McClellan, Hornets put the stops on War Eagles
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).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
It’s becoming apparent that if you’re going to get to Michael McClellan, you better do it early because the big guy just gets stronger and sharper as the game goes along.
For the second game in a row, McClellan, the Bryant Hornets’ senior right-hander, surrendered a pair of first-inning runs then pitched shutout ball the rest of the way. And this time, he got a win.
The Hornets rallied for two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to extract a 5-2 win over the Little Rock J.A. Fair War Eagles at Ashley Park Monday, April 10.
The non-conference win improved the Hornets to 13-10 overall, 13-5 in Arkansas. The Hornets were scheduled to return to league action on Tuesday against Little Rock McClellan, but rain forced a postponement.
McClellan gave up a two-run homer to Zach Davis with one out in the first then stopped the War Eagles on just three hits the rest of the way. He struck out seven and did not allow a walk.
Offensively, the Hornets were paced by the bottom of third of the lineup which accounted for five of the team’s eight hits. Sophomore designated hitter Cody Graddy and senior shortstop Tad Beene had two hits each.
Fair lefty Ryan Mahaffey shackled the Hornets without a hit until Graddy led off the bottom of the third with a double down the left-field line. Beene followed with a single and, an out later, the Hornets were on the board thanks to Matt Brown’s sacrifice fly.
Beene, however, was stranded at third and that appeared to be a major thing as the game continued with Fair leading 2-1 until the bottom of the fifth.
Again, Graddy instigated an uprising, this time he stroked a lead-off single.
Attempting to sacrifice, Beene put down a bunt that Mahaffey fielded. But his throw to first with second baseman Brian Johnson covering was wild allowing Graddy to move on to third and Beene to reach first.
Beene took second on a short wild pitch then Matt White drove in the tying run with a sacrifice fly.
Brown followed with a single up the middle on which J.A. Fair head coach Mike Johnson protested, saying Brown had stepped out of the front of the batter’s box on the hit and should’ve been called out. But the hit stood and, an out later, Brandon Nichols beat out an infield hit as Beene raced home.
McClellan had worked around an error in the third, a one-out infield hit in the fourth and a two-out single in the fifth. In the sixth, he retired the first two then Gerald Harris cracked a double to right-center. He advance to third on a wild pitch but was stranded when Chris Harris flew out to Nichols in left.
In a wild home sixth, Anthony Rose earned a lead-off walk. Beau Hamblin followed with a single. Graddy followed with a long fly to right that allowed Matt Nugent, running for Rose, and Kevin Littleton, running for Hamblin, to advance to second and third.
At that point, Mahaffey was lifted in favor of Davis. But, with Beene at the plate, Nugent was caught trying to steal home — he misread a sign and thought the squeeze play was on — for the second out of the inning. With an 0-2 count on Beene, Davis was pulled and Mahaffey returned to the mound — he and Davis, the first baseman, had just switched places — and, on his second pitch, Beene slapped a single up the middle to put runners at first and third.
Actually, Davis should’ve had to finish pitching to Beene. Relievers are required to face at least one batter, but, as it turned out, it worked in Bryant’s favor with Beene’s single.
Mahaffey then issued consecutive walks to White, Brown and Dustin Morris, forcing in two runs before Davis was once again called on to end the inning.
McClellan made quick work of the War Eagles in the top of the seventh, fanning a pair including pinch-hitter Kelvin Robinson to end the game.
