Siloam Springs rallies past Fayetteville
Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008
BENTONVILLE - If you're a pitching and defensive baseball purist, you probably didn't want to witnes what happened Friday night in Bentonville at the North Arkansas 14-year-old Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament.
Siloam Springs and Fayetteville combined to score 46 runs, issue 28 walks, hit seven batters with pitches and commit 12 errors in a wild 25-19 Siloam Springs victory in the second scheduled game at Phillips Park.
Yep, you read it right, 25-19 and it's not a football score.
"Nineteen runs," said Fayetteville coach Robert Gibson. "I've been a part of baseball since I was 6 years old and I've never been a part of any game where my team scored 19 runs and we got beat."
Said Siloam Springs coach Jim Snodgrass after the game," That game was a pitching duel to see who could walk the most."
Both coaches agreed they had never been a part of anything like that.
The game, which started two hours late because of the first game between Jonesboro and Fort Smith Boys Club, lasted three hours and 45 minutes and set the tournament back deep into Friday evening.
Siloam Springs went up 5-0 in the top of the first but was trailing 10-6 by the bottom of the third.
Siloam Springs rallied to tie the game and took an 11 10 lead in the fourth only to have Fayetteville come back with three runs to lead 13-11. Siloam Springs scored five runs in the fifth to go ahead for good at 16 13.
Braden Pippin might have saved the game for Siloam Springs in the bottom of the sixth when he got out of a bases loaded jam with his team ahead, 17-15.
Siloam Springs came back the next inning and scored eight runs to go ahead, 25-15.
Fayetteville scored four more runs to close the gap at 25-19 but Nick Gibson lined into a double-play to end the game.
Even though the score remained lopsided, Pippin got a save because of the score when he came into the game.
Pippin also went 3-for-5 at the plate with five RBIs.
Will Tucker was the game's winning pitcher, while Sean Ballowe suffered the loss for Fayetteville.
Keith Laster scored five runs while Simeon Pruitt and Dylan Shipman each scored four runs for Siloam Springs.
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