FARMINGTON -- Three runs in the top of the fifth inning were enough for Siloam Springs to get past Farmington, 3-1, in a 5A/6A District 1 baseball game Friday.
An costly error by Farmington allowed a run to score breaking a scoreless tie. The run was set up by a single from Panther shortstop Reed Wilbanks followed by a walk issued to Baron Meek to put two runners on with one out. Farmington coach Jay Harper pulled starter Ben Silvis (4.1 innings, 4 hits, 2 base-on-balls, 3 strike-outs) and brought in reliever Kyle Gates.
Up to that juncture neither team had committed an error, but the Cardinals' solitary miscue came at an inopportune time during the contest. The significance of the play was not lost on Panthers coach Alan Hardcastle.
"We had a double steal on and Isaac Price made contact," said Hardcastle. "The ball bounced in front of the second baseman and we got a run in."
Gates struck out the next batter, but a runner advanced to second setting the stage for Siloam Springs' only earned run on a single by junior Chance Hilburn, which drew praise from his coach.
"Chance Hilburn hit a ball up the middle to put us up three to nothing," Hardcastle said.
Gates got out of the inning by inducing a fly-out.
Silvis turned away a Siloam Springs threat by recording a strike-out with the bases loaded to end the third.
"We got ourselves in situations where we let the leadoff hitter on in almost every inning," Harper said. "They got the bases loaded with no outs. Then Silvis got the next three out. He got one to pop-up, the second to strike out and a fly-out. It was a good job by him to get out of the inning."
The game was partially played in the rain, which ceased during the fourth inning. Overcast skies broke with Farmington coming to bat in the bottom of the fifth, but the sun's appearance was as brief at the Cardinals' at-bat. Farmington leadoff batter Will Danenhauer was hit by a pitch, but Siloam Springs starter Jacob Rowe recovered by inducing a fly-out and a double-play with a line drive fielded by Wilbanks, who relayed the ball to first to end the inning.
Farmington turned a double play in the top of the sixth to nullify a walk by Rowe. Cardinal shortstop Logan Bobak fielded a grounder getting the ball to second baseman Tate Sutton, who threw to first for the force out.
The wind picked up with Farmington batting in the bottom half of the sixth. Sutton led off by singling into center field. The next two batters were out, but Sutton advanced to third. Senior Derek Perona plated him by placing a single into left field. Rowe fielded a short pop-up to get out of the inning with Siloam Springs holding a 3-1 lead.
The Panthers went down in order in the top of the seventh. Farmington right fielder Eric Hill was hit by a pitch to keep the Cardinals alive with two outs in their final at-bat, but Rowe got Bobak to fly-out to deep right center to end the game.
Hardcastle said a key was Rowe's ability to keep the Cardinals from making solid contact, although he allowed a few runners to get aboard. Rowe went the distance, throwing 78 pitches only five of which resulted in hits. He struck out 3.
"He came back and did a lot of first pitch strikes," Hardcastle said. "He had a lot of quick innings. He had a four-pitch inning. I'm very happy with him and the baseball team."
Harper alluded the loss in part to 10 runners left on base by the Cardinals.
"Our whole philosphy is to win the inning," Harper said. "We didn't win but one inning today. You can't win when you do that. A good job to them (Siloam Springs), they kept us off balance."
Siloam Springs' victory broke a 4-game Farmington win-streak and ended a nine-game losing streak by the Panthers (3-13, 2-5). Farmington defeated Siloam Springs 17-3 on March 6 in Siloam Springs.
Harrison 2, Siloam Springs 1
HARRISON -- The Goblins spoiled a stellar pitching outing from Reed Wilbanks to take a 2-1 victory in Harrison on Thursday.
Siloam Springs led 1-0 in the third inning after Wilbanks singled and came around to score on Baron Meek's single later in the inning.
The Goblins took advantage of a Siloam Springs error to tie the game in the third, and another error in the fourth led to what would be the game's winning run.
Wilbanks, Meek and Dalton Cook each had two hits apiece for Siloam Springs.
Wilbanks pitched six innings and allowed eight hits and two earned runs while striking out four.
"Reed was able to throw strikes and get ahead of the batters," Hardcastle said. "He threw well enough to get the win, pitching out of several jams. We left 10 runners on base and had one base running error that proved to be the difference in the game."
Up next
The Panthers are scheduled to host Providence Academy on Monday in Siloam Springs.
Sports on 04/08/2018