It’s not how you start but how you finish. The Van Buren Pointers like the way that phrase sounds.

Now the hard part; backing it up.

The Pointers beat Fayetteville on Tuesday, 10-2, for their first 6A-West win of the season. Despite playing well, Van Buren dropped its first five league games by a total of eight runs.

In Tuesday’s win, Landry Wilkerson had two doubles and three RBIs, and Tanner Callahan drove in two runs with a pinch-hit single.

The Pointers, who went 22-7 a year ago, and nearly played their way into the state title game, travel to Springdale on Friday and resume 6A-West play next week with a home-and-home set with Rogers Heritage.

Two of the four remaining conference series are against teams with losing records — 2-4 Heritage and 2-4 Springdale.