Gentry Rebels sweep state tournament

— No team has been able to cool off the Gentry Rebels Senior Babe Ruth team.

Gentry, fresh off a Northwest Arkansas District Tournament win last week, won three straight games in the North Arkansas 16-18-year-old Senior Babe Ruth State Tournament this weekend.

The Rebels capped their tournament sweep with a come-from-behind 7-4 win against Northwest Arkansas in the finals on Sunday at James Butts Baseball Complex.

“Our kids have played really well together,” said Gentry coach Shawn Haag. “They play really hard, and that’s the difference, because if they don’t we’re not very good. We’re really young.”

Gentry, composed of 11 players from Gentry, three from Kansas, Okla., andone from Oaks, Okla., went 12-4 during the Senior Babe Ruth regular season and finished first in their division. Then they won two games in the district tournament at Tyson Park in Springdale before winning three straight in Siloam Springs.

An added note is the trip the team took to Omaha, Neb., to participate in the Triple Crown Slump Busters Wood Bat Tournament, where it faced teams from Texas, Florida and California. The Rebels lost all three games they played, 5-2, 4-2 and 9-5, but played well in each game, Haag said.

Gentry, which run-ruled Northwest Arkansas 13-3 on Saturday morning, got behind the eight-ball early on Sunday as Northwest Arkansas carried a 4-0 lead into the fourth inning.

Northwest Arkansas had an RBI single from TylerPhillips and an RBI double from Joe Dawes, both of Siloam Springs, in the second for a 2-0 lead. Then, in the third, Phillips smacked a bases-loaded double that plated two more runs.

Northwest Arkansas starting pitcher Andrew Snodgrass cruised through the first three innings without allowing a hit.

Snodgrass ran into trouble in the fourth, however, hitting Dustin Torres with a pitch to begin the inning and giving up an RBI double to Tanner Coy. Coy scored when NWA failed to get him out in a run down on a fielder’s choice from Jett Snell, Gentry’s only player from Oaks, Okla. Snell made it all the way to third base in the run down and he scored on a sacrifice fly from Josh Sewell to make it 4-3.

The score remained 4-3 until the bottom of the sixth when Snodgrass hit Kolby Rankin to begin the inning and Coy followed with a single. After Snell bounced out and moved the runners up a base, NWA decided to intentionally walk Sewell to load the bases. Brent Barker hit a three-run double to give Gentry a 6-4 lead, andBarker scored on Chris Wiand’s groundout to second base.

Siloam Springs pitchers Snodgrass and Isaac Mangrum, of Pea Ridge, only allowed a combined three hits, but they did walk three batters and hit two more.

“To beat these guys you have to play error-free baseball,” said NWA coach Charles Tucker. “Our batters started well but they dropped off later in the game. (Gentry was) better than we were today.”

Coy relieved starter and winning pitcher Shayne Warren (Kansas, Okla.) in the seventh and retired Northwest Arkansas in order for the save.

Gentry will move on to the 16-18-year-old Southwest Regional Tournament at Veterans Park in Rogers, beginning July 12. Northwest Arkansas will also participate as the host team.ˆ

Sports, Pages 9 on 07/04/2012