Pointers defeat Wildcats

Van Buren got its offense going early and often, then the Pointers put the game out of reach late with key hits. Van Buren scored at least one run in every inning expect the fifth Tuesday to pick up a 8-4 victory against Springdale Har-Ber in 7A-West conference baseball at the Field of Dreams. "We are coming down to the wire here; all runs and games are important," Van Buren coach David Loyd said. "We are all playing for seeding for the state tournament. Everything gets bigger, so it was nice to play well." The Pointers (17-3, 8-3) were able to get to Wildcats sophomore starting pitcher Blake Adams early by taking a 3-1 lead after two innings of play. Har-Ber (16-9, 7-4) opened the game by manufacturing a run in the first to take a 1-0 lead. Leadoff hitter Blake Thompson walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored after two ground outs. Van Buren bound back in the first inning to tie the game at 1-1 with an RBI single from Conner Catron, who finished the game 3 for 3 with a run scored, a stolen base and 3 RBI. The Pointers added to their lead in the second with the help of back-to-back singles from Bryson Patrick and Jeremiah Douglas, who both came in to score later in the inning. "We got some guys who can hit," Loyd said. "They have a lot of confidence. We kind of challenged them a little bit before this game. We know that their starter was really good. Good things happened." Adams, coming off a 112-pitch performance when he struck out 14 out of 18 batters, battled to give Har-Ber a chance in the game. He finished his outing by allowing 8 hits and 5 earned runs while pitching 4 innings with 6 strikeouts. "We took the lead and that was nice for us," Har-Ber coach Ron Bradley said. "But we unfortunately gave it right back. I felt like Blake was a little tired. He struggled more then usual. I think his arm was a little dead. He gave us a chance to stay in the game." The Wildcats battled back in the third inning to score three runs off of senior Pointers starting pitcher Dalton Reeves to take a 4-3 lead in the top of the inning. Nine-hole hitter Quinton Deshazo started the rally for Har-Ber with a walk to help lead the three-hit, two-walk inning to take back the lead. Van Buren then put the game well out of reach using a three-run sixth inning to pull away. Senior outfielder Ethan Holmes picked up his lone hit of the game but made it count with a two-run double to give Van Buren a 7-4 lead. Catron followed him with a sacrifice fly to push it out to 8-4. Reeves pitched five innings while allowing four earned runs and getting two strikeouts to pick up the win for Van Buren. Pointers sophomore Trevor Johnson earned the save with two scoreless innings. "I feel like Van Buren did a good job batting with their at-bats," Bradley said. "Every guy was a tough out. I think if you look up and down the order, we had some strikeouts. But they almost all had hits as well."

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Van Buren High School Athletics

POINTERS DEFEAT WILDCATS

HAROLD MCLLVAIN

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 4/26/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Van Buren High School Athletics