Drew Tipton
The defending Class 7A State champion Bryant Hornets would like nothing better than to break the pattern.
Over the last five years, Bryant teams have won three State titles and it’s been every other year (San Francisco Giants style), 2010, 2012, 2014. The Hornets reached the finals in 2011 and lost to Conway. In 2013, they reached the semifinals and lost to host Rogers.
As they begin to start the 2015 season on Tuesday with a benefit game at Hot Springs Lakeside (with a break in the inclement weather), the Hornets aim for the school’s first back-to-back championship. And they feature a strong core of players that went through the wars in 2014 including five players that have already signed to continue their careers in college.
Of course, with the kind of success his team has had, head coach Kirk Bock’s aim is to win a national championship, something he’s talked about regularly in recent seasons. Last year’s 33-2 finished ranked 10th in the country by Collegiate Baseball with four players named to the annual Louisville Slugger High School All-American team.
Brandan Warner
Two of those guys are back, right-hander Blaine Knight and outfielder Drew Tipton. Both have been tabbed as pre-season all-Americans by Louisville Slugger. And the Hornets start the 2015 season ranked seventh in the country.
Knight, the MVP of the 2014 State tournament, has signed to play for the Arkansas Razorbacks next year. He was 11-0 last season with a miniscule earned run average of 0.43 that including two shutouts in the State tourney. He blanked the highly-regarded Fayetteville Bulldogs in the championship game, which Bryant won by a stunning 10-0 score.
Tipton, who figures to move from left field to center for his senior season, hit .384 last season with 13 of his 33 hits for extra bases. He drove in 26 and stole 16 bases. He’s signed to play at Arkansas State University.
Jason Hastings
Knight, Tipton, pitcher-outfielder Jason Hastings (Arkansas Tech), third baseman Brandan Warner, catcher Trey Breeding (Arkansas Tech), and pitcher Zach Jackson were named all-conference last season. Pitcher/first baseman Blake Patterson (Henderson State) was the team’s clutch pinch-hitter last year and had a splendid summer for the Senior American Legion State champions Bryant Black Sox.
All are back, though Jackson remains sidelined after surgery at the end of last summer.
Knight, Tipton, Hastings, Patterson, Breeding and Warner are seniors along with Connor Tatum, Nick Kehrees and Weston Jones.
Along with Jackson, the team’s juniors include pitcher/outfielder Evan Lee, right-hander Alex Shurtleff, utility players Dylan Hurt, Jordan Gentry and Joey Cates, and outfielders Aaron Orender and Logan Allen who all had strong summers in the Legion program, most contributing to a second straight Junior Legion State crown. Dylan Singleton is a junior on the team as well.
Trey Breeding
Sophomores are Austin Kelly, Jake East, Beaux Bonvillain, Diego Vargas, Garrett Misenheimer, Boston Heil, Cameron Coleman, D.J. McKinney, Noah Easterling, Kyle Sahr, Ty Medford and Seth Tucker.
Freshmen joining the team are Brandon Hoover, Cade Dupree, Hunter Mullings, Ryan Huber, Seven Perez, Kaleb Cormier, Dawson Phillips, Ethan Thompson, Grayson Prince, Drake Edwards, Brooks Ellis, Christian Harp, Myers Buck, Matthew Sandidge, Konnor Clontz, C.J. Wallace and Scott Schmidt.
Bock said the lineup was taking shape before the winter weather hit over the last couple of weeks. Breeding’s set at catcher, Patterson at first and Warner at third with Tipton in center.
The middle of the infield is still a battle, Bock said, with Hurt, Tatum, Tucker and East vying for the starting roles.
“The outfield right now, it really looks like it’s going to be Knight, Lee, Tip and Hastings,” Bock related. “We’ve also got Allen, Coleman, Orender and Kelly — they just don’t have the experience that the other ones do.”
Blake Patterson
Knight, Hastings, Lee, Patterson and Shurtleff will be the primary pitchers for conference games, the coach said. Also set to get mound time will be Hurt, Kelly, Tucker, McKinnney, Heil, Medford and Bonvillain.
“Last year, we were well ahead of the game because we were outside so much and were more able to intersquad,” Bock said of preparations to this point. “This year, we were right on track to do that until these last two weeks. It’s certainly set us back, just as far as evaluating.
“That’s why we don’t really know on the middle infielders,” he mentioned. “We were still in the process of evaluating them. As of right now, there isn’t any one of them that’s done any better or any worse that the other ones. We really needed these last two weeks.
“But I think we’re ahead of where we have been in some years but we’re a little behind where we were last year,” the coach concluded.
Of the team’s work at the plate, Bock said, “I think we’ve got a chance offensively. Misenheimer does a good job of swinging the bat. With Tip and Hastings and Lee and Patterson and Warner — and Knight’s really come on swinging the bat.
Evan Lee
“And a guy that could really be an impact player for us offensively is Cameron Coleman,” he added. “He’s done a great job. If he can develop a little bit more discipline at the dish — whenever he figures that out, he’s going to be an impact player for us.”
Despite being unsettled at second and short, Bock said he likes the defense.
“When we get those things straightened out, I think we’re going to be pretty good,” he said.
The Hornets are schedule to open the season officially at home against Arkadelphia on Tuesday, March 3, against Arkadelphia. Once again this season, they’ll travel to Waco, Texas for an early-season event March 12-14 and, during spring break March, 21-27, they’ll return to Florida for a series of games.
Bryant is in a new conference this season. The Central Conference is a mixed league that includes fellow 7A schools, Conway, Little Rock Catholic and Van Buren plus 6A entries Alma, Greenwood, Russellville and Siloam Springs.
Only the 7A games will count towards qualifying for the State Tournament (which will be hosted by Fayetteville and Bentonville). The 7A teams will play home-and-home while the meetings between 7A and 6A league teams will be doubleheaders. Bryant opens with a twinbill against Siloam Springs at home on Friday, March 20.
To see the schedule, go here.
Here are the stats for 2014 with the returning players listed in italics:
BRYANT HORNETS
Final unofficial 2014 varsity stats through 35 games
Hitting
Name ab r h bi d t hr bb* so sb avg
Trevor Ezell 83 50 43 43 11 8 6 31 5 18 .518
Chase Tucker 80 37 41 26 7 2 1 25 13 23 .513
Nick Kehrees 8 0 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500
Jason Hastings 76 18 31 22 6 1 0 14 6 3 .408
Jordan Gentry 5 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 .400
Blake Patterson 37 10 14 19 5 3 0 15 8 3 .389
Drew Tipton 86 30 33 26 9 3 1 21 8 16 .384
Evan Lee 56 24 20 11 2 1 0 14 10 14 .357
Austin Kelly 15 8 5 10 2 0 0 3 3 2 .333
Garrett Misenheimer 3 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .333
Trey Breeding 81 4 25 26 5 1 0 26 13 1 .309
Korey Thompson 57 28 16 14 4 1 0 18 10 6 .281
Dylan Hurt 19 1 5 4 0 0 0 6 5 1 .263
Brandan Warner 70 21 18 9 0 2 0 19 13 1 .257
Dalton Holt 78 21 20 11 5 2 1 10 7 4 .256
Logan Allen 12 7 3 4 0 1 0 7 0 1 .250
Justin Emmerling 33 17 8 9 3 1 0 11 6 1 .242
C.J. Phillips 17 7 4 2 0 0 0 3 2 3 .235
Conner Tatum 15 30 3 4 0 0 0 4 2 9 .200
Jake East 13 9 2 2 0 0 0 4 3 4 .154
Harrison Dale 21 2 2 4 0 0 0 4 6 0 .095
Devin Dupree 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Aaron Orender 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ——
Alex Shurtleff 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ——
Totals 866 326 300 250 59 26 9 236 122 111 .346
Sacrifices: Thompson 12, Hastings 7, Tipton 5, Breeding 4, Hurt 3, Dale 2, Holt 2, Lee 2, Tucker 2, Allen 1, Ezell 1, Tatum 1, Warner 1.
Sacrifice flies: Ezell 4, Tucker 3, Hastings 2, Tatum 2, Thompson 2, Holt 1, Hurt 1, Kelly 1, Tipton 1, Warner 1.
Pitching
Name w-l ip r er h bb* so era
Dylan Hurt 3-0 7 2 0 3 3 7 0.00
Dalton Holt 0-0 2 0 0 2 1 3 0.00
Justin Emmerling 0-0 4 0 0 1 2 5 0.00
Blaine Knight 11-0 65.2 11 4 36 24 80 0.43
Harrison Dale 1-0 15.1 3 1 12 4 12 0.46
Blake Patterson 3-0 13 2 1 10 0 16 0.54
Devin Dupree 1-0 12.1 2 1 13 5 5 0.57
Jason Hastings 3-1 24 7 3 18 9 12 0.88
Zach Jackson 8-1 51.2 12 8 36 19 48 1.08
Alex Shurtleff 1-0 10 4 2 8 5 6 1.40
Chase Tucker 0-0 4.1 1 1 3 4 4 1.62
Evan Lee 2-0 11.2 4 4 9 7 10 2.40
Totals 33-2 221 48 25 151 83 208 0.79
*includes hit by pitch
Saves: Dale 4, Hastings 2, Dupree 1, Emmerling 1.
