Another inside-the-parker for Ezell, another gem by Knight, another win for Hornets
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be posting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
File photos by Rick Nation
TEXARKANA — Korey Thompson had to hurry. Someone was gaining on him.
Trevor Ezell (File photo by Rick Nation)
With the Bryant Hornets clinging to a 1-0 lead through five innings, thanks to some gritty pitching by Blaine Knight and Texarkana’s Steven Boyce, Thompson drew a lead-off walk in the top of the sixth. Trevor Ezell came to the plate and worked the count to 2-2. Boyce’s next pitch was blasted to deep left center, beyond the reach of the Razorbacks’ Tomarco Collins, despite his full sprint toward the ball.
Ezell was in full sprint right out of the box and was gaining on Thompson down the stretch. Thompson sprinted around third and scored with Ezell around third already. Texarkana’s relay was towards third but Ezell had already passed that bag and wound up with his second inside-the-park home run in as many nights. (He circled the bases against Sheridan for a grand slam on Thursday.)
The senior shortstop leads the Hornets in homers with five, three of them didn’t go over the fence.
Drew Tipton chased Boyce by following with a triple beyond Collins. Lefty Brady Chattaway relieved and unleashed a wild pitch that allowed Tipton to score, making it 4-0.
The Hornets wound up adding three in the top of the seventh and Knight completed the three-hit shutout, improving to 8-0 on the season and lowering his already miniscule earned run average (0.34 coming into the game) to 0.29.
“Pitching and defense is what wins,” said Hornets coach Kirk Bock, repeating something he emphasized after Thursday’s 11-5 win over Sheridan in which Bryant had a bit of a letdown in those areas. “We got good pitching and defense today. Offense isn’t always there but it just happened to come on late. Once we got (Boyce’s) pitch count up and he started leaving some balls up, then we got on him.”
In the seventh, Justin Emmerling was hit by a pitch and Brandan Warner beat out a perfectly-placed bunt. Chattaway gave way to Braden Warner for Texarkana and he was greeted by Dalton Holt, who squared as if to bunt then pulled the bat back and ripped a 1-0 delivery into left-center.
That loaded the bases for Blake Patterson, pinch-hitting for Thompson. On a 2-1 delivery, Patterson belted a two-run double to center to make it 6-0.
With runners at second and third, the Hogs sent Ezell to first with an intentional walk, loading the bases. Tipton lifted a fly into shallow right. The infield fly rule was called so Tipton was out. The ball fell in however and Holt headed home only to have the throw beat him. He tried to hurdle the catcher but was tagged out. Thompson, back in to run for Patterson, alertly dashed to third on the play while Ezell held at first. With Chase Tucker at the plate, the count went to 1-2 and Ezell left first early, drawing a pickoff throw. He stayed in the rundown long enough for Thompson to dash home to make it 7-0.
Knight allowed only one hit after the first inning and it was the only solid knock of the game against him, a lined single to center by Hunter McGilberry. In the opening frame, Lavert Paxton, hit a shot off of Knight who scrambled to try to get it in time to throw to first but the speedy Paxton got there.
He was then running off first when Hayden Phillips blooped a 2-2 pitch to the right side. Thompson, the Bryant second baseman was breaking to cover the bag and the ball fell in. He was able to scramble after it but not in time to get an out.
With two on and one out, Knight picked off Paxton from second though Phillips was able to move up to second as the tag was made at third by Brandan Warner. Brayden Ward bounced to Holt at first to end the threat.
Knight retired the side in order in the second. In the third, the Hornets gave him a run to work with. Warner beat out an infield hit, Holt sacrificed him to second and, after Thompson walked and a passed ball allowed both runners to move up, Ezell picked up the RBI with a tapper to the right side.
McGilberry singled with one out in the bottom of the third — as it turned out, Texarkana’s last hit — then he was erased on a nifty doubleplay. Boyce hit a sharp bouncer to Holt, who fired to Ezell at second for the force then got back to the bag in time to take the return throw to complete the twin-killing.
Knight blew through the next nine batters, fanning four — though one batter reached when a third strike pitch got away. With two out in the sixth, however, he issued his first walk of the game to Paxton. Phillips walked as well and Bock went to the mound for a visit.
Knight responded by striking out Ward then easing through the seventh to nail down the victory.
“He did an excellent job of getting where he needed to be where he could finish,” Bock said of his junior hurler. “It doesn’t look like it on the scoreboard but he was in some rough spots there that he worked out of.
“He didn’t want to come out,” the coach related, regarding the sixth-inning visit to the mound. “He wanted to finish. He wanted to make an adjustment and he’s the one that came up with the adjustment. So, he’s thinking now and he’s on the right track.”
The Hornets, now 22-2 overall and 9-1 in the South Conference, are scheduled to host Star City on Monday in a non-conference game then take on Lake Hamilton in league action at home on Tuesday. It’s their last two home contests of the season.
HORNETS 7, RAZORBACKS 0
Bryant ab r h bi Texarkana ab r h bi
Ezell, ss 3 1 1 3 Boyce, p-rf-3b 3 0 0 0
Tipton, lf 3 1 1 0 Paxton, 2b 2 0 1 0
Tucker, cf 3 0 1 0 Phillips, lf 2 0 1 0
Breeding, c 1 0 0 0 Ward, 1b 3 0 0 0
Tatum, cr 0 0 0 0 Chattaway, rf-p 3 0 0 0
Hastings, rf 2 0 0 0 Jones, dh 3 0 0 0
Lee, dh 0 0 0 0 Martindale, c 3 0 0 0
Emmerling,dh2 1 0 0 Brad.Warner, 3b-p 2 0 0 0
Bran.Warner,3b 3 2 2 0 McGilberry, ss 2 0 1 0
Holt, 1b 2 0 1 0 Collins, cf 0 0 0 0
Thompson,2b-pr 0 2 0 0
Patterson, ph1 0 1 2
Totals 21 7 7 5 Totals 23 0 3 0
BRYANT 001 003 3 — 7
Texarkana 000 000 0 — 0
E—None. LOB—Bryant 1, Texarkana 4. DP—Bryant 1, Texarkana 2. 2B—Tucker, Patterson. 3B—Tipton. HR—Ezell. S—Holt.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Bryant
Knight (W) 7 0 0 3 2 7
Texarkana
Boyce (L) 5 4 3 4 4 2
Chattaway 1 2 2 1 1 0
Brad.Warner 1 1 1 2 1 0
Boyce faced three batters in the sixth.
Chattaway faced two batters in the seventh.
HBP—Emmerling (by Brad.Warner). WP—Chattaway, Knight. PB—Breeding, Martindale.
