The Bryant Hornets B team swept a twinbill from the White Hall Bulldogs B team on Thursday night and, unlike their previous pair of victories at Pine Bluff earlier in the week, they really had to work hard to get these.
Bryant won the opener 8-1 and the nightcap 6-5.[more]
The team will return to action with two games at home against Little Rock Central on Tuesday, March 9.
In the opener, the Hornets got a stellar pitching performance from Hayden Daniel who allowed just one undarned run on two hits in six innings.
Bryant jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. The Hornets might’ve gotten more but White Hall got a triple play to end the inning. With runners at second and third, Daniel Richards flew out to right. The lead runner, Ozzie Hurt, tagged and tried to scored on the play but was thrown out at the plate. And when the runner at second, Blaine Jackson, got a late start to third, he too was gunned down to retire the side.
White Hall got its lone run in the fifth then the Hornets put it away with an answering run in the fifth and three in the sixth.
Tyler Nelson pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to close out the win.
Nelson then started the second game and struggled through two innings but allowed only one run.
The Hornets scored twice in the bottom of the first and two more times in the home half to build a 4-1 lead.
Richards relieved for Bryant in the third but couldn’t find the strike zone. Seth Alkire relieved and got out of the inning but only after White Hall scored three times to tie the game.
More control issues plagued the Hornets in the fourth and the Bulldogs eked out a run to take a 5-4 lead.
Riley Hall became the fourth Bryant pitcher of the contest and he shut down White Hall’s offense over the next two innings, setting the stage for Bryant’s winning rally in the bottom of the fifth of a scheduled five-inning game.
Hayden Lessenberry started the comeback with a base hit. Cody Gogus, batting for Hall, cracked a single and Ashton Green came on to run for him. After Lessenberry moved to third on Jackson’s fly to right, Richards reached on an error to load the bags. Trent Rivers then came through with a base hit to right that chased home Lessenberry with the tying run and Green with the game-winner.
Hall improved to 2-0 with the win win in relief.
“We are very proud of how our guys fought back and scrapped together to pull out the win today,” said Bryant coach Mark Jelks. “That was a solid baseball team that White Hall has. We had many contributions from several guys coming off the bench and delivering in the clutch.”
