PURPLE'DOGS PAST MOUNTIES IN EXTRA INNINGS

The celebration was so intense Alex Blagg's jersey got ripped. Blagg ripped a walk-off triple and Miller Pleimann fired a one-hitter to lift Fayetteville to a 1-0 victory over Rogers High in nine innings Monday. With a 2-2 pitch count, Blagg launched a breaking ball over center fielder Greyson Lee's head. The senior extended his right arm and index finger as he headed for second base, and the ball landed safely on the warning track. By the time Blagg reached third base, he was rushed by teammates and doused with a full cup of water by Cody Smith to ignite the post-win celebration, which improved the Bulldogs to 9-9 overall and 4-1 in 7A-West play. "I knew it felt good off the bat," Blagg said. "Once I saw him start running backwards I knew it was going to burn him, so I started celebrating a little bit. My adrenaline was going. I was just so excited." Pleimann (4-1), a junior right-hander who has verbally committed to Wichita State, threw his fourth consecutive one-hitter. He struck out a season-high 13, walked one and retired 27 of 28 batters faced by mixing in curveballs and changeups with a running fastball in the 85-88 mph range. "My secondary pitches have been working really well these past couple of games," Pleimann said. "Our defense has been working really well behind me, and we've been hitting the ball well, although we were a little slow to start off today." Lee broke up Pleimann's bid for a no-hitter with a one-out single in the seventh for the Mounties (5-8, 1-4), but the Bulldogs responded with a double play to end the inning. Pleimann looked even stronger in extra innings as he struck out four of the final six batters he faced. Blagg, the team's catcher, said Pleimann was "incredible" while throwing 72 strikes in 101 pitches. "He's so consistent and just goes out there and fills up the zone with strikes," Gallagher said. "I think he got better as the game went on, but we were going to change (pitchers) if the game went to the 10th. Not because of a lack of confidence in him, but because we've got confidence in our bullpen." Fayetteville's Barrett Banister, who hammered two balls into the wind that were caught at the warning track in left, scored the winning run after walking on four pitches to begin the ninth inning. That ended Rogers starter McKaden Templeton's strong outing as the sophomore right-hander scattered seven hits over eight scoreless innings before being relieved by Mason Griffin, who surrendered the hit to Blagg. Van Buren 3, Rogers Heritage 0 Ethan Holmes tossed a four-hitter to lead the Pointers (12-1, 4-1 7A-West) to the 7A-West Conference win. He struck out seven and walked one in picking up the complete-game victory and also went 2-for-3 with a double and drove in two runs. Heritage (4-10, 2-3 7A-West) threatened twice against Holmes but could not break through. Noah Guill led off the third inning with a double but didn't score. Logan Easley and Kaleb Gavin led off the seventh with back-to-back singles, but Holmes retired the next three hitters -- two on strikeouts -- to end the game. Easley took the loss, despite pitching well. He allowed three runs (all earned) on six hits, while striking out six and walking two.

PURPLE'DOGS PAST MOUNTIES IN EXTRA INNINGS

Photo Credit: David Gottschalk

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