Eight-run seventh breaks up nail biter between Sox, Jackets
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SHERIDAN — In high school ball, the Bryant Hornets and Sheridan Yellowjackets battled nip and tuck until a later Hornets’ outburst turned it into a rout. In much the same way, on Tuesday night at Oliver Williams Field, the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team and the Sheridan AA squad played a tight contest through six innings. In the seventh, however, the Sox snapped a 2-2 tie and wound up sending 13 batters to the plate in an eight-run eruption, which produced a 10-2 victory.
A trio of Bryant pitchers — Zach Jackson, Evan Lee and Blake Patterson — limited Sheridan to just four hits, just two that weren’t in the two-run third, as Sox manager Darren Hurt continued to get innings for several of his hurlers early in the season.
“I tell you, the pitching was great,” he stated. “I really liked what I saw tonight out of Pat (Patterson) and Lee. We know what Jackson is and those two came in and I thought threw really well.”
Sheridan countered with University of Ozarks right-hander Keaton Ramsey and collegian Joey Eggburn who combined to shackle the Black Sox on just three hits through six innings.
“(Ramsey) threw a good game,” Hurt acknowledged. “He kept us off balance. He threw change-ups in kind of unconventional spots and it took us one time through before we really even got on him at all. He wasn’t giving in.”
Ramsey walked five in his three innings, however, and the last two of those burned him as Drew Tipton and Hayden Lessenberry reached base in the top of the third. With two out, Lee popped into shallow left for an apparent inning-ending play. But the ball was dropped and Tipton, taking nothing for granted and hustling all the way, scored from second to make it 1-0. Dalton Holt followed with the first of his two hits in the game, knocking in Lessenberry.
Justin Emmerling followed with a shot through the hole on the left side but it was hit too hard for Lee to score and Keaton wriggled off the hook, forcing the Black Sox to strand three.
An error allowing Ramsey to reach started the bottom of the third. Jackson, who had pitched around a walk to Chase Davis and a double by Tyler Raney to start his night on the mound, followed up the error in the third with a strikeout. But Raney drilled his second double to drive in Ramsey from first. A single by Hunter Strong tied the game.
Jackson finished his outing with back-to-back strikeouts to strand Strong and keep it 2-2.
Sheridan managed just two base-runners the rest of the game and Lee, who issued a one-out walk to Andrew Clark in the fourth, picked him off. The lefty struck out three of the six batters he faced.
Patterson fanned three of the seven he took on in the final two frames. A two-out single by Lathan Wylie in the sixth was the lone base-runner he allowed.
In the meantime, the Sox loaded the bases in the fifth off Eggburn as Lessenberry walked, Patterson laced a single to left and, after a sacrifice by Lee, Holt drew a walk. But Eggburn worked out of the jam to keep it 2-2. He worked around a hit batsman in the sixth but started the seventh by issuing a walk to Patterson. A passed ball allowed him to take second and Lee snapped the tie with a liner to right for an RBI single.
Zach Glidden relieved for the Jackets and wound up facing six batters without retiring any, though an error hurt him. Holt greeted the new hurler with a single to right. When it was misplayed, runners wound up at second and third. Dylan Hurt, a member of the Junior Sox helping out the short-handed Senior team, followed with a safety squeeze. Lee scored and when the ball was kicked, Hurt reached safely.
With Holt at third, Harrison Dale got down a beautiful bunt that he beat out for a single, driving in a run to make it 5-2.
With no reason to stop bunting, Bryant’s Austin Caldwell beat out a bunt single to load the bases for Tipton who was struck by a pitch for the second time in the game. This time, it forced in a run.
And when Trey Breeding followed with a two-run single to left, the lead ballooned to 8-2.
Dustin Reid relieved at that point and eight batters into the inning, recorded the first out, fanning Lessenberry. But a wild pitch allowed Tipton to score as Patterson drew another walk.
That brought up C.J. Phillips, who had been out of action since the Hornets’ game at Sheridan on April 4 due to an ailing back, got a shot at the plate after pinch-running for lee earlier in the inning. He made it count too. On the first pitch he saw, he banged a long fly to center for a sacrifice, bringing Breeding home with the final tally.
Patterson eased through a 1-2-3 home seventh to close out the victory.
“We had to gut it out,” Coach Hurt said. “It was tough one and we knew it was going to be. But they found a way. I think it was a great team effort. We got help from everybody, literally.”
Bryant was without four regulars in the game, Trevor Ezell, Korey Thompson and Chase Tucker, who were playing in the Central Arkansas All-Star game at UALR, as well as Brandan Warner who was unavailable.
The Sox, now 2-0, play next in a showcase in Memphis starting Friday against Wynne. They’re scheduled to play teams from New Orleans, St. Louis and Kosciusko, Miss.
BRYANT 10, SHERIDAN 2
Black Sox ab r h bi Yellowjackets ab r h bi
Tipton, 2b 2 2 0 1 Davis, lf 2 0 0 0
Breeding, c 5 1 1 2 Raney, ss 3 1 2 1
Lessenberry, dh-1b 3 1 0 0 Strong, cf 3 0 1 1
Patterson, 3b-p 2 1 1 0 Thompson, c 3 0 0 0
Lee, lf-p 2 0 1 1 Wylie, 3b 3 0 1 0
Phillips, pr-lf 0 1 0 1 Bibb, 2b-rf 3 0 0 0
Holt, rf 4 1 2 1 Clark, 1b 1 0 0 0
Emmerling, 1b-lf 2 0 1 0 Reid, p 1 0 0 0
Hurt, 3b 1 1 0 1 Eggburn, rf-p 2 0 0 0
Dale, ss 4 1 1 1 Glidden, p-1b 0 0 0 0
Caldwell, cf 4 1 1 1 Vilches, ph 1 0 0 0
Jackson, p 0 0 0 0 Ramsey, p-2b 1 1 0 0
Murphy, ph 1 0 0 0
Smith, 2b 1 0 0 0
Totals 29 10 8 8 Totals 25 2 4 2
Bryant 002 000 8 — 10
Sheridan 002 000 0 — 2
E—Tipton, Davis, Bibb, Clark, Wylie. DP—Bryant 1. LOB—Bryant 12, Sheridan 4. 2B—Raney 2. SB—Tipton. S—Lee, Hurt. SF—Phillips.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Bryant
Jackson 3 2 1 3 1 5
Lee 2 0 0 0 1 3
Patterson (W) 2 0 0 1 0 3
Sheridan
Ramsey 3 2 0 2 5 2
Eggburn (L) 3 2 1 2 3 2
Glidden 0 6 0 3 0 0
Reid 1 0 0 0 1 1
Eggburn faced two batters in the seventh.
Glidden faced six batters in the seventh.
HBP—Tipton 2 (by Eggburn, Glidden). WP-Reid, Patteson. PB—Thompson.
