With 10 seniors playing their final game at Iverson Riggs Field at the Field of Dreams, the top seed in next week's Class 5A state tournament on the line, on rivalry night, a 20-win season in the balance and the final game on natural grass before installation of artificial turf, the Pointers made quick work of the Airedales with a 10-0 win in five innings.
"It was nice doing it at home and get it out of the way," Van Buren Coach Luke Weatherford said. "I told the guys that this day was about us, and we had a lot on the line, our last home game, our last game on the natural grass, our last time for the seniors to play at home and a chance to play for a conference championship. I told them it was all right in front us and to go out and play well."
Van Buren (20-6, 12-1) will conclude 5A-West Conference play at Farmington on Friday.
"These guys have really played well all year," Weatherford said. "We've had some bumps in the road here and there, but they've been very consistent and very resilient and shown up every day and played really well."
Tuesday, Weston Wilcox was at his best.
"That's something special that they trust me to come out here and get the win for the No. 1 seed," Wilcox said. "I knew I was going to have to fill up the zone, and that was my main focus."
The senior workhorse improved to 8-0, including 6-0 in conference play, and lowered his earned run average to 0.97 for the season.
He threw 37 of his 49 pitches for strikes in the five-inning, run-rule victory and allowed a single to Cade Moore in the third inning. Wilcox pitched to 16 batters, just one over the minimum, struck out six, went to a full count just once and threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the batters he faced.
After a seven-pitch inning in the top of the first, Wilcox drove home Truett Cazzell for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning.
Cazzell had walked and stole second.
After Trenton Glover walked behind Wilcox, Reid Anderson made it 2-0 with a run-scoring single to plate Wilcox.
"It's always good to score early, but when you've got your guy on the mound as good as Weston's been this year anytime you get early runs you just start to feel real good about your chances to win the game," Weatherford said. "Then we did a good job of adding on and applying pressure."
Van Buren added two more runs in the second inning with Wilcox driving home Laiklen Merritt, who reached on an error, and Tyton Wynne, who had singled.
"It's nice," Wynne said. "I didn't have a very good season last year, so to be able to help the team out and get a hit in my last game at the Field of Dreams is really a blessing. We have 10 seniors and we all believe in each other."
The Pointers scored six runs in the fourth inning on just three hits.
Cazzell singled home Caleb Cole, who walked and stole second, and Anderson drove in two runs with a base hit, and Hudson Stewart followed with a run-scoring single.
Stewart scored the 10th and final run on a wild pitch.
Wilcox needed just six pitches to end the game in the top of the fifth inning after just an hour and 37 minutes.
"It was a team effort for sure," Wilcox said.
Alma (11-12, 6-6) fell into a tie with Farmington for fourth place and the final state tournament berth. Farmington's game at Mountain Home was postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday due to the threat of severe weather.
Alma finishes the season at Siloam Springs on Friday, first finishing a game from three weeks ago that was suspended due to rain with Alma leading 2-0 in the fourth inning before playing the regularly scheduled game immediately following.
"We'll put this game behind us and focus on Friday," Alma Coach Brian Fry said. "We have our pitching rested and ready to go. We control our own destiny. We'll focus all of our energy on Friday."
Alma relieved Braden Green after just 58 pitches on Tuesday, so he wil... Click here to read full article
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