Everett Black Sox open Junior State tourney with run-rule win
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).
NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Dylan Hurt went 3 for 3 with two runs batted in and Cameron Coleman slugged a two-run homer as the Everett Black Sox of Bryant hammered out 14 hits to take advantage of six errors in a 12-2 run-rule win over Morrilton in the first round of the Junior American Legion State Tournament at Burns Park Saturday.
The defending State champion Sox, now 28-6, are set to play either Cabot Centennial Red or Paragould Glen Sain Ford at 5 p.m., on Sunday.
Aaron Orender took his turn in the rotation, which was set up by manager Tyler Brown and assistant Ozzie Hurt, when the Sox were winning the Zone 4 tournament with four wins in a row. He shut out Morrilton on two hits over the first three innings as Bryant built a 6-0 lead. Morrilton picked up two unearned runs in the fourth but the Sox got them right back in the bottom of the inning. Tatum pitched out of a jam in the top of the fifth then the Black Sox scored four in the home half to make it a run-rule lead.
Tatum, Garrett Misenheimer, Hunter Oglesby, Coleman and Jake East each had two hits for Bryant.
The Sox have won nine games in a row and have scored in double figures in four of their last five now (with nine in the other).
“Like I’ve said, I think we’re peaking at the right time,” stated Brown. “We’re starting to see the ball really well. I’ve been preaching, like I did last year, like I’m going to keep doing, ‘Get you a fastball in your spot — your pitch.” I think we’re doing a good job of just spitting on breaking pitches until we get two strikes. We’re hitting mostly fastballs. That’s how you rhythm up. That’s how you hit baseballs hard. Rhythm up with one pitch and if you’re hitting that one pitch in your spot, you’re going to hit it hard.”
Orender pitched around a one-out single by Tanner Aldilar in the top of the first, starting on a string in which he retired seven in a row and nine of 10.
“He did a fantastic job of filling it up,” Brown noted. “Connor Tatum did a good job like he’s done all year, just throwing strikes.”
In the bottom of the first, Logan Allen beat out a hit on a swinging bunt and when Morrilton pitcher Quinton Bowling threw the ball past first, he would up at second.
Tatum followed with a line drive that the shortstop couldn’t handle. With one out, Hurt lined a single to center to load the bases. Allen scored on a passed ball then, with runners at second and third, Oglesby ripped a double into the gap in left-center to make it 3-0.
In the second, Coleman led off with a shot that the centerfielder started in on then couldn’t backtrack enough to get. Coleman legged out a triple. He held as East bunted and reached when Bowling couldn’t handle the ball cleanly. Allen’s grounder to second picked up the run.
Tatum lined a single to right and, with East at third, was off and running as Misenheimer slapped a single to right to drive in another run and force a pitching change. Hurt greeted the new hurler, Jace Hill, with an RBI single to left, making it 6-0.
After Orender pitched around a two-out infield hit in the top of the third, East made a bid to add to the lead with a drive to the fence in left. It took Morrilton’s outfielders some time to get back to the ball, which hung around near the fence. East rounded third and tried to turn it into an inside-the-park home run but a strong relay from shortstop Cash Mitchell was in time to retire him.
In the 95-degree heat, Orender showed signs of fatigue in the fourth issuing his only three walks. After the first one, Caleb Canady singled. With Jaren Hill at the plate, Hurt, the Bryant catcher, blocked a pitch in the dirt. The runner at second half but Canady headed to second almost getting there before noticing his teammate was still there. Hurt came up with the ball and ran towards Canady, who tried to head back to first. Hurt cornered him and applied the tag for the first out of the inning.
So when the next two batters reached, the bases were loaded and no one had scored. Bowling hit a slow roller up the third-base line. Jordan Gentry charged the ball and made a nice play. But his rushed throw got away and two runs scored.
Orender got Zach Gullett to pop to Tatum at second to end the inning.
Bryant’s fourth-inning uprising began with a walk to Tatum. He stole second and, with two down, raced home on Hurt’s third hit. And when the ball was misplayed in left, Hurt wound up at second.
Courtesy runner Austin Kelly came in to run for Hurt and, on a 2-1 pitch, Oglesby laced a single to left to chase him in, making it 8-2.
Gentry made a bid for extra bases but was robbed in deep left by Alex Palzinsky just in front of the fence.
Orender started the top of the fifth and surrendered a single to Mitchell. Tatum came in and his first two pitches were socked by Albilar and Hunter Lentz for singles to load the bases with the Morrilton clean-up hitter, Jace Hill, coming to the plate.
Tatum struck him out then got Canady to hit a soft liner to Gentry at second. With Lentz straying off first, Gentry threw to Orender, who had moved there, to complete and inning-ending doubleplay.
To open the home fifth, Orender’s grounder to short drew a wild throw. When it went into the dugout, he was awarded second. With Coleman at the plate, a wild pitch moved Orender to third. From there he could walk home when Coleman lowered the boom on an inside fastball on a 2-0 count and launched a towering homer run to right.
Needing two more runs for the run-rule, the Sox continued the barrage with a little help from Morritlon. East legged out a hustle double on a drive to right center forcing another pitching change.
With one out, Tatum turned on an 0-1 pitch and hit it down the line in right to drive in East. The ball got past the right fielder allowing Tatum to take second. On the very next pitch, Misenheimer cracked a single to left that plated Tatum with the final run.
