In search of a 10th straight victory, the Neosho Nighthawks American Legion baseball team ran into a bit of a roadblock in Arkansas.

The combination of a hot-hitting Bentonville Outdoor Cap, shoddy defense and a rather barren bench were among the factors that saw Neosho down 9-0 early and at one point, trailing 12-1.

The Nighthawks rallied a bit, but eventually lost 13-6 Wednesday night at Phillips Park in Bentonville.

The second meeting between the two teams started off in favor of Bentonville, as the team scored one run in each of the first two innings. In the third inning, Bentonville (11-6) broke the game open with six runs to make it 8-0.

A pair of errors aided the cause and, ironically, Bentonville had only two hits in the inning. The first error led to a run, and with one out, Steve Sotello hit a two-run single. A wild pitch then led to another run, while Matt Garza tacked on an RBI single.

Buster Gean, a University of Arkansas-Little Rock signee, capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly, making it 8-0.

In the fourth inning, Erin McGee walked with the bases full to make it 9-0 in favor of Outdoor Cap.

The teams traded runs in the fifth inning, as Neosho broke up Martin Tabler’s shutout.

The Nighthawks had back-to-back singles from Scott Wilson and Dallas Randen. A delayed double steal followed, but the play went awry for Neosho, as Randen was safe at second, but Wilson was gunned down at home.

Randen, at second base, came home on Koty Dowell’s RBI single.

Adam Seal, one of three players from Maple Woods Community College, added an RBI double in the bottom of the inning to make it 10-1 and give Bentonville a nine-run lead back.

An example of what a bad night it was for Neosho, at this point, was the fact that the team had five hits and five errors. A little more bad luck followed in the fifth inning, as Bentonville’s Garza, another Maple Woods signee, hit one of the shortest sacrifice flies in the history of baseball.

With Dan Beahm at third base and McGee at first base after a pair of singles, Garza popped up on a pitch from Paul Mitchell. The ball was caught in front of the Neosho dugout by catcher, Dowell.

However, on the play, no player was covering home and Beahm had a clear path to a run and gave Garza an RBI on the play. McGee scored on an opposite field single by Harrison Snyder, a University of Arkansas-Fort Smith signee, to make it 12-1.

Neosho, down to only three outs in the game or facing a run-rule loss, rallied in the top of the seventh inning. The Nighthawks showed some signs of life by coming through with clutch two-out hitting. Dallas Randen welcomed relief pitcher Scotty Joyner with a single and moved to second base on Koty Dowell’s walk.

A wild pitch moved both runners up a base and they both came home on Ty Anderson’s two-run double, making it 12-3, meaning the game would go at least one more inning.

With two outs, Miller hit an RBI single to score Anderson and on that play, Carter Marion, who walked, scored as the throw to third base to get him out went into the Bentonville dugout.

Outdoor Cap scored the game’s final run in the bottom of the seventh inning when an error with two outs led to Tabler scoring from third.

Tabler got the win on the mound, throwing six innings of one-run ball.

“He did a good job of throwing strikes and not walking them,” said Bentonville coach Kyle Blevins, a former Crowder College baseball player.

Blevins added, “We got up 12-1 and 9-0. That helped, but these are 18- year-old kids and they relax.

“The last inning we had three strikeouts that was just a lack of concentration and wanting to go home. If we walked more we probably could score 20 runs a game, but that is just kids.”

Blevins, a native of Bentonville, went on to play at Armstrong Atlantic University in Savannah, Ga., after playing at Crowder. He coached at Bentonville  High School for three years and has been the Bentonville American Legion coach the last five years.

Chase Barnes started for Neosho, his first game back since knee surgery in June.
Wilson and Paul Mitchell relieved him.

The loss concludes the regular season for the Nighthawks, who are now 21-11, as the loss snaps a nine-game winning streak. Neosho now turns its attention to the upcoming District 15 Tournament starting Saturday, but the Nighthawks will play on Sunday by virtue of their No. 1 seed.