Har-Ber maintains upper hand vs. Bentonville
Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008
NORTH LITTLE ROCK - For the third time this week, the Springdale Har-Ber Wildcats posted 10 runs against Bentonville.
The Wildcats had plenty of help as the Tigers gave up 5 walks and committed 7 errors in a 10-1 loss at the Class 7 A State Baseball Tournament on Saturday.
Har-Ber - making its second semifinal appearance in the program's three-year history - will play 7 A-Central champion Little Rock Catholic in Monday's second semifinal.
The tournament's top four seeds all advanced Saturday and 7 A-West champion and two-time defending state champ Fayetteville will play North Little Rock in the other semifinal at Burns Park.
Cory Ford led the Wildcats attack with 2 hits and 4 RBIs.
"He's been hot this last two weeks," Har-Ber coach Mike Reagan said. "He's put the bat on the ball extensively, driving in a bunch of runs. That's why we have him in that (fivehole ) spot, because people get on base in front of him."
Ford started the game with a twoout triple to score two runners, both aboard with walks.
Bentonville cut the lead in half on senior Adam Seal's RBI single in the third, plating courtesy runner Garrett Hartman.
But Har-Ber broke open the game with a four-run third inning and finished the route with a four-run sixth.
The Wildcats (22-9 ) had no hits in that second big inning.
Winning pitcher Zach Hall laid down a bunt to move over Ryan Pongonis and Gordon Miller - aboard with an error and walk - before Ford hit a RBI fielder's choice to chase reliever Martin Tabler.
A two-out error allowed two more runs to score and, after an errant pickoff throw, the final run scored on the fourth error of the inning to set the final score.
"We didn't play well at all today," Tigers coach Todd Abbott said. "That's the bottom line. We didn't play well."
Har-Ber batted around in the third, scoring 4 runs on 5 hits. Miller started the scoring with a RBI double and scored on an error on Ford's grounder. Ford tried to score on Aaron Bowen's double but was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Dan Beahm. But Andrew Thames followed with a RBI double before scoring on Jake Brooks'single for a 6-1 lead.
Four of the five Har-Ber walks scored and 6 of the errors helped the Wildcats push across runs.
"You can't defend (errors )," Abbott said. "Again, its mental stuff. It's not being prepared when the ball is hit to you, not knowing for sure 100 percent what you're going to do with it or thinking about what you're going to do with it as it's coming to you.
"You can't play that way."
Senior Derrick Lamp led the Tigers (14-17 ) with 2 hits and senior Erin McGee added a single. Hall (10-1 ) had 8 strikeouts in the four-hit win.
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