Coming off an Ozarks Classic title over the weekend, the Diamond Goblins had momentum entering their Thursday afternoon non-conference matchup against Springdale at Jack Williams Field.
Both teams went run for run through the early innings and Harrison took a small lead in the third. The Bulldogs pushed back through the fifth and sixth to put Harrison behind the eight ball for the bottom of the seventh. The Goblins’ final effort produced two runs but Springdale ended their road trip to the Equity Bank Sports Complex with an 11-9 victory.
“We just can’t put ourselves in a spot where we’re down late,” Harrison head coach Matt Rodden commented after the loss. “I liked the way we fought back but we gotta be better on the mound early in the game. We have to throw strikes and not give up bases. We’ll be pretty good when we get all that together.”
After allowing six unanswered runs over a two-inning stretch, the Goblins entered the bottom of the seventh inning trailing by an 11-7 score.
Kaden Quandt was then walked for his third time in the game followed by Jarrett Wilson reaching with a base on balls as well. Leadoff hitter Sloan Barrett then hit a shot to left field that loaded the bases for Dylan Block. Harrison got its first run of the inning to make it an 11-8 ballgame when Block hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Quandt. Beck Jones added the final run with a single into the outfield that sent home Wilson and Harrison’s final two batters produced the game-ending outs.
Springdale opened the game with three early runs in the first and Harrison took one off the deficit when Barrett scored his first of three runs for the day.
The Bulldogs added another notch to the scoreboard in the second and Harrison looked at a 4-1 deficit entering the bottom of the second.
Quandt took his first base on balls of the game and then stole second followed by Barrett getting walked. Block then crushed a full-count pitch to left field that drove in Quandt and Barrett for an easy triple. The throw to third sailed into the Harrison dugout and Quandt finished the play by trotting home to tie the game at four apiece.
Neither team scored in the third and Springdale put four runners on base in the fourth but the Goblin defense only allowed one run.
The 5-4 Bulldog lead was short-lived. Harrison added three runs in the bottom of the fourth beginning with Barrett reaching on a single and Block taking a base after a throwing error. Jones then blasted the ball to center field for an easy single that drove in both runners. Jones later scored when Timber Crenwelge earned a RBI-double to right field that made it a 7-5 Harrison lead through four innings.
Springdale added two runs in the fifth to tie the game and then poured out four runs in the sixth before putting the heat on Harrison in the final frame.
Barrett opened the game on the mound and led the Goblin offense with three runs. Block and Quandt scored two runs apiece while Jones and Wilson had one each.
“We’re not down on ourselves,” Rodden said about his team. “We know what we’re getting into. We have a tough non-conference schedule and we did that for a reason to prepare us for our conference and region.
“We’re going to Russellville on Saturday with Cy Madden on the mound,” the coach concluded. “We’re gonna go down there and do what we can to win a game.”
The loss moves Harrison to a 6-6 record on the young season and Saturday’s game will begin at 2 p.m. at the Russellville High School.
