FAYETTEVILLE -- Someone forgot to tell Jake Taylor freshmen baseball players are not supposed to enjoy this kind of success in the 6A-West Conference.
The Rogers left-hander continued his mastery of the mound with his third straight shutout performance, and the Mounties completed their two-game series of Fayetteville with an 8-0 victory at Bulldog Field.
Taylor (2-0) had a no-hitter going through the first 5.2 innings and finished with his first complete game -- a four-hitter with seven strikeouts and three walks in a 94-pitch performance. He has not allowed a run through 17.2 innings against the likes of Bentonville, Springdale Har-Ber and now Fayetteville.
"He's really composed and a really tough kid," Rogers coach Mark Melson said of Taylor. "He pounds the strike zone, and he's got the mindset that we're looking for here and something that's kind of foreign to kids nowadays. He's old-school, he's tough and he shows that on the mound.
"He doesn't do anything particularly special. He just goes right at people. It's good to see. "
Taylor allowed back-to-back singles to Landon Holzhauer and Jaison DeLamar with two out in the sixth and again to Zach Adams and Charlie Graves to start the bottom of the seventh for Fayetteville's only threats. He induced a grounder to end the sixth, then picked off a runner and struck out two batters to preserve the shutout.
Meanwhile, Cooper Addison banged out three hits to pace a 12-hit attack for Rogers (6-1, 5-1), while Gabe Salinas drove in three runs with his two hits.
"We struck out too much, but we were able to get enough guys on to where we could move the ball around a little bit and cause some havoc in certain spots," Melson said. "It's good to see. Anytime you sweep Fayetteville, which is ultra-talented, that's something a lot of people won't do, so you pick up a game or two on the field."
Reece Bariola put Rogers on the scoreboard when his second-inning single drove in Lance Wike, who drew a leadoff walk. The Mounties then added three more runs in the third and two in the fourth before Salinas' two-run single closed out the scoring in the sixth.
Rogers now won't play another conference game until April 3, when the Mounties travel to Fort Smith Northside.
FS Northside 3, Springdale Har-Ber 2 (8)
Will Rollans' eighth-inning sacrifice fly drove on Jaxson Stephens with the decisive run as Northside completed its sweep of Har-Ber with a win at Wildcat Field.
Stephens, who entered the game as a courtesy runner after Alex Martinez walked, moved to second on Mason Kincannon's sacrifice bunt attempt and a Har-Ber error. Jayden Dugger's bunt single loaded the bases before Rollans lofted a fly ball to center and allowed Stephens to score.
Garrett Springs, who entered the game in the seventh, then retired Har-Ber in order to pick up the win.
Springdale 5, FS Southside 4
A Southside throwing error allowed Andrew Lind to race home with the go-ahead run as Springdale rallied with three runs in the seventh inning and claimed a road victory.
The Bulldogs (3-6, 1-5) trailed 5-3 to start the seventh, but tied the game with RBI singles by Lind and Myron Erks with nobody out. Lind then moved to third as Bryson Scott dropped a sacrifice bunt attempt, then an errant throw to second to retire Erks allowed Lind to race home.
Jack Pounders then threw a hitless seventh to pick up the win for Springdale.
Lind had two hits for Springdale, while Luke Jackson had three hits for Southside (3-6, 3-3).
Bentonville 8, Bentonville West 1
Bentonville scored at least one run in each of the first five innings and claimed a series split with its victory over West at the Wolverine Athletic Complex.
Bryant DeLozier had two hits and two RBIs to lead the Tigers (3-4, 3-3), who jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Casey Christ's sacrifice fly an an West error -- one of six made. Tony Woodie also had two hits for Bentonville, which also benefited from nine walks to go with its eight hits.
Tigers starter Connor Taylor allowed a first-inning home run to Ty Durham, then settled down and finished with a complete-game five-hitter with five strikeouts and two walks.
Rogers Heritage 13, Shiloh Christian 0
Luke Askew belted a home run and drove in three runs as Heritage rolled to a nonconference victory at Shiloh Christian.
Brett Renfrow had three hits, including an RBI single as part of a three-run first for the War Eagles (6-2). Four other players had two hits apiece for Heritage, which scored five runs in the third and five more in the fifth, while Seth Holiday drove in three runs and Jack Hamm added two RBIs.
Askew pitched five innings and allowed just five hits, then helped his cause with his three-run home run in the third.