Har-Ber rallies to stun Van Buren Pointers, 6-5

Springdale Har-Ber scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally for a 6-5 win against Van Buren on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Class 7A state tournament at Burns Park’s DeJanis Field at DeSalvo Stadium. Har-Ber scored the game-winning run with two outs on a soft single into right center. Har-Ber will play Conway, which defeated Rogers also with a walk-off in the seventh inning, in the other semifinal on Saturday, next weekend at the University of Arkansas’ Baum Stadium. Dates and times will be announced on Monday by the Arkansas Activities Association. Saturday, Van Buren (22-7) led 5-2 before Har-Ber (30-4) shortstop Mac McCroskey opened the bottom of the seventh with a sharp single up the middle. Blake Adams, a junior who has committed to the Arkansas Razorbacks, hit a two-run homer on a 3-2 count on Van Buren starter Evan Jones’ 109th pitch. “That was his last hitter,” Van Buren head coach David Loyd said. “We were trying to get him to swing. He was coming out after that hitter. We tried to get him to swing, hopefully hit it at us or pop it up or something. He got a hold of it, and it gave them a lot of momentum.” Connor Johnson, a freshman who earned the win on Thursday against Northside, entered for Van Buren, and Jake Williams singled. After a flyout, Kirby Jenkins was hit by a pitch. Trevor Brown followed with a walk to load the bases. Johnson struck out the next batter on a high fastball, but then J.D. Scott walked on a 3-2 pitch that was called a ball that forced in pinch-runner Clay Burtrum to tie the game. The call from the same home plate umpire from Friday’s semifinal game drew the ire of Loyd and the Pointers. “That was a big AB from our nine-hole to get the walk and tie it,” Har-Ber head coach Ron Bradley said. “We are very fortunate and blessed.” Blaze Brothers then dumped a soft single into short right center to score pinch-runner Carter Carlton for the game-winning run. “That’s tough,” Loyd said. “It’s a hard way to go out. We think we’ve got a guy struck out, and we don’t. They came back and got a big hit so give them credit.” Van Buren looked to add to its lead in the top of the sixth inning when Dakota Peters walked, and his courtesy runner Noah Lipe took third on Ethan Rauser’s single, his third hit of the game. Bryson Patrick hit a fly ball to medium right field, and Lipe was called out at home on the throw from Adams to the plate, which also had Loyd and Pointers questioning the call. “I thought he was safe,” Loyd said. “I’m in the third-base coaches box, but I sure thought he was there fairly easily actually. They didn’t see it that way.” Har-Ber took a 2-0 lead on three hits in the second inning, but Jones left the bases loaded with a strikeout and popout. Van Buren answered with three runs in the third inning to take a 3-2 lead. Rauser started it with a double and Patrick walked before Seth Humphrey reached on a fielder’s choice, forcing the out at third. Landrey Wilkerson singled hard to right to load the bases. Chase Moore hit a hard grounder that was booted, allowing Patrick and Humprey to score. Jones singled sharply over the second baseman to plate Wilkerson. Van Buren took its 5-2 lead with two more in the fourth. With two outs, Rauser singled and Bryson Patrick walked. Humphrey doubled into the gap to score courtesy runner Mason Patrick. After Wilkerson was hit by a pitch, Moore singled home Bryson Patrick. After the second inning, Jones cruised into the seventh inning needing just 13, 13, 15 and 14 pitches over the next four innings and allowing just two hits. Of his 18 outs on the day, Jones coaxed six infield pop outs, three more pop outs that were handled by the outfielders, and five flyball outs. “Evan did a great job of mixing it up,” Loyd said. “He was getting them out front a little bit. They were hitting a lot of fly balls and pop ups. Pitch-count, when it gets down there to the end, you’ve got to have some depth.” Jones ran out of pitches in the seventh and Har-Ber took advantage. “We needed to hang on,” Loyd said. “We hit our pitch limit.” Har-Ber and Van Buren split the regular-season series with the Wildcats beating the Pointers at the Field of Dreams with a similar rally when they scored three runs in the seventh inning to tie the game before winning it in the eighth. “Hey, we played Van Buren three times and they outplayed us all three games, and we’ve won two out of three,” Bradley said. “The last game that put us in the conference championship, they were up three runs and we scored three in the seventh to tie it and won it in the eighth. They’ve played us tough all year. They outplayed us today. They took advantage of a situation that we didn’t early in the game. Our kids battled back. They never said die. We found a way to win.” The game marked Van Buren’s first semifinal appearance since 2010. “I’m real proud of the kids this year, real proud of the seniors for getting us here,” Loyd said. “We’ll have to deal with that one for awhile.”

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Van Buren High School Athletics

HAR-BER RALLIES TO STUN VAN BUREN POINTERS, 6-5

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 5/13/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Aaron Shaffer