FARMINGTON -- Farmington snapped a two-game losing streak that ended the regular season on a disappointing note with a decisive 13-2 win over Maumelle Monday.
The Cardinals lost 9-5 on the road at Russellville April 24 and 13-3 at home to Harrison on April 27 that dropped them out of a No. 1 seed in the 5A West as postseason play began. They still hosted a first-round 5A West Conference baseball tournament game on Monday against Maumelle and remedied the shortcomings of the previous week.
The Cardinals won big, by a 13-2 margin to qualify for state and advance to the 5A West semifinals Tuesday at Greenbrier. Maumelle took an early 2-0 lead in its first at-bat with junior Ty Anderson (1-for-2, RBI) driving in a run, but that was one of only two hits the Hornets managed on the day. Senior Trevian Tucker (1-for-2) had the other and he would score a run.
Cardinal pitching was so effective that Maumelle wasn't getting on base. Six Hornets struck out, none reached on an error and Farmington only allowed 2 base-on-balls.
Farmington answered with a run in the bottom of the first, then erupted for 6 runs on 5 hits, a passed ball, and a Maumelle error in the second inning. The Cardinals chased Maumelle starter Andrew Howard (1.1 innings, 6 runs, 7 hits, 1 base-on-balls, 1 strike out) with a 2 RBI single into center field that broke a 2-2 tie. The Cardinals led the rest of the way and more runs were charged to Howard with runners he allowed on scoring.
Farmington freshman Tate Sutton stepped out of the way as another run crossed home plate on a passed ball. Reliever Conner McCullough walked Sutton, but gave up an RBI single to Hayden VanLaningham and an RBI double to Colton Kilgore as Farmington took a 7-2 lead.
In the fourth inning, Derek Perona drove in a run with a single and catcher Will Danenhauer hit a single into right field to score Farmington's ninth run. The inning ended with the Cardinals ahead, 10-2, and they ended the contest early with 3 runs in the fifth.
Sports on 05/02/2018