Baseball picks up win over Harrison

n The Panthers scored four runs in the first in the 10-2 win.

A hot offensive start was enough to put the Siloam Springs baseball team ahead of conference foes Harrison for good at James Butts Baseball Park on Friday night. The Panthers put together a four-run first inning to erase a 2-0 deficit, and never looked back en route to a 10-2 win.

In the top of the inning, the Goblins scored a pair of runs when senior centerfielder Quinn Cherry knocked a pitch from Dawson Armstrong over the center field fence. Cherry sent teammate Laine Hilliard in to score after Hilliard was hit by a pitch near the hands during the previous at-bat.

That home run would be the only Goblin hit for the next five innings. The Panthers (2-3, 1-1 5A/6A District 1) took over in the bottom of the first, scoring each of their first four batters thanks to a Chance Junkermann double that featured a pair of Harrison errors -- one at first and the other at third.

"We're just excited to get a win. ... In conference play, we'll take it," said Siloam Springs coach Alan Hardcastle.

"Coming out I wanted them to be aggressive and jump on and get a lead," Hardcastle said.

And jump out is what the Panthers did. After the first-inning flurry of runs, the Panthers scored one run in the second and three more in the third with a home run from Chandler Cook over the center field fence.

Armstrong only allowed one hit before being relieved by Eli Hawbaker in the 6th inning. Armstrong finished with four strikeouts, but hit a pair of batters and walked four of the 27 batters he faced. Hawbaker had no strikeouts and allowed two hits to the seven batters he faced.

Hardcastle said he wanted his pitchers to focus on throwing strikes and keeping a good rhythm. Later in the game, Armstrong started working in a slider and curveball, but he kept it simple early, Hardcastle said.

Harrison pitcher Carson Journagan took the loss with eight runs allowed on 11 hits. Damien Ireland allowed a pair of runs on four hits in relief.

Siloam Springs is entering a stretch of seven games in 12 days. "If the pitchers aren't throwing strikes, it could be a very long week for us," Hardcastle said.

The Panthers are scheduled to host Gravette on Monday.

Farmington 10, Siloam Springs 4

FARMINGTON -- One big inning was enough for Farmington to overtake Siloam Springs.

The Cardinals scored seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and defeated the Panthers 10-4 on Tuesday at Cardinal Field in 6A/5A Conference action.

The game was tied 3-3 with two runners on base and two outs when Ryan Larkin hit a single off reliever Chandler Cook. The ball got past the right fielder, and all three runners scored to put Farmington ahead 6-3.

The Cardinals continued their surge and added four more runs in the inning with the help of two-run singles from Kelton Price and Logan Bobak.

Farmington's sixth-inning outburst ruined a solid pitching performance by Siloam Springs left-hander Chance Junkerman, who left with the game tied 3-3. Junkerman took the loss when he walked consecutive batters after retiring the first two in the sixth.

"It was just an unfortunate inning where we had a couple of walks and let a ball roll to the fence," Siloam Springs coach Alan Hardcastle said. "We pride ourselves on getting that third out and when we got to two outs there, we just couldn't finish."

Dawson Armstrong had a double and Cook a single in the first inning when Siloam Springs took a 3-0 lead. The Panthers (1-3) were helped by sloppy play in the field from the Cardinals (4-2), who committed three errors in the first two innings.

Armstrong had two doubles and a sacrifice fly to lead Siloam Springs.

-- NWADG sportswriter Rick Fires contributed to this report

General News on 03/12/2017