Hornets garner two big league wins in one night
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
If the Bryant Hornets baseball team goes on to great things, fans can look back to Thursday, April 12, for the turning point in the season. In fact, they can look back precisely to the seventh inning of the first game of a doubleheader against 7A-Central Conference rivals Little Rock Catholic and Pine Bluff.
The Hornets, forced into the odd twinbill by bad weather earlier in the week and CAP conferences at the high school on Friday, came into the contests in the throes of an offensive slump and four straight losses since spring break. They had dropped from second place into a four-way tie for fourth.
But they turned that around on Thursday by rallying to beat Catholic 6-5 in eight innings then pounding Pine Bluff, 11-1.
And for awhile, it looked like more of the same as the team spotted the Rockets a 5-0 lead and continued to struggle at the plate with runners on base. Buoyed by the relief pitching of sophomore Tyler Sawyer who retired 16 in a row through the middle of the game, they stayed close, however, eking out a run in the third and another in the fifth.
So, they trailed 5-2 going into the seventh. With one out in the top of the inning, Sawyer surrendered the first hit for Catholic’s Rockets since the second inning. Then came another and another and the bases were full. But Sawyer got out of the inning with a pair of pop ups to keep it at 5-2.
In the bottom of the inning, Alex Kehrees, pinch-hitting for catcher Tyler Pickett, led off with a single. Nick Suggs came in to run for him with head coach Terry Harper telling the umpire he was a courtesy runner in the catcher’s spot. (More about that later.)
Jake Jackson followed with a single then Jordan Knight walked.
Catholic reliever Dylan Owen retired the next two, through, and it looked like maybe Bryant’s struggles with men on base might continue in a most frustrating way. But Trent Daniel came through with a sinking liner down the right field line that drove home two runs, making it 5-4, and sending the potential tying run (Knight) to third. Owen then uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Knight to score.
When the eighth inning began, Kehrees took the mound. He started with a strike to Catholic’s Matt Rugger, then the Rockets head coach David Estes protested, saying that since Kehrees had not taken a position defensively when a runner had been sent into the game for him, he should not be able to enter the game; that, instead of a courtesy runner, Suggs had been a pinch-runner.
Harper argued that it was okay two ways, one because Kehrees was hitting for the catcher and was the assumed replacement at catcher until otherwise stated. The other because, as the intended new pitcher, a courtesy runner would be allowed. And, if not, a courtesy runner should’ve not been allowed at the point he came in.
With the convoluted rules of high school baseball, it took over 45 minutes to determine the correct call. Calls were made to other umpires, a laptop was brought to the field in hopes of gettiing on-line to check the rules and, finally, the head of the umpires came to the park and made a decision.
The call went Catholic’s way and the Harper stated he was playing the game under protest but, ironically, the delay played a role in the Rockets’ demise.
Meanwhile, the players had been standing around, then trying to stay loose, wandering to the dugouts and even into the crowd.
When play resumed, Ryan Wilson went to the mound for the first time since suffer an injury after the first inning of the Hornets’ third game of the season on Feb. 27. He issued a walk to Rugger and, with one out, hit Zach Engel but then got the final two outs to keep it tied.
For Catholic, Owen, who had relieved in the fifth, returned to the mound despite the long delay. He walked David Guarno to start the inning then got Wilson to fly to center. Pickett, who would’ve been out of the game had Kehrees been able to continue to pitch, ripped a double into the left-field corner to set the stage for the victory.
Michael Alonso relieved for the Rockets and Jake Jackson was issued an intentional walk to load the bases, setting up a force at each. Alonso got ahead of Knight but, on a 1-2 count, the junior outfielder slapped a liner into right-center to win the game.
Wilson ended the up the winning pitcher. And he continued to pitch at the start of the Pine Bluff game and got the win in it too, improving to 3-0 on the season.
“It was a huge day,” Harper sighed later. “A good day of baseball is fun, a bad day of baseball is no fun. We’ve been kind of in a funk and to come out of it tonight during conference play is huge. That’s what we play for, that’s what we try to gear everything toward. The main objective is to make the playoffs and try to get that first or second seed because they get a bye. Tonight gave us a real chance to get into the playoffs and possibly to get a chance to play for at least that second seed.
“The rally,” he added, “was the turning point. And it gave us a little momentum into the next game.”
Knight wound up with a big . . . well, night. He was 3 for 4 with three runs batted in in the first game and 2 for 4 with another RBI in the second. And, like his team, Pickett snapped out of a slump with three hits after having just one in his previous 16 at-bats. His single in the third helped produce the Hornets first run of the game. Guarno had walked and, after Pickett’s single, scored on a two-out base hit by Knight.
In the fifth, Jackson singled, took second on a wild pitch and scored on a double by Knight.
Against Pine Bluff, the Hornets spotted the Zebras a 1-0 lead in the first, much better than their rough outing at Pine Bluff earlier in the season when they fell behind 5-0, then 8-2 then rallied late only to come up short in a 10-8 loss.
This time, the Zebras managed the an unearned tally on a pair of singles and an errant throw trying to turn a force at second into a doubleplay.
The Hornets tied it in the bottom of the inning. Jackson singled but was forced at second by Knight, who advanced to second on a wild pitch, took third on a late errant throw to second and scored on a base hit into the hole at short by Cody Walker, who went 3 for 4 in the game.
Wilson pitched around a hit batsman and another error in the second and Bryant took the lead in the home half when Guarno walked with one down, stole second and scored on a clutch two-out single by Kehrees.
Wilson finished up his double-dip day on the mound in the top of the third, working around a pair of infield hits and the Hornets unloaded in the bottom of the inning, scoring seven times. Knight and Walker instigated the uprising with back-to-back doubles. Joey Winiecki walked and when Daniel reached on an error, Walker scored. Pickett and Guarno cracked consecutive doubles to make it 7-2. Guarno swiped third and, after Wilson walked, the duo worked a double steal to account for another run.
Wilson then scored all the way from second when Kehrees followed with a dribbler in front of the plate. Catcher B.J. McDonley threw to first to retire Kehrees but first baseman Justin Brown was caught taking it for granted that Wilson would stop at third. His return throw to McDonley was late and the Hornets led 9-1.
Kehrees finally got back to the mound in the fourth, closing out the game with five strikeouts, a walk, allowing only a couple of scratch hits.
The Hornets made it a five-inning run-rule game in the bottom of the fifth when Anthony Raby walked, took second on an errant pickoff throw, third when Jackson reached on an error then scored on a double by Knight. Walker ended it with a single.
The wins improved the Hornets to 11-9 overall and 5-4 in conference play. They were set to visit Lake Hamilton for a non-conference contest on Monday, April 16, before returning to league play at home against Russellville on Tuesday, April 17, and at Conway on Friday, April 20.
