Har-Ber in a game played at Fort Smith.

Stephens entered the game as a pinch-runner for Will Rollans, who belted a one-out double, and came home when Roque hit his single to left. Roque gave the Grizzlies (5-4, 2-1) an insurance run when he scored on a single by Andrew Taylor and a Har-Ber error.

Har-Ber (5-2, 3-2) took a 1-0 lead in the first when Kaleb Kellar singled and later scored on Ross Felder's single. Northside then tied it in the third when Jayden Weiler walked and later scored on a wild pitch.

FS Southside 4, Springdale 3

Ty Jones doubled and scored the decisive run on a seventh-inning wild pitch as Southside slipped past Springdale and snapped a five-game losing skid at Bulldog Field.

Jackson Pruitt had two hits and drove in a run for the Mavericks (3-5, 3-2), while Luke Jackson and Blake Mitchell each drove a run. Pruitt had an RBI single in Southside's third, while Mitchell and Jackson drove runs with a single in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively.

Yadi Canales had three hits for Springdale (2-6, 0-5), including an RBI double in the third and a solo home run in the fifth. Andrew Lind also had three hits for the Bulldogs.

Rogers Heritage 10, Farmington 0

Heritage erupted for seven runs in the first inning and cruised to a nonconference victory at Farmington, extending the War Eagles' win streak to five games.

Brett Renfrow had a two-run double, and Josh Hinds added a two-run single during Heritage's first-inning outburst. That was more than enough offense Hinds, who threw a two-hitter and struck out six over six innings.

Luke Askew and Spencer Mounce had two hits for Heritage (5-2), which plays Shiloh Christian in another nonconference game this afternoon.


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