Class 3A Arkansas baseball final: Harding Academy rolls past Rivercrest for third straight state title

By Jeff Halpern | Photos by Tommy Land 

CONWAY — Two five-run innings lifted Harding Academy to a 10-0 victory over Rivercrest in the Class 3A state championship at Bear Stadium, giving the Wildcats their third consecutive state championship and seventh overall. 

“We worked for what’s going to happen at the end of the year,” said Harding Academy head coach Shane Fullerton. “It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been here or how many times you’re going to be here. You have to be hungry for today. We don’t want to be starving for anything because winning is what the good lord put us here for today. We don’t want to starve. We want to be hungry.”

After both teams were scoreless for the first two innings, the Wildcats (25-7) put the game away by scoring 10 runs in the next two innings to end the game after five innings. Rivercrest finishes the season at 21-4.

The third inning started when Kam Hoover, had an infield single. Brody Myers followed with a single to left and Parker Hawks was hit by a pitch to load the baes. Kyler Hoover, who was named the game’s by going 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI, made his first impact with a single to left to score Kam Hoover and Myers who scored on a bad throw by left fielder Keiran Morris to make it 2-0.

Levi Lang followed with a sacrifice fly to center to score Hawks to make it 3-0. Hoover then came around and scored on a wild pitch by Conner Vaughn to make it 4-0. After a walk to Kade Smith and Isaac Baker was hit by a pitch, Jack Citty and Cade Pryor, who were running for Smith and Pryor, moved up on a wild pitch with Citty scoring on Daniel Henley’s wild pitch to make it 5-0.

“Everything started with the ground ball to second, and it got away from us,” said Rivercrest head coach Stephan Elrod.

The onslaught continued the following inning when Kam Hoover singled and Myers doubled down the left-field line to put both runners at second and third. A single to right by Hawks scored Kam Hoover to make it 6-0.

Kyler Hoover had another base hit to score Myers to make it 7-0. A wild pitch by Joe Louis Ralph allowed Hawks to score to make it 8-0 and then Baker had a two-run single to score Hoover and Citty, who was running for Smith to close out the scoring at 10-0.

“Honestly, I went up there and drove runs in,” said Kyler Hoover. “I wanted to do it for the seniors and get a last one.”

The Wildcats had 8 hits with Kam Hoover and Myers also getting two hits.

Fullerton like the balance his team displayed in the two innings when it sent 19 men to the plate. “On the offensive end, we have a system of preparing and sometimes we do that for a week solid. One of the parents made a wrist band that said ‘Trust the process.’ They can handle the process. They buy in and don’t get down when they make mistakes,” said Fullerton.

With a 10-run lead in place, Smith, the Arkansas Razorback signee, pitched a 1-2-3 fifth with Keiran Morris grounding out to Lang to start the celebration.

For the game, Smith struck out 4 and allowed 2 hits, facing 17 batters and retiring the last seven batters of the game.

“Kade Smith had a great performance on the mound,” said Fullerton. “As the year as gone on, he’s gotten more and more dominant. He really put the ball in the zone. Kade is a special individual inside and out.”

Elrod wished his team had taken advantage of opportunities in the second inning when they had runners at first and second, only to see Ashton Cagle strike out and in the third inning when Kevin Morris doubled with two out, only to see Vaughn pop up to end the inning.

“We couldn’t get the big hit and put pressure on them,” said Elrod. “We could never barrel it up.”

Kyler Hoover said, “I’m just excited. We worked hard all year long. We played good competition. We started slow and Coach Fullerton pushed us every day and our seniors led us every step of the way. It was a fun ride.”

With three titles in a row and seven overall, Fullerton didn’t want to hear any talk of being a dynasty, adding that it takes a lot of people to make championships possible.

“I love this team and I can’t express my gratitude is to them and their parents. We’re not a dynasty, but we’re a school full of good people who work hard. It could have easily gone the other way. It can go any way on any day,” said Fullerton.