Hornets baseball team wins opener
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 continue posting 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).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
Bryant Hornets baseball coach Terry Harper gave six pitchers an inning of work apiece and they combined to limit the Pine Bluff Zebras to one run on four hits in a 7-1 victory to open the 2006 baseball season on Thursday, Feb. 16.
Offensively, the Hornets used nine hits to take advantage of six Pine Bluff errors. Ryan Wilson and Drew Short each had two hits.
Short pitched the first inning and, after giving up a lead-off single, struck out the side. Those were the first of 11 strikeouts by the Hornets pitchers. They allowed just two walks and hit a batter.
In the second, Danny Riemenschneider issued a lead-off walk but retired the next three in succession. Aaron Beard worked a 1-2-3 third then Wilson struck out two while working around an infield hit in the fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, a one-out throwing error allowed David Guarno to reach second for Bryant. With Guarno on the move, Wilson slapped a single up the middle to drive in the game’s first run.
In the fifth, Tanner Zuber kept Pine Bluff scoreless, pitching around his own two-out error.
The Zebras defense fell apart in the bottom of the inning and Bryant made it a five-run frame. With two down, Riemenschneider reached on the first error. Devin Hurt was hit by a pitch then Guarno’s drive to left was botched. With two outs, the runners were moving on contact and Hurt followed Riemenschneider home, scoring all the way from first.
Guarno wound up at second on that play and scored moments later when Wilson’s pop to shallow right-center was dropped by the Pine Bluff second baseman. Short followed with a lined shot off to the fence in left, an RBI double. He scored the fifth run of the inning on a bloop single to right by Tyler Pickett. Alex Kehrees followed with a double down to line in right but he and courtesy runner Chris Lawrence were stranded.
Ryan Guffey took over pitching duties in the sixth and was greeted by a double from Pine Bluff’s Mark Cain. A walk and a hit batsman loaded the bases but Guffey regained control, striking out the next batter. A sacrifice fly to deep short allowed the Zebras’ lone run to score but Guffey got the third out on a pop up to the mound.
David Martin was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the sixth. Joey Winiecki and Riemenschneider both beat out bunts for singles, loading the bases. But the bags were still jammed after two were out. Wilson hit a grounder to third that was booted and Martin scored to make it 7-1.
Kehrees finished up on the mound, fanning a pair around a one-out single.
The Hornets were scheduled to return to action on Thursday, Feb. 23, at Lake Hamilton.
