Purple Dogs continue to live on the edge in state tournament
Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008
NORTH LITTLE ROCK - Fayetteville did Saturday what it does best.
The Purple Dogs evaded potential disaster with a 3-2 win over Van Buren in the quarterfinals of the Class 7 A State Baseball Tournament at Burns Park.
Fayetteville has lived on the edge all season. Fayetteville is now 9-1 in 1-run games and 16-2 in games decided by two runs or less this season.
But the Purple Dogs (28-3 ) nearly wasted their season and a shot at a thirdstraight state championship and possible fourth title in six years. Fayetteville's offensive motor sputtered against the Pointers, a team that the Purple Dogs swept in their 7 A-West twinbill finale May 2, 9-7 and 5-2. Three costly errors didn't help Fayette- ville's cause either.
"Van Buren didn't kick it around and they got a good effort from their pitcher," Fayetteville skipper Vance Arnold said. "We struggled with off-speed stuff but were able to come through. We turned it up a notch and got more selective at the plate."
Van Buren came in hungry as the West's fifth seed. Van Buren's 11-5, first-round win over Bryant last Friday was its first state tournament victory since 1997.
The Pointers took a 2-0 lead in the fifth. Pointer right-hander Andy Loyd stifled the Purple Dog bats and didn't surrender a hit until a Christian Allen single in the fourth broke up the no hitter.
"He's deceptively slow," Arnold said. "He pitches then runs one up on your hands. The kids get up their and get anxious, trying to hit the curve but beat it straight into the ground. We moved the kids up in the box and closer to the plate to hit the outside pitch instead of waiting on the perfect pitch."
The Purple Dogs' experience and poise showed in the later innings. Purple Dog left-hander Taylor Shaddy helped his cause at the plate with a key one-out single in the sixth and shut the door in the seventh.
Scott McFall bumped an infield single to lead off the bottom half of the fifth and scored on Alex Miller's two-out, two-strike single to shallow center.
"I wasn't worried at 1-0 but at 2-0 in the fifth I was," Arnold said. "But once we got it to 2-1 with two innings left, I thought we could at least manufacture a run to tie it. In high school ball, you get a runner on second base with one out or less, it's almost impossible to keep him from scoring. We got two big hits and it was big state tournament win for us to move on and keep it going."
A lead-off out for Fayetteville in the sixth preceded three-straight singles, the last of which was a line-drive single to right by senior Weston Harbaugh that scored two runs to give the Purple Dogs a 3-2 edge they would not relinquish.
"Weston plays smart," Arnold said. "Sometimes he fishes but when the game's on the line he's up there making the pitcher work. He's got quick hands and was able to hit it flush and drove that pitch for a big hit."
With the victory, Fayetteville has now won 13 straight contests over Van Buren since 2002. More importantly, the Purple Dogs have now won seven consecutive state tournament games.
Shaddy improved to 8-0 on the year and is now 21-3 in his high school career. Spencer Hansen (6-2, 3. 78 ERA ) will get the start today at 4 p.m. against host North Little Rock in the semifinals.
The 7 A-West flexed its muscle in the first round, going 4-0 against the 7 A-Central. But North Little Rock (20-10 ) fired back for the Central with a 13-0, run-rule shellacking of Fort Smith Southside (19-12 ) Saturday. North Little Rock finished 10-4 in conference play and entered the state tourney as the Central's second seed behind Little Rock Catholic (19-8 ), which edged Rogers (15-10 ) in the quarterfinals last Saturday.
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