Arkansas 6A baseball roundup: Bentonville bats catch fire in state tournament opener

By Steve Andrews | Photos by Karen Schwartz 

SPRINGDALE – Bentonville exploded for all seven of its runs in the second inning Thursday, while senior pitcher Zac Sohosky kept the North Little Rock bats quiet early, as the Tigers held on for a 7-2 victory in the opening round of the 6A State Tournament at Har-Ber High School.

Bentonville (20-10), the fourth seed in the 6A-West, will now face the 6A-Central top seed Little Rock Catholic (21-6) Friday at noon.

“It’s great when you can start out like this, when you can score some runs and keep the other team from scoring very many runs,” Bentonville coach Todd Abbott said. “In a single-elimination tournament, it gives you some confidence after Game 1, heading into Game 2. We’ve just got to keep focusing on ourselves. If we can continue with the good at-bats and throw strikes and play team defense, then we should be all right.”

After going down in order their first time at bat against the Charging Wildcats, the Tigers set their bats on fire in the bottom of the second inning against North Little Rock starter Jordan Kelly.

Woodie led off the inning with a double down the left-field line, before Drew Wright and Kieper Pate drew consecutive walks to load the bases. Rowan Christensen then stepped up and drilled a 1-1 pitch over the left fielder’s head to clear the bases with a double and give Bentonville a 3-0 lead.

Courtesy runner Connor Kneeshaw advance to third on a single by Hutchens and came in to score when Ethan Arnold reached on a Charging Wildcat error. Caleb Bryant came in to pitch for North Little Rock and proceeded to give up a single to Luke Crumpler to put the Tigers in front 5-0.

A passed ball allowed Arnold to score Bentonville’s sixth run, before Crumpler capped the scoring on a sacrifice fly by Stephon Gryskiewicz.

“Anytime you can score like that in the state tournament is good, especially when you can put up a nice, crooked number like we did in the second inning,” Abbott said. “We had some really good at-bats and were the beneficiary of an error, and we were able to come up with the hits when we needed them.”

Bryant settled down on the mound for the Charging Wildcats, scattering just two Bentonville singles over the final four innings, while striking out seven along the way.

His counterpart, Sohosky, threw 101 pitches for Bentonville over six innings, giving up just four hits and allowing one earned run.

“He’s been like that the whole year for us,” Abbott said. “He’s rock solid, man, and a go-to guy for us. And he did it there and you saw what he has been doing for us all year.”

The 6-foot, 180-pound lefty relied on his fastball to strikeout eight Wildcat batters.

“I was just trying to get ahead, and keep them down in the count, to put some pressure on them,” said Sohosky, who will soon move on to play at Rose State College in Midwest City, OK. “Once we got that seven-run lead, it allowed me to relax and do my thing. It just gave me a lot more breathing room and allowed my to just attack the zone without pressure.”

Fellow senior Ethan Arnold reached base three times for the Tigers, leading the team with a pair of hits, and reached on the error in the second.

“Offensively, we started early and got the bats going hot, came out with an approached and it worked well today,” Arnold said. “We just try to stay within ourselves at the plate, stay with in our approaches. We just came out and swung the bats and they started to fall for us. I’m always looking for a way to drive something in and help my team however I can.”

North Little Rock finally got on the board in the top of the fifth, benefitting from an error that allowed leadoff batter Landon Carter to reach base. Bryant followed with a single to left, before he and Carter came home on a double by Jaylon Johnson.

The Charging Wildcats finished their season at 15-15.

Cabot 1, Bentonville West 0 (8 innings)

Sophomore Austin Ryals slid into home on a passed ball with two out in the bottom of the eighth inning Thursday, breaking a scoreless tie and giving Cabot a 1-0 victory over Bentonville West in the first round of the 6A state tournament at Springdale Har-Ber.

West looked like it would take the game to the ninth inning after turning a double-play earlier in the eighth. But Ryals knocked a two-out single and advanced to second on a walk to Hayden Prewitt. Ryals advanced to third on the first wild pitch to batter Kaden Smith. After a called strike, the next pitch got passed the catcher again, allowing Ryals to end it.

West (17-13) outhit Cabot 4-3, but stranded runners on third base in the fourth and eighth innings.

The Panthers (20-7), the third seed in the 6A-Central will now play the host Har-Ber Wildcats, the second seed in the 6A-West, Friday at 2:30 p.m.

Rogers Heritage 6, Bryant 0

Sophomore Bennett Crafton pitched seven solid innings without allowing a run and striking out nine Thursday, as Rogers Heritage jumped on Bryant early and never relinquished in a 6-0 win in the first round of the 6A state tournament at Springdale High School.

“It was a good win for us,” War Eagles coach Brian Walker said. “Bennett was just solid the whole games, and only threw 87 pitches, so he was very efficient with his pitches. He threw the ball really well.”

Heritage took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, scoring runs off of a bases-loaded walk and a hit batter. They broke it open in the seventh with four more. Sophomore Brett Refrow, starting his first varsity game behind the plate, knocked in the final two runs with a double to the left-center field gap.

The War Eagles (18-12) will now move on for another battled with cross-town rival Rogers (24-5), the top seed in the 6A-West. The teams split their series during the regular season.

Fort Smith Southside 6, Fort Smith Northside 2

Longtime Fort Smith cross-town rivals, Northside and Southside have shared the baseball field together many times, but never in the state tournament game. That changed Thursday when Southside toppled the Grizzlies, 6-2, in the 6A state tournament at Springdale High.

Zeb Allen led the hit parade for the Mavericks with a two-run homer. Junior right-hander Ty Jones earned the win on the mound, going five-plus innings

Both Northside runs came on a two-run home run by Jayden Darnell in the sixth inning.

Southside (19-11 will now face 6A- Central No. 2 seed Conway Friday at 2:30 p.m.