Black Sox cruise to first two Zone wins
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).
In their first Zone 4 games of the season, the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team welcomed a new member to the league with a pair of run-rule wins at Bryant High School Field on Friday night.
The El Dorado Oilers, a traditional Legion power in the ‘40’s, ‘50’s and 80’s then folded in the ‘90’s, were rejuvenated this season with players from Union County schools Junction City, Parkers Chapel and Smackover. All are baseball powerhouses in small high school classifications in the state but didn’t look the part on Friday.
Not knowing quite what to expect, Black Sox manager Darren Hurt had arranged the pitching so that two of his best were ready to go. And between them, Evan Lee and Zach Jackson overwhelmed the Oilers for the most part. Lee was perfect for 3 2/3 innings in Bryant’s 12-0 win in the first game. He finished with a two-hitter. Jackson allowed a run on four hits in the Sox’ 11-1 win in game two.
Meanwhile, El Dorado pitchers combined to issue 18 walks over the 10 innings. And the Oilers committed 12 errors, nine in the first game.
The Sox only needed four hits to score 12 times in that contest. While Lee was blanking El Dorado, Bryant scored two in the first, five in the second and five more in the third.
In the opening inning, walks to Drew Tipton and Blake Patterson set the stage for Lee, whose grounder to second was booted allowing the first run to score. Trey Breeding then singled in Patterson.
The second started with a walk to Logan Allen. Conner Tatum sacrificed him to second then Tipton reached on an error. A walk to Brandan Warner loaded the bases for Patterson, who drilled a double to dead center to knock in two. Warner scored when Jason Hastings’ grounder to short drew an errant throw. Patterson came in on Lee’s sacrifice fly then Hastings scored when Breeding’s grounder to short was kicked, making it 7-0.
Four errors and two more walks in the third were augmented by Tipton’s RBI double and Warner’s single to right.
After retiring the first 11 in a row, Lee allowed a base-runner on a third-strike wild pitch. But a nice play by Tatum helped end the inning on Logan Selman’s grounder to second.
The no-hitter was broken up when Hunter Brantley plugged the gap in left-center for a double to lead off the fifth. When Brantley tried to advance on a ball in the dirt, however, Breeding quickly got to the ball and threw to third in time to nab him.
Kaine McKnight walked and Chris Worthey reached on a bad-hop single but Lee got Colton Pratt to tap back to the mound then Trace Blaylock became the lefty’s fifth strikeout victim to end the game.
The Oilers’ lone run of the night came in the first inning of the second contest. Jackson struggled to find the strike zone, issuing one-out walks to Joe Lowe and Reagan Cates. Selman beat out a slow roller to short to load the bases then the run scored when McKnight tapped to first and Patterson got the sure out.
The Sox trumped that with three in the bottom of the inning. Walks to Warner, Dylan Hurt and Patterson loaded the bases for Hastings who drilled a single to right. And on a late and errant relay to the plate, Patterson scored as well.
Jackson fanned two in a 1-2-3 second and the Sox tacked on two more. Seth Tucker reached on an error then Allen’s sacrifice bunt resulted in a poor throw to first. With runners at second and third, Nick Kehrees swatted a two-run single to right to make it 5-1.
Blake McLelland beat out an infield hit to start the third for El Dorado but Tucker robbed Lowe of a hit. McLelland advanced to third on a tap to first by Cates and, after Selman was hit by a pitch, Jackson fanned McKnight to end the inning.
In the fourth, Worthey led off with a double and held at second when Gage Talley beat out a bunt hit that Jackson nearly caught in the air with a diving attempt. Warner raced in from third, bare-handed the ricochet and fired to first, almost retiring Talley.
Moments later, however, Whit Reynolds grounded to Patterson who checked the runner at third before making the out at first. When he backtracked to the bag to retire Reynolds, Talley made it to third as Worthey was trying to get back. Seeing his teammate so close to third, Worthey headed to the plate. Talley retreated as well but Patterson threw to Hurt, the catcher. He ran Worthey back towards third then tossed the ball to Warner who made the tag for an unusual 3-2-5 doubleplay.
Jackson struck Colton Sellers on three pitches and the game went to the bottom of the fourth.
The Sox tacked on a run on a two-out RBI single by Lee. Warner, Hurt and Hastings had walked in the inning but Warner was tagged out trying to take third on Patterson’s fly to center. After the walk to Hastings, Lee made it 6-1.
Jackson eased through the top of the fifth with two more strikeouts and, in turn, the Sox put together a five-run uprising to make it a run-rule victory.
Again, walks set the table as Garrett Misenheimer and Kehrees reached base. Warner beat out a bunt single to load the bases and Hurt walked to force in a run. Patterson delivered an RBI single to make it 8-1 then Lee drove in two with a lined single to right.
With one out, Austin Kelly was hit by a pitch then Tucker hit a grounder to third. Lowe stepped on the bag for the second out but when he threw home to try to complete an inning-ending doubleplay, Patterson beat the rap with the game-ending run.
Now 5-2-2 on the season, the Sox are scheduled to host the Southwest Arkansas Titans on Monday before making their annual trip to Omaha, Neb., for a tournament held in conjunction with the College World Series.
