Road Hornets dump 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 — It was 10 in a loss to Conway, 15 when Texarkana won in extra innings, 12 in a one-run setback against Little Rock Mills and 10 in a gut-wrenching loss to Fort Smith Southside.
Those are the last four losses this season by the Bryant Hornets and the number of base-runners they’ve stranded.
Now, check the wins: They left just seven aboard in a lopsided win over Little Rock McClellan; only six in a big victory at Pine Bluff; seven again when they squeaked past Malvern; and, last Friday, the Hornets stranded just four in a key 8-2 win at El Dorado — a win that helped thrust the Hornets into a four-way tie for first place in the AAAAA-South Conference.
“That’s better,” agreed Hornets coach Terry Harper. “It makes a big difference.”
And it was even more important against El Dorado because the Hornets’ chances to score weren’t as numerous. They had to take advantage of the opportunities they created.
“We got the hits when we needed them,” Harper noted.
Seniors J.J. Yant and Billy Landers provided three hits each. Yant drove in five and Landers knocked in two and scored three times.
The win improved the Hornets to 14-11 on the season, 3-1 in conference play. The team learned on the bus trip home that a share of first-place was their’s when they were informed that Texarkana and Benton, both previously unbeaten in conference, had been knocked off by Pine Bluff and Sheridan, respectively.
As a result, the Hornets, Benton, Texarkana and Pine Bluff share the league lead with defending champion Sheridan just a game behind with three conference games to play.
And the Hornets controlled their own fate with home games against Sheridan and Benton this week.
Junior right-hander Michael McClellan scattered six hits in a rout-going performance on the mound for Bryant. Now 4-2 on the season, McClellan fanned five and walked three. He was backed by error-free defense that included a handful of splendid plays.
“We played great defense,” Harper declared. “That was a hard job defensively. (Brandon) Fitts made a couple of great catches in the outfield. (Kris) Kuykendall — we’ve moved him around all year long and he’s made plays at every place he’s been. (Anthony) Rose came up with a big play down the line. (Tad) Beene and (Dustin) Morris are solid right now up the middle.
“And Michael didn’t feel like he had his best stuff again,” added the coach. “I looked out there a couple of times and he looked worried to death. I told him, ‘Michael, you’re not always going to have your best stuff. You’re going to feel great and you’re not going to have anything behind your fastball. That’s when you’ve just got to give us a chance, keep us in the game. Stop worrying about it and just do what you do best — battle ‘em.’ And he looked better the last two innings than he did the first five.”
Indeed, McClellan retired the last seven batters he faced in the contest including one on the fine play by Rose at first.
The Hornets grabbed the lead in the opening inning when Landers cracked a double to right-center, advanced on a passed ball and scored on a two-out bloop single to right by McClellan.
In the second, Bryant expanded the margin. With one out, Jash Caldwell was hit by a pitch and Matt Brown singled up the middle. With two down, Tad Beene loaded the bases by reaching on an error. Landers then came through in the clutch by slashing a two-run single to right.
“I was just hitting it where it was pitched,” Landers said later, concerning his hits to the opposite field. “I’ve been struggling lately. Hopefully, I’ll come around. (El Dorado pitcher Elliott Jacobs) is a lefty and I hit lefties better. I think I was just seeing the ball a lot better today.”
Beene took third on Landers’ hit then, after Landers swiped second, Yant came through with a two-run double to make it 5-0.
After two were down in the bottom of the second, El Dorado managed its first run. A.J. Taylor doubled then Mitch Cameron got a bloop to drop for an RBI single, but Beene and Morris worked a force out on a grounder to short by Chris Hollensworth to end the inning there.
In the third, El Dorado trimmed another run off the lead — though it could’ve been worse. Chris Turner opened with a single but courtesy runner John Thomas was gunned down trying to steal by Yant after El Dorado’s Douglas Riley failed to get a bunt down on a run-and-bunt play.
Riley walked, however, and stole second himself. Adam Cameron then singled him home.
But McClellan struck out two of the next three to keep it 5-2.
And the Hornets got that run back immediately. Fitts walked to lead off the fourth. Beene beat out a bunt single and, an out later, Yant singled in the run.
McClellan surrendered a one-out double to Cameron in the bottom of the fourth. With two down, Turner belted a long drive to left-center. But a strong wind helped blow the ball toward the larger part of the field and Fitts made a sprawling grab at the fence to rob Turner of a run-scoring extra-base hit, ending the inning.
In the fifth, McClellan worked around a two-out walk and a single, recording his fifth strikeout. That started his game-ending stretch of retired batters.
Yant provided a little bigger comfort zone for his battery-mate in the top of the seventh. After Landers doubled for his third hit, Yant mashed his third homer of the season over the fence in straightaway center.
“This was the biggest game so far,” declared Landers. “Every game gets bigger from here.”
