Bryant AA team walks away with both ends of twinbill
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting 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).
It was a good time for time to be up.
Monday’s doubleheader between the Bryant Sport Shop Black Sox AA American Legion team and the Texarkana, Texas, Junior Bulldogs was scheduled to be a seven-inning contest plus a game that would either go five innings or an hour-and-a-half, whichever came first.
It was a frustrating night for the Bulldogs and their fans. In the first game, their pitchers, Kyle Choate and Cutter Webb only allowed a hit apiece over seven frames but Choate walked nine and hit a pair of batters over 3 2/3, the Bulldogs wound up out-hitting the Sox 9-2 but, add three Texarkana errors and all of that resulted in a 10-2 loss.
In the second game, Texarkana actually took, a 4-1 lead benefitting from some wildness from Sox starter Ethan Thompson. But, even though they waited out five walks in the first inning, they managed just one run as catcher Grayson Prince threw out two runners, one trying to advance on a ball-four wild pitch and the other attempting a straight steal.
Things fell apart in the third inning. Bryant scored 11 runs and the Bulldogs had only recorded one out as the walks began to build up again and the Sox began to hit the ball.
Caleb Chaffin drilled a two-run double then Matthew Sandidge singled to drive in Hunter Oglesby from third. Chaffin tried to score too and the throw appeared to beat him. But the homeplate umpire ruled that the catcher’s tag up high came at the same time that Chaffin stepped forward onto the plate.
The frustration boiled over at that point with players, fans and coaches berating the umpire. One of the coaches was ejected and any number of players could’ve been. But, it was at that point that the umpires got together and decided that the time limit had run out (even though it may have been two or three minutes short).
Many of the Texarkana fans jumped to the conclusion that the game was being called out of spite or because a player or two — the Bulldogs only had 10 available — had been ejected. Not so but it could’ve easily been justified.
So the Sox improved to 10-6 on the season with the sweep. They’ll play at home again on Tuesday against Hot Springs Village, one nine-inning game.
Both Chaffin and Sandidge had two hits in the second game. Oglesby added a single. In the first game, Oglesby and Alex Thompson had the only knocks.
In the nightcap, Bryant tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the first when Oglesby walked, advanced on a wild pitch and took third on an infield hit by Chaffin. Sandidge then bounced to short for a force at second with Oglesby holding at third. But when the relay to first, in an effort to complete a doubleplay, was errant Oglesby scored.
In the second, Texarkana’s Jacoby Ross hit a triple and scored on an errant throw to third, putting the Bulldogs back on top. Rory Baugus walked and scored on a triple by Choate. Tristan Brooks doubled to make it 4-1 but, after a walk to Webb, Thompson got out of the inning with runners still standing at first and third.
Joey Cates relieved in the third and mowed down the Bulldogs in quick order, fanning two.
In the home third, the onslaught began with a walk to Cates, who stole second. Oglesby singled him to third. Oglesby started from first on a steal attempt but left too soon. He got in a rundown with pitcher Hayden Hackett trying to run him back to first while keeping an eye on Cates at third. Cates came down the line enough to draw a throw to third from Hackett. But the throw evaded the third baseman and Cates scored to make it 4-2.
Chaffin walked and Sandidge beat out a bunt single, driving in Oglesby. A wild pitch moved runners to second and third before Daniel Darbonne drew a walk to load the bases. Diego Vargas walked to force in a run then Prince was hit by a pitch to force in the tying tally.
A pitching change at that point did not help the Bulldogs. Right-hander Kyrian Williams proceeded to issue walks to C.J. Wallace, Cates and Oglesby. Along the way, Darbonne scored on a wild pitch and when the catcher’s toss to Williams covering got away, Vargas hustled home as well to bump the lead up to 7-4.
Another pitcher was greeted by Chaffin’s shot to dead center and Sandidge’s base hit that started the timely finish.
In the opener, Oglesby started and, over five innings, allowed just one run on six hits with four walks and eight strikeouts. Noah Easterling finished for the Sox. The duo forced the Bulldogs to strand 12 runners.
Texarkana took a 1-0 lead when Brooks opened the game with a single, took second on a sacrifice by Logan Overmyer and scored on a couple of wild pitches before Oglesby struck out Williams and Webb to end the inning.
Bryant scored four runs in the first on just one hit. Cates walked and Oglesby singled. Walks to Chaffin and Sandidge forced in a run then Preston Kyzer was hit by a pitch to make it 2-1. Chaffin scored on a wild pitch and Sandidge crossed the plate when Alex Thompson grounded out to second.
Wallace was plunked to start the second, reaching third on a pair of wild pitches as Chaffin walked with two down. An errant pickoff throw to first, trying to pick off Chaffin, allowed Wallace to score to make it 5-1, which held until the fourth.
In the meantime, Oglesby worked around a pair of one-out singles in the second then a pair of singles and a walk in the third. The fourth inning started with consecutive strikeouts then consecutive walks and a balk, putting runners at second and third. But Oglesby got Choate to bounce out to Darbonne at second to keep it a four-run game.
The Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth without a hit. There were five walks and a balk before Webb came on to get the third out.
Oglesby struck out two more to get through the top of the fifth despite Webb’s single.
In the home fifth, Alex Thompson stroked his one-out single. Ethan Thompson reached on an errant throw as a run scored. From second, he came around too when Wallace’s grounder to short drew a throw in the dirt that Williams was unable to handle.
Easterling kept it 10-1 in the top of the sixth by pitching around a single and an error. In the seventh, a pair of hits and an error produced the second Texarkana run.
