FARMINGTON -- The Cardinal baseball team rebounded with wins after absorbing a pair of tough losses as they opened the season in the river valley Metro Tournament against Russellville and Maumelle last week.
"The tournament has quality teams, that's what we want playing against tough competition to get our team ready for our district, the 5A West and for state," said Farmington coach Jay Harper.
Two wins on Friday
Farmington played a double-header on Friday, breaking into the win column with a four-inning, 13-2, victory over Central Arkansas Christian followed by a 6-3 win over Watson Chapel.
The Cardinals started slowly against CAC, trailing 1-0 after the first inning, but captured the lead with a 2-run second inning. CAC added a run in the top of the third inning to tie the game at 2-2, but Farmington exploded for 11 runs in the third and fourth innings to claim a 13-2 short-game win.
Against Watson Chapel, the Cardinals took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, then added 4 runs to offset 3 runs by Watson Chapel in the third. Neither team scored over the last four innings. Farmington was designated as the home team in the tournament and did not have to bat in the last inning.
Russellville 1, Farmington 0 (8 innings)
"We lost to 6A Russellville 1-0 in the eighth inning," Harper said. "Tyler Gregg pitched. We got all of our pitchers on a pitch-count and when he reached his, we took him out."
Gregg allowed just one hit over five innings and was relieved by Derek Perona. The pair combined for 10 strikeouts. Farmington was one out away from extending the game when Russellville's Michael Mullen drove in a run off a two-out infield single.
Perona took the loss on an unearned run. Bryson George led off the eighth with a walk for Russellville and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. He scored on Mullen's single breaking the 0-0 tie, allowing Russellville to squeek past Farmington during a non-district game played Feb. 27 at Russellville.
"It's early in the season and we're struggling at the plate," Harper said. "Really, we're trying to find who should be in there."
Farmington's only hit of the game came on a single by Ryan Larkin.
"I'm real proud of our front-line pitching," Harper said. "They did a good job."
Maumelle 9, Farmington 7
Farmington hit better but lost their second game of the day 9-7 to Maumelle in similar fashion. Behind starter Ben Silvis, the Cardinals built a 2-0 lead in the first inning. They added another run in the second and three more in the fourth.
"We were up 6-0 in the fifth versus Maumelle with Ben Silvis on the mound," Harper said. "When he reached 70 pitches, we took him out. Our bullpen failed us."
As a batter, Gregg went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Blake Putnam was 1 for 3 with 2 RBIs. Will Danenhauer (1 for 3) and Kelton Price each contributed an RBI.
Sports on 03/08/2017