Van Buren scored six runs over the first two innings and outlasted Benton 8-6 in the first round of the Class 5A state baseball tournament Thursday.
Weston Wilcox pitched six innings for Van Buren and Hudson Stewart finished off the win, working around an error in the seventh inning.
Run-scoring singles by Clark Seeger and Owen Weeded paced Van Buren to a 2-0 lead in the opening inning.
Van Buren added four runs in the second inning with an error scoring Billy Cain, who had walked. Van Buren added another run when Wilcox was hit by a pitch that forced home Ian Rowe, who had also walked. Seeger then delivered another base hit, scoring Peyton Pschier and Ethan Bowen.
"Anytime that you're playing an elimination game and you can get up early, that's a huge help," Van Buren Coach Luke Weatherford said. "It lets your guys relax and just play. They did a good job of that."
Van Buren scored two more runs in the fourth inning with Wilcox belting a solo homer run and Hudson Stewart singling home Seeger, who had walked and stole third.
Wilcox pitched around solo home runs by Broc Mattox in the second inning, Sam Shelton in the fifth inning and Elias Payne to lead off the sixth inning.
Benton scored two more runs following Payne's blast in the six to close within, 8-5, on an error and run-scoring double by Gavin Kelley.
Stewart, a freshman, entered and allowed an unearned run but... Click here to read full article
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