MEMPHIS — Lefty Ricky Maddock of the St. Louis Gamers 16U Blue shackled the Bryant Black Sox Junior American Legion team, taking a no-hitter into the seventh before settling for a two-hit shutout, striking out 10 today. In the second game of the under-16 division pool play at The Hagan, the annual Nick Hagan Memorial All-America Classic, the Gamers pinned a 7-0 loss on the Sox.
Bryant, now 16-10 overall, is set to return to pool play on Sunday at 1 p.m., against Extreme Elite followed up by a game against Team Colorado at 7 p.m.
Right-hander Coby Greiner dueled with Maddock initially but the Gamers broke through with a run in the third then scored four times in the fourth. Micah Holyfield relieved for the Sox two outs into the fifth and pitched hitless relief to finish out the game, despite three walks.
Logan Catton broke up the no-no with a clean line drive single to center to open the seventh. An out later, Hoover lined a single to right but Maddock retired the next two to complete the shutout.
Maddock had a perfect game through 5 2/3 innings. Myers Buck reached first on a third-strike wild pitch to break that up with two down in the sixth.
Greiner worked around a two-out walk to Dominic Cusumano in the first inning. In the second, Hayden Cooper, who was 3 for 3 in the game, led off with a double but Greiner picked him off second before striking out Dylan Mooney.
An inning-opening walk to Matthew Bitter started the St. Louis third. A sacrifice and a pair of infield singles produced the first run but Greiner limited the damage forcing the Gamers to strand two.
In the fourth, however, a pair of walks were followed by three singles and a double as the lead grew to 5-0. An error started the two-run fifth. Still, it took a trio of singles with two down to plate the runs.
Holyfield took over with a runner at third and ended the inning by inducing a grounder to Christian Harp at third.
The sixth began with a pair of walks but, between them, Ryan Lessenberry, the Sox catcher, threw out the lead runner trying to steal. A groundout and a foul out kept it 7-0. Holyfield and the Bryant defense retired the side in order in the top of the seventh.
