Crazy comeback sends Sox into Senior State title game
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).
FORT SMITH — In five previous meetings this season, the Bryant Black Sox had come out on top against the Texarkana Razorbacks all five times and only two of the games were close.
The two teams had met with the regular-season Zone championship on the line then with the Zone Tournament title hanging in the balance. On Sunday night at Crowder Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, there they were again, facing each other in the winners’ bracket final of the Senior American Legion State Tournament, the last two unbeaten teams.
And it appeared to be the Hogs’ best opportunity to get past their rivals. They had ace right-hander Patrick Flanagan rested and ready to start while the Black Sox were cobbling innings together after using four hurlers in Friday’s 4-2 win over Cabot and five in a wild 11-9 win in 11 innings on Saturday against Jonesboro.
Plus, the Razorbacks had other top pitchers Justin Swecker and George Eubanks available to help out, thanks in part to the fact that they’d only needed six innings to beat Russellville on Saturday night due to a forfeit when the Russellville coach was ejected from the game with no assistant to take over.
Add to that, the fact that Texarkana jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the first four innings and it seemed like it might be the Razorbacks’ night, that they might just finally break through against the Sox in a most important moment.
As it turned out, though, Bryant left the Hogs shaking their heads in disbelief and frustration as they rallied for six runs in the top of the eighth to turn an 8-3 deficit into a 9-8 lead that Jasop Hastings and Zach Jackson made hold up for a most unlikely victory.
“There were so many things that happened,” said Sox manager Darren Hurt. “The guys just would not stop. I mean, they just wouldn’t quit.
“We had that one inning where the shortstop got a bad hop and our guys fed off that and started hitting the baseball,” he noted. “The next thing you know (Texarkana) tensed up and we were loose, which I thought might happen, maybe from the first innings on. But it happened that inning.”
As they improved to 35-6-2, the Sox landed a spot in the championship round on Tuesday. First, they’ll play Fort Smith Kerwins on Monday in one semifinal while Texarkana and Cabot battle to stay alive on the other side. If Bryant beats Fort Smith, the Sox will have two chances to win once on Tuesday and claim the State title for the second year in a row plus a return to the MidSouth Regionals.
If Fort Smith prevails, Bryant goes to the second game on Tuesday to await the survivor of the early game that night between Kerwins and the Texarkana-Cabot survivor.
On Sunday, Trey Breeding had his second three-hit game of the tournament and Hastings had two but everybody contributed at the plate.
On the mound, young starter Beaux Bonvillain pitched in some bad luck. Veteran Devin Dupree, who has pitched in all three games, steadied things before an error led to some trouble in the fourth as Texarkana scored twice to make it 7-0.
Another youngster, Seth Tucker relieved in the fifth and stepped up big for the Sox, allowing one run over three innings, giving his teammates a chance to mount the comeback.
“It was challenging,” acknowledged Hurt regarding his pitching. “I went to Dupree. He wasn’t in the plan to go second but his experience made me think he was the best guy to just keep us where we were.
“We were never ready to throw in the towel,” he added. “The way we’ve scored runs this year, I never thought that we couldn’t get there. So I wanted Dupe. I told him to just give us two or three innings and settle this thing down.
“Then Tucker came in and he threw a heck of a ballgame,” Hurt noted. “He did a great job.
“Hastings comes to me — of course, he wasn’t in the plan (after starting Friday’s game). He’d been begging for the ball since that game got close, telling me how good he feels. So finally, I told him to get loose before we went out in the eighth. I put Tucker on ‘ones’ and when the first guy got on, Hastings came in and got us out of it. We had a second-and-third, no-outs situation that was a little tense right there. But we found a way to get out of it.
“Panda (Jackson) wasn’t in the plan today either but we get to the ninth and I’ve got him all over me, saying, ‘Coach, if you need an inning, I’ve got it. I feel great.’
“We had the lefty lead-off hitter coming up in the ninth and we wanted Hastings to face him. When we got to the two hole, we kind of planned on going to Panda right there.”
Jackson struck out a pinch hitter then got Blake Hall, one of the Hogs’ best hitters, to tap back to the mound to end it.
Nothing seemed to be going Bryant’s way early on as Flanagan shut them out over the first four frames, though the Sox had runners in scoring position in three of them.
Down 7-0, they came to the plate in the fifth and Connor Tatum worked a walk. Drew Tipton laced a single to left-center. Brandan Warner got a bunt down but a nice play by Brandon White, the Texarkana catcher, resulted in a force at third.
With the runners on the move, Blake Patterson, on the ninth pitch of his at bat, drilled an RBI single. Breeding cracked an run-scoring single to center and, after Hastings beat out an infield hit to load the bases, Dylan Hurt hit a one-hop shot that ricocheted off Flanagan’s pitching hand. Though the Texarkana hurler pounced on the loose ball and threw to first in time to retire Hurt, Patterson scored to make it 7-3.
Up to 97 pitches at that point anyway, Flanagan came out of the game. Swecker, who was scheduled to start on Monday, relieved as Texarkana manager Dane Peevy sensed a chance to pick up a huge win.
He got out of the fifth and worked a 1-2-3 sixth.
Tucker had relieved in the fifth and retired the side after an infield hit and a walk with two down. In the home sixth, Hall singled. Tucker appeared to step off the rubber and fake a pick-off throw to first. Usually a fake throw to first will result in a balk but since Tucker had stepped off, he thought a fake was okay.
But the balk was called anyway, sending Hall to second and bringing the Bryant manager out of the dugout for a discussion with the first-base umpire.
A change in the call was not forthcoming. So when Dylan Silvey sacrificed Hall to third and Will Smith got him home with a sacrifice fly, it was 8-3.
In the top of the seventh, Bryant loaded the bases against Swecker. Patterson and Hurt walked on either side of a Hastings single but Logan Allen’s fly to center was tracked down to end the inning.
Tucker pitched around a pair of singles in the bottom of the seventh and that set the stage for the Sox’ big rally.
The opening salvo was a bad-hop single past the shortstop by Garrett Misenheimer. Tatum then yanked a single down the right-field line, sending Misenheimer to third and bringing up the top of the Bryant batting order.
Tipton’s hard grounder to short was booted as Misenheimer scored. Warner then worked a walk to load the bags. Patterson’s sacrifice fly made it 8-5.
Breeding followed with his third hit, an RBI single through the left side. A wild pitch allowed Warner to score as the gap narrowed to one run. Hastings walked and, with Hurt at the plate, a passed ball allowed Breeding to score the tying run.
Hastings rounded second on the play and sprinted towards third as White took his time retreiving the baseball. And when he did fire a throw to third it was wild allowing Hastings to sprint home with the go-ahead tally.
Eubanks, who red-shirted at Southern Arkansas University this spring, came on to relieve for Texarkana. Dylan Hurt walked then Allen hit a roller towards second that looked like it would go for a hit. But Texarkana second baseman Nick Myers charged the ball and made contact with Hurt as he tried to get to second. Though the call was disputed, Hurt was cited for interference and called out.
Misenheimer flew out to right and the game moved to the bottom fo the eighth with Bryant up a run and Texarkana a little shellshocked.
But the nine-inning game was far from over. In the eighth, Tucker issued a walk to Hall then gave way to Hastings. He was greeted by Silvey, who doubled.
The Bryant lefty then got Smith to tap back to the mound. Hastings looked Hall back to third and threw out Smith at first. Myers followed with a liner to left that Allen sprinted in to grab. Hall didn’t even have time to tag up. So he was still at third.
The Sox walked White intentionally to load the bases. Tanner Vaught, who helped Texarkana’s Junior team win a State title a week before, came to the plate and popped out to Patterson at first as the Sox glad-handed Hastings for his escape act.
Tatum was robbed of a hit by Myers to start the ninth and Eubanks worked around a two-out walk to Warner to send it to the bottom of the frame.
Hastings got the first out but lead-off man Matt Goodheart singled up the middle. Enter Panda to close out the victory over the stunned Razorbacks.
