A packed crowd at Jack Williams Field witnessed a pair of exciting Harrison games over the weekend in the Class 4A North Region Baseball Tournament.
The Goblins ended their run in the tournament with a 9-3 loss to Farmington in the finals. Harrison earned their trip to the championship game after defeating Shiloh Christian in an offense-heavy 22-17 victory on Friday.
The second-place finish for Harrison pairs them against Camden Fairview on Thursday at 3 p.m. in the opening round of the Class 4A State Baseball Championship held at Morrilton.
Championship Game
Farmington 9, Harrison 3
The Goblins scored the first run in the game, but it was Farmington that rounded the bases the most times to take the No. 1 seed for the upcoming state tournament with a 9-3 win.
Harrison began the top of the seventh inning facing a 9-3 deficit and quickly began putting runners on the bases. Beck Jones was walked followed by Noah Moix getting hit by a pitch. Moix was later thrown out trying to get to second base but Cole Keylon had a hit followed by Dylan Block getting walked to load the bases. The final at bat ended in a grounder that resulted in a double play to end the game.
Harrison scored the first run of the game when Jones reached on an error and Trey Richardson later rounded the bases as a pinch runner.
Farmington responded with three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead.
Harrison was held scoreless in the second and Farmington added two more runs.
In the top of the third, The Goblins began to gain traction with a hit by Moix followed by a two-run homer to left-center field by Block that brought the game to a 5-3 score at the midway point of the third.
The Cardinals got one of those runs back after a walked batter was able to work around the diamond during passed balls.
Neither team scored in the fourth or the fifth inning but Farmington added to its lead in the sixth with another three runs as the Goblins faced a 9-3 hole with one inning remaining.
Moix, Richardson and Block scored all three runs for the Goblins.
Cy Madden started the game and gave up three runs on one hit with three walks. Richardson threw 2.0 innings allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks. Block finished on the mound with 4.0 innings allowing four runs on five hits with five strikeouts and four walks.
Semifinals
Harrison 22, Shiloh Christian 17
The home team Goblins and visiting Saints combined for 42 hits and 39 runs that included six home runs on Friday in the semifinals.
Harrison never relinquished the lead after getting off to a hot start and finished with a 22-17 win to advance to the finals.
The Goblins poured out eight runs in the first inning and added another two runs in the second.
Shiloh Christian managed one run in the bottom of the second.
Harrison was held scoreless in the third while the Saints added three runs.
The Goblins began the fourth frame with a 10-4 lead and added another four runs to the scoreboard before giving up two more in the bottom of the inning.
Neither team rounded the bases in the fifth and production picked back up in the sixth.
Harrison garnered five runs in the sixth while Shiloh Christian added another four.
With a 19-10 lead entering the top of the seventh, Harrison added another three insurance runs before putting the bats back in the hands of the Saints for one last time.
Shiloh Christian managed to narrow the deficit by seven runs but were unable to overcome the large lead as Harrison advanced with the win.
Beck Jones knocked two home runs over the fence and accumulated nine RBI on four hits to lead the Goblin offense. The catcher register two runs.
Keylon and Block each hit one home run during the game. Block had three RBI and two runs with three hits while Keylon scored once with two hits and two RBI.
Sloan Barrett tallied four RBI while scoring twice on three hits. Madden scored four times with one hit. Plumlee added three runs on three hits with one RBI. Duck registered two runs with four hits while driving in two runs. Tyler Hutcheson scored twice with two hits. Moix had one run and one hit while Richardson and Kaden Quandt each scored once.
