Arkansas high school baseball notebook (3/20/2024)

Spring break brings travel for top-ranked teams

In the past, spring break marked the halfway point of high school baseball season. Now that the season does not start until March, spring break is a chance for teams to experience playing teams in out-of-state events or playing in larger in-state tournaments. 

Joe T. Robinson is hosting its seventh annual Robinson Invitational March 21-23 featuring 28 teams from five states including some of the top-ranked teams in the most recent SBLive Super 7 rankings. Today, we look at games to watch this weekend along with some teams that have already played in their respective tournaments.

Robinson Invitational

Robinson head coach Isaac Dulaney has done a tremendous job the last four seasons of building an event that attracts not only the state’s top talent, but also top teams from neighboring states. The tournament is scheduled across four locations: Robinson, Maumelle Charter, Little Rock Christian, and Benton. Among the out-of-state teams to watch are Houston high school (Tenn.), Raymore-Peculiar (Mo.) and Rejoice Christian (Okla.). Here are the must-see games over the next three days:

March 21st

Valley View vs. Ray-Pec 8:15 pm at Robinson

Harding Academy vs. Benton 6:00 pm at Benton

Greenwood vs. Brookland 11:15 am at LR Christian

LR Christian vs. Marion 1:30 pm at LR Christian

March 22nd

Ray-Pec vs. Catholic 1:30 pm at Robinson

Tahlequah (Okla.) vs. Bentonville West 1:30 pm at Maumelle Charter

Maumelle vs Rejoice Christian 1:30 pm at Benton

LR Christian vs. Greenwood 3:45 pm art LR Christian

March 23rd

Robinson vs. Ashdown 9:00 am at Robinson

Houston vs. Bryant 11:15 at Robinson

Batesville vs. Arkansas High 3:45 pm at Maumelle Charter

Russellville vs. Sheridan 1:30 pm at Benton

Gulf Coast Classic

Every year, multiple teams statewide head down for some fun in the sun and baseball in the annual Gulf Coast Classic. Rogers Heritage won the event in 2023. Here is how a couple of our in-state teams have fared so far this week in Alabama.

Lonoke

The Jackrabbits began the tournament with three straight wins behind strong pitching from Jaxson Ingle, Steele Eaves and Cole Spears. Ingle tossed a complete game shutout in game one. The lefty struck out 11 while allowing two hits in his first start of the year. Eaves shut down Oklahoma powerhouse Jenks with 12 strikeouts over 6.2 innings in Lonoke’s 8-3 win. Spears went the distance for the first time this year in a 5-2 win over Berryhill (Okla.). He allowed two runs on four hits while striking out seven.

Rogers Heritage

The War Eagles improved to 10-0 on the season after winning their first three games on the coast. They scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat Prattville Christian (Ala.) 8-7 in game one. Josh Hinds delivered the big hit with a three-run home run to give Heritage the lead. Heritage took care of business in a 5-2 win over Norman North (Okla.) then made quick work of Sylvan Hills winning 18-0. They scored 17 runs in the first two innings against the Bears.

Fayetteville and Huntsville made the trip from Northwest Arkansas to the Sunshine State to play in high-profile events. Huntsville went to Tampa for the week and have had mixed results thus far. The Eagles won their first two games by jumping out to a four-run lead in each contest. While they did drop their next two games, they were ahead in game five at the time of publishing this notebook. Fayetteville Headed down to Polk County, Florida and announced their presence with authority scoring 42 runs while only allowing six runs to go 4-0 in the event.

Razorback commit Landon Schaefer has gotten off to a hot start at the plate this season and he continued to produce in this event. Schaefer went 2 for2 with two doubles and knocked in four runs in the 10-0 win over Hopkins (Conn.). Carter Morris, Tab Bryant and Jaison DeLamar each knocked in two runs in the 15-4 win over Lake Gibson (Fla.).

For updates, scores, and highlights of the Robinson Invitational, follow @KBoBaseballGuru on X (formerly Twitter) and follow @SBLiveARK for scores and updates from around the state. 

--Kevin Bohannon | @KBoBaseballGuru