Pointers drop close one after rule enforced

The Van Buren Pointers lost their third straight 6A-West game to open conference play, but with plenty of controversy on Tuesday afternoon. Bentonville scored twice in the top of the seventh inning after a forced pitching change and claimed a 5-3 win at Iverson Riggs Field at the Field of Dreams Complex. Bentonville (8-2, 3-0) will host Van Buren (5-4, 0-3) in the second game of the home-and-away conference series at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, which was moved up a day due to forecasted rain on Thursday. Tuesday, Bentonville and Van Buren were locked in a 3-3 tie with two on and two outs in the top of the seventh when Van Buren head coach David Loyd made his second visit to the mound in the inning to discuss strategy with his infield and staff ace Trevor Johnson. Loyd was then informed that Johnson must be removed as the pitcher due to Loyd’s second visit of the inning. Pinch-hitter Wesley Stang doubled off Landrey Wilkerson to deep center to score Keegan Allen and pinch-runner Andrew Nagelson for a 5-3 lead. Devin Hearn retired the first Pointer in the bottom of the seventh and reliever Reed Ronan retired the final two for the save. Loyd checked with the home plate umpire about the rule which used to force the removal of a pitcher on the second charged visit to the mound in the same inning. The National Federation of State High School Associations, of which the Arkansas Activities Association is a member, modified the Official Baseball Rules concerning charged conferences. Rule 3, section 4, article 1 states that a pitcher shall be removed after three charged conferences in a seven-inning game. “My understanding of the rule is you get three total visits and you can take them whenever you want,” Loyd said. “The disappointing thing is I asked him to make sure that there was no issue before I went out. I asked if it was alright if I went out. He said yes, so I went on out. Then he checked with the other umpire and they said I had to take him out.” Allen jammed a single to shallow center to open the seventh inning. He advanced on a sacrifice bunt and took third on a soft liner to center by Keaton Cloyd. Johnson then struck out the next batter, his ninth strikeout of the game, for the second out. Johnson threw just 86 pitches so the 110-pitch restriction was no issue at that point. After allowing three runs in the first inning, including just one earned on a pair of Van Buren errors in the inning, Johnson retired 16 of the next 18 batters he faced with eight strikeouts. He retired 12 in a row at one point. “I wasn’t going to go out there and take a pitcher out that’s pitching the way he’s pitching unless they tell me I can,” Loyd said. “I’m going to make sure. I’ve been doing this a little while. It was very disappointing. It ruined a great performance by Trevor. I hate that for him and our team. We were competing real well.” Van Buren answered Bentonville’s early three runs with a three-spot of its own in the second inning. Johnson led off with a sharp single, Jackson Hurst coaxed a full-count walk, and Grant Shankle singled to load the sacks. Noah Lipe followed with a run-scoring single to force home Johnson. After an out, Bryce Waters singled to score Hurst. Wilkerson then walked on four pitches to force in Shankle and tie the game. Van Buren had two more base runners in the third inning and Waters singled to open the home half of the fourth inning. Then Hearn settled down and retired nine straight as a pitcher’s duel developed. “That was a battle,” Bentonville head coach Todd Abbott said. “Both of those guys did a good job. Devin didn’t feel real good out there but he kept us in the game. Johnson did what he’s done every time we’ve faced him, just pounds the strike zone.” After Hearn got the first out of the seventh, Ronan, a lefty, came in to face the left-handed Wilkerson. “We knew before the inning started that our lefty was going to see Wilkerson,” Abbott said. “We didn’t care what happened to the lead-off guy, he was seeing Wilkerson. He can flat out swing out, and Reed came in and did a great job. That’s a tough out.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Van Buren High School Athletics

POINTERS DROP CLOSE ONE AFTER RULE ENFORCED

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 3/27/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian D. Sanderford