White leads Hornets past El Dorado
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
EL DORADO — Even when Matt White was struggling at the plate earlier this season, he was getting on base and scoring. His average dipped as low as the .148 mark after a 1-for-15 stretch at the plate but he found a way to score seven runs in those six games. He now leads the Bryant Hornets with 21 walks, 13 stolen bases and 32 runs scored and he’s starting to get hot at the plate.
White had three hits — and scored four times — to improve his average to .292 as the Hornets blasted the El Dorado Wildcats 13-6 Friday, April 13. Coupled with Texarkana’s 9-4 win over Pine Bluff and Sheridan’s 3-1 victory over Benton, Bryant wound up in a three-way tie for first place in the AAAAA-South Conference when the night was over. The Hornets, Zebras and Panthers were all 3-1 versus the league with three games to play.
White’s performance added to that of another hot hitter, Beau Hamblin, who went 2-for-3 with four runs batted in against the Wildcats. Bryant pounded out 10 hits including five for extra bases to subdue El Dorado, which came into the game at 1-2 in the league, desperately in need of a win to stay in contention.
The Hornets jumped on them early, building an 8-0 lead in support of senior lefty Brad Chism (5-2) who picked up the win with seven-inning relief from Hamblin. Chism scattered six hits, three of which were homers. But all of those were solo shots. He walked five but all of those came in two innings and led to three runs.
Hamblin worked a 1-2-3 seventh.
By then, the Hornets were comfortably ahead. A four-run first set the tone as they scored in all but the sixth inning.
White opened the game with a shot up the middle that nearly undressed El Dorado starter Jonathan Nunnally ala Charlie Brown. With two outs, Matt Brown slapped a single to right to drive in the run.
The inning was extended when Matt Lewis’ grounder to short drew a wild throw to first. With runners at second and third then, Hamblin crushed a Nunnally delivery for his second home run of the season.
In the second, Derrick Chambers singled up the middle to lead off. Zach Martin sacrificed him to second where he stayed as White beat out an infield hit on a slow roller to third. Brandon Nichols then grounded to third, drawing a wild throw that allowed Chambers to score.
A wild pitch brought White home and, after a pitching change, Nichols followed on a two-out double by Brown.
Hamblin was hit by a pitch to lead off the third and Cody Graddy drew a walk. Chambers sacrificed the runners to second and third and Martin delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 8-0.
Chism held El Dorado to just one hit over the first three innings but gave up a run when he walked three in the third.
Another of the Wildcats’ six errors gave the Hornets a chance to get that run back in the top of the fourth. It allowed Brown to reach base. Lewis smacked a single to left then Hamblin doubled to plate the run.
El Dorado’s second and third hits came in the fourth. Both were homers, slugged by Elliott Jacobs and Miller Foster. But Chism kept it 9-3.
Martin’s one-out double revved up the Bryant offense in the fifth. He scored when White’s bouncer to third drew an errant throw. White then swiped second and moved to third on a wild pitch as Nichols walked. After Nichols stole second both scored as Dustin Morris’ grounder got through second baseman Jeremy Hurst.
Another pair of walks and RBI singles by Jacobs and Zack Blackman cut the lead in the bottom of the fifth then a solo homer by Ross Jacobs in the sixth made it 12-6. But White answered with a massive shot to left for his third homer of the year in the seventh.
