CONWAY — It was a rugged day for the Bryant Black Sox 15U Junior American Legion team on Saturday at the Central Arkansas Classic. The Sox absorbed a 14-5 loss to Express 15 and a 16-6 setback against the Cabot 16 team.
Now 2-3 on the season, the Black Sox are set to return to action on Tuesday with a doubleheader at Sheridan.
Express 15 14, Black Sox 5
Express scored 10 runs in the first two innings to take a lot of the mystery out of the outcome of the Saturday morning game.
Bryant had eight hits including two each by Grant Dunbar and Clay Crawford. Dunbar and Gavin Burton each had doubles.
Bryant’s five pitchers were undermined by issuing 11 walks, hitting two batters and three errors committed behind them. Still, 12 of the 14 runs were earned.
Express made it 11-0 with a run in the top of the fourth.
In the bottom of the inning, Aden Palmer reached on an error and, with two out, Reid Catton was struck by a pitch. Each moved up a base on a passed ball before Luis Hernandez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Gage Horn, running for Palmer, scored on a passed ball then Dunbar came through with Bryant’s first hit, a two-run double to left to make it 11-3.
Catton, the third Sox pitcher, worked around an error, an infield hit and a walk to keep Express from adding to its lead.
Bryant tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth when Burton doubled, Horn drew a one-out walk and Palmer singled in a run.
Crawford singled up the middle to load the bases for Mason Butler, who drew a four-pitch walk to force in a run.
But Express turned a doubleplay to end the rally. They would then tack on a run in the top of the sixth and two more in the top of the seventh.
A single by Dunbar in the bottom of the sixth came to naught for the Sox. In the home seventh, they loaded the bases on singles from Hunter Holt, Tucker Dunn and Crawford but a pair of strikeouts ended the game.
Cabot 16, Bryant 6
By scoring two runs in each of the first three innings, Cabot grabbed 6-0 lead. A 10-6 lead going into the ninth inning was blown up when Cabot scored six times.
Bryant had 11 hits including three more by Crawford. Palmer and Hernandez added two apiece.
The Sox struggled defensively, committing nine errors in the game.
While Cabot was building the 6-0 lead, the Black Sox were limited to a walk in the second and, in the third, a free pass to Butler and a singled by Hernandez.
Dunn pitched around a single and an error in the top of the fourth and the Sox broke through with three in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead in half.
Holt reached on an error to start the uprising. With one out Matt Griffe walked. After a pitching change, Crawford singled to load the bases. With two down, Catton came through with a two-run single. Butler’s infield hit was followed up by a throwing error that allowed Crawford to score.
Dunn set down Cabot in order in the top of the fifth, but the Sox couldn’t manage anything but a two-out single by Holt in the home half.
Cabot tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh then two more in the top of the eighth to make it 10-3.
The Sox didn’t go quietly, however. In the home eighth, Palmer singled up the middle and Griffe belted a homerun to left to make it 10-5. Crawford singled to center and, though he was forced on Dunn’s grounder to the pitcher, Lakin Woods drew a two-out walk to load the bases for Hernandez who came through with an RBI single.
That led to Cabot’s six-run ninth. The Sox left the bases full in the bottom of the inning after Dylan Jones was hit by a pitch, Palmer singled and Crawford drew a two-out walk.
