HATTIESBURG, Miss. — After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, the Bryant 8-and-under All-Stars put together a six-run response and never looked back on the way to a 14-3 win over Ascension, La., in the first round of bracket play at the Cal Ripkin Baseball Southwest Regional Tournament on Saturday.
The Bryant All-Stars are managed by Brad Chism with assistance from Jeff Jackson, Brad Benson. Team members are John Thomas Allen, Brayden Beenken, Gavyn Benson, Carter Brown, Cooper Chism, Avery Heidelberg, Drake Holland, Preston Howlett, Landon Jackson, E.J. Keith, Braxton Speer, Aiden Stout and Hudson Thomason.
Allen, Speer, Keith and Brown each had two hits for Bryant.
Allen opened the bottom of the first with a triple. Jackson singled him home to tie the game 1-1. A triple by Speer brought Jackson around and gave Bryant the lead for good.
Keith singled in a run and, after Benson reached on an error, Heidelberg blasted a double to centerfield. Stout singled in two and it was 6-1.
In the second, Brown beat out an infield hit but was forced at second on a grounder off Beenken’s bat. Chism singled but Howlett’s grounder to third resulted in a force there.
Coming through with a two-out RBI single was Holland. Allen then singled in two runs and it was 9-1.
Ascension loaded the bases in the top of the third but couldn’t muster a run but Bryant tacked one on in the home half of the inning. Keith singled and raced third on a base hit by Thomason. Speer picked up the RBI with a sacrifice fly.
The Louisiana team took advantage of a couple of Bryant errors to plate two runs in the top of the fourth but Bryant still led 10-3.
Brown led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. Beenken bunted for a hit and Chism reached on an error to load the bases for Howlett. His infield hit was followed by an error as two runs scored. Jackson’s fly to center was dropped and it was 14-3.
Ascension was retired in order in the top of the fifth to end the game.
