McDonald County's three-game winning streak and a chance to get to .500 for the season were both derailed in the Mustangs' 7-5 loss on April 19 to Rogers Heritage at Veterans Park in Rogers, Ark.
Heritage broke a 3-3 tie with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to key the War Eagles' win.
Freshman Levi Helm had held Heritage to three runs on four hits entering the sixth, but a walk, a hit and an error gave the War Eagles a 4-3 lead and ended Helm's day.
Oakley Roessler allowed just one hit in relief but gave up three runs when he walked three out of the five batters he faced. Parker Toney got the only man he faced on a fly ball to right for the final out of the inning.
McDonald County made it exciting in the top of the seventh, scoring two runs on two walks, a hit batter and a sacrifice fly, only to come up two runs short.
The Mustangs took a 3-0 lead in the third on an error, a walk, Joe Brown's double, Boston Dowd's sacrifice fly and a single by Roessler.
Heritage answered in the bottom half of the inning with three runs on three hits and an error.
Six different players led McDonald County with one hit each, including Brown, Dowd, Roessler, Omar Manuel, Kameron Hopkins and Jordan Platter.
McDonald County falls to 8-10 heading into its April 23 game at Marshfield. The Mustangs return home to host Seneca on April 25. Game time is 4:30 p.m.
East Newton
McDonald County scored two runs in the first, second, sixth and seventh innings to outscore East Newton 8-6 on April 16 at East Newton High School.
In the first, the Mustangs scored both of its runs after two outs on a hit batter, a walk and hits by Dowd and Manuel. In the second, two walks, an error and a hit by Cole Martin led to two more runs.
But East Newton also scored two runs in each off the first two innings, collecting five hits off Dowd in the first two frames.
Dowd and East Newton's Ethan Brummert settled down after the second, shutting out their opponents until the fifth when East Newton's Brett Pendergraft hit the first of his two home runs to give the Patriots a 5-4 lead.
McDonald County rebounded in the top of the sixth with two runs for a 6-5 lead. Martin and Brown singled with one out before both scored on a two-out error.
The Mustangs added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh on a walk and hits by Helm and Hopkins.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Pendergraft cut the lead to 8-6 with his second homer of the game. Dowd got the second out off a fly to center before Izak Johnson came in and got the save, allowing a double before getting a strikeout to end the game.
Martin, Brown, Dowd, Helm and Hopkins had two hits each to lead the Mustang offense, while Manuel had the other hit of McDonald County's 11-hit attack.
Cassville
Trailing 4-2 after three innings, McDonald County rallied for a 6-4 win over Cassville on April 18 at Cassville High School.
Rylee Boyd started for the Mustangs, allowing four runs on four hits in three innings. Johnson shut out the Wildcats over the final four innings on four hits to get the win.
Johnson started McDonald County's comeback when he doubled and scored in the fourth.
In the fifth, Brown and Dowd opened the inning with back-to-back doubles to key a two-run inning to give the Mustangs a 5-4 lead. Dowd's double and Manuel's RBI single in the seventh gave McDonald County an insurance run.
Dowd, Johnson and Hopkins led the offense with two hits each. Platter, Martin, Brown and Manuel all had one.
Sports on 04/25/2019