Photos courtesy of Paul Dotson
LONOKE — The Bryant All-Stars rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth then held the Lakewood All-Stars in scoreless in the bottom of the inning to pull out a 10-9 win at the 9-and-under State Tournament Monday.
The loss eliminated Lakewood and kept Bryant’s hopes alive going into Tuesday.
The Bryant 9’s include Luke Andrews, Jonathan Carter, Cohen Chalmers, Grant Daves, Kolby Duncan, Dante Hernandez, Colt Martin, Dawson Martin, Mekhi Ray, Barrett Royal, Jake Taylor and Chance Thompson. The team’s manager is Josh Daves. He’s assisted by Chris Chalmers, Ryan Martin and Chris Taylor.
It was a seesaw battle with Lakewood. Taylor led Bryant with three hits, two runs scored and a run batted in. Andrews, Royal and Carter each had two hits.
In addition, Taylor, the fourth Bryant pitcher in the game, closed out the contest with two shutout innings of relief after Lakewood had taken a 9-7 lead in the fourth.
The game-winning rally in the top of the seventh began with Carter’s singled to center. Though he was out at second on a force, Duncan reached first. Taylor singled to get Duncan in scoring position then Colt Martin drove home the run with a lined single to right. Taylor raced to third and Martin took second.
Chalmers followed with an RBI single. And with Martin at third, Daves picked up the RBI with a groundout to first, snapping the 9-9 tie.
In the bottom of the sixth, Taylor fanned the first batter then got the second one to pop up on the infield. A single gave Lakewood a hint of hope but Taylor ended it with another strikeout.
Bryant had scored first in the contest. With one out in the opening frame, Taylor singled, took second on an error, third on Colt Martin’s grounder to the right side and scored when Chalmer’s liner to second was dropped.
Daves reached on another miscue and Andrews singled to make it 2-0.
Lakewood, however, scored four in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. But Bryant tied it in the top of the second. Dawson Martin and Carter each reached on a one-out error. Martin scored on a double by Duncan and Taylor’s infield hit plated Carter to knot it at 4.
Andrews pitched around a walk and a hit batsman in the bottom of the second to keep it tied. In the third, Daves singled to right, stole second and scored on a Royal’s one-out double. With two down, Dawson Martin drilled a triple to make it 6-4. Carter’s hit scored Martin.
Lakewood trimmed a run off the Bryant lead in the bottom of the third then held the Stars scoreless in the fourth.
Lakewood surged to a 9-7 lead with a five-run home fourth aided by three walks and two Bryant errors.
Despite singles by Andrews and Royal with one out in the top of the fifth, Bryant was unable to cut into the deficit.
Taylor came on in the bottom of the fifth and walked the first batter he faced. But when that runner tried to steal second, Daves, the Bryant catcher, threw him out. Taylor struck out the next two.
That set up Bryant’s tell-tale rally in the seventh.
