Har-Ber upsets Fayetteville

Har-Ber, which won a state championship in 2008, entered this postseason as the No. 3 seed from the 7A-West and dominated the 7A-West Conference champion Purple'Dogs from start to finish. "That's what we talked about as a staff, we said, 'Third time's a charm,'" said Bradley, who has coached team to a combined four state titles at West Fork, Jenks, Okla. and Claremore, Okla. "You're trying to build tradition and, with Fayetteville, that's what we were up against today, the tradition that Fayetteville has established over the years (seven state titles). "Har-Ber is coming along and trying to take that tradition away. And this is a good start." Har-Ber led 2-0 before Benson (3-1), a junior left-hander, even threw a pitch. His shutout bid ended when Hayes Cox hit an RBI single in the sixth. By then, the outcome was well in hand as the 'Cats scored in four of the first five innings to build Benson an 8-0 cushion. He finished off the complete-game victory with his fourth strikeout on his 110th pitch. "Last week, when we knew we would have to win three games, we penciled in Blake Benson to start Game 3," Bradley said. "And he didn't disappoint us. He did a great job. He makes you beat him. He does a quality job of putting pressure on the hitter and that's all you can ask for in Game 3." Sophomore Blake Adams was 2-for-3 and drove in a run in each of his first three at-bats, including the Wildcats' first run of the game. Caleb Kimbel, who was hit by a pitch twice, drove in the second run on a sacrifice fly. Colin Kozak was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Mac McCroskey and Jacob Williams each had two hits as well for the Wildcats. Fayetteville had eight hits, including two each by Jackson Sloan and Logan Carr, but couldn't string enough together against Benson to make a difference, leaving nine runners stranded on base. "Everything that we hit hard found somebody and everything they hit hard found a hole," said Fayetteville coach Scott Gallagher. "We hit the ball hard off (Benson), but it was mainly they played really good defense behind him and he didn't give up any free bags."

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
BULLDOG

HAR-BER UPSETS FAYETTEVILLE

MIKE CAPSHAW

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 5/14/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: J.T. Wampler