Pointers cap undefeated week in win over Alma

The Van Buren Pointers put the icing on a perfect week on Friday. Van Buren won its fourth game in five days, scoring in four of five innings in running its winning streak to six straight with a 14-4 win over Crawford County rival Alma at Iverson Riggs Field at the Field of Dreams Complex. Van Buren (13-8) opened the week with a pair of 6A-West wins against Rogers Heritage and beat Northside on Thursday before Friday’s win. In fact, the Pointers only trailed one inning all week, at Heritage on Tuesday and ended three of the four games early via the Arkansas Activities Association’s Sportsmanship Rule in five innings. “It was a long week but a good week,” Van Buren head coach David Loyd said. “We got to play a lot of ball. I thought we got better during the week. We went 2-0 in conference and got two nonconference wins here at the end to keep us going and give us some momentum going into next week.” Van Buren plays at Arvest Ballpark on Monday against Springdale Har-Ber before hosting the Wildcats on Tuesday in key conference games. The Pointers scored 49 runs in four games this week. “The last week or two that’s been much better,” Loyd said. “We’ve put the ball in play much harder. It’s been fun to watch finally. It was a struggle early, but we’re starting to produce. It’s fun to see them have fun doing that.” Friday, Van Buren scored three runs each in the first, second and fourth innings before ending the game early with five runs in the bottom of the fifth for the run-rule win. Everybody in Van Buren’s lineup reached base, but the top of the order did a lot of the offensive damage. “We feel like we have guys all the way up and down the order that can hit,” Loyd said. “We probably have a little more power at the top, but we have confidence that all of them can put the ball in play. They’ve done a nice job of that the last two weeks.” Lead-off hitter Noah Lipe scored three runs on three walks with two stolen bases. Trevor Johnson scored four runs, walking twice, reaching on an error and doubling home a run. Landrey Wilkerson continued to thrive in the three-hole in the order, driving home three runs with two doubles and a single. Dakota Peters doubled home a run in the second inning, singled in the fourth and belted his second homer of the season in the fifth. Van Buren scored three quick runs in the bottom of the first with the first three batters scoring. In the second, the Pointers scored three runs all with two outs on run-scoring doubles by Johnson and Peters. Tanner Callahan drove in a run in the fourth inning with Van Buren scoring three more with the aid of two Alma errors. Bryce Waters’ bases-loaded single with two outs in the fifth inning capped the five-run inning and invoked the mercy-rule with the 14-4 lead. Peters went the distance for the Pointers’ fourth complete-game pitching performance of the week along with Connor and Trevor Johnson early in the week and Wilkerson against Northside on Thursday. “I was real proud of Dakota,” Loyd said. “He hasn’t thrown in a while and he’s capable of going out there and helping us. They’re all getting better. We just want to keep them fresh.” Peters improved to 2-0, issuing just a walk and striking out nine. He also had three hits and finished the week with eight hits in 13 at-bats. Peters threw to just one batter over the minimum over the first three innings before Alma (0-20) scored three runs on four hits in the fourth inning to slice into Van Buren’s 6-0 lead. “We came back and battled, and strung together some hits,” Alma head coach Kevin Edwards said. “We cut it in half. Then we get two outs, and they get a hit and we make an error and they get that three back. That’s deflating, but then we come back and score again.” Peyton Canfield, Logan Hatcher and Logan Taylor reached to begin the fourth inning for Alma. Canfield was plunked by a pitch, and Hatcher and Taylor each singled. Drew Montgomery drove in a run with a ground-ball out, and Jacob Machen and Sebastian Herrera followed with run-scoring singles. In the fifth, Alma notched another run on Taylor’s two-out single that scored Canfield. “That’s what we have to have to keep striving, keep battling and keep competing,” Edwards said. “We’ve got to have guys that want to compete and want to battle like they’re in a street fight the whole time. It was good to see us answer and cut it down. We just have to get out of an inning when we can without giving them a crooked number.” Alma hosts Greenbrier in a 5A-West doubleheader on Tuesday.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Van Buren High School Athletics

POINTERS CAP UNDEFEATED WEEK IN WIN OVER ALMA

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 4/13/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Aaron Shaffer