Hornets drop 3 of 4 in Shreveport
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).
SHREVEPORT, La. — Bryant Hornets head coach Terry Harper wanted a more challenging schedule for his team this season. After all, it was a veteran group coming off a run to the Class AAAAA State finals.
Not that the Hornets didn’t play and beat many of the best teams in the state last year nor that the teams on this year’s schedule, including those in the Captain Shreve Invitational, are any better. It’s just that, this year, the Hornets are going to be playing more of those good teams and there might be a few more losses along the way. That’s just baseball. When it really counts, they still figure to be one of the top contenders for a State title.
So, three losses in four games at the jamboree-style tournament at Shreveport’s Captain Shreve High School and Bossier City’s Airline High don’t figure to deter the Hornets.
Bryant opened the tourney with a 1-0 loss to Tyler, Texas, Lee and a 6-0 setback against Airline at the Bossier City school on Friday, Feb. 25. On Saturday at Captain Shreve, the Hornets suffered a 5-4 loss to the host team before posting a 7-3 win over Longview, Texas.
At 3-3 on the season, the Hornets were set to begin play in the Benton Panther Invitational on Tuesday, March 1, against Hot Springs Lakeside.
“We made some mistakes,” said Harper. “We played pretty good most of the time but we had mental breakdowns. We just weren’t crisp and we didn’t catch any breaks.
“Hopefully, this will make us realize we can’t just show up and beat good people,” he added.
Tyler, Texas, Lee 1,
Bryant 0
Bryant’s Justin Wells allowed just three hits in five innings but two of them came in the third inning. A two-out wild pitch allowed the lone run of the game to score.
Todd Bryan pitched a 1-2-3 sixth but the Hornets were held to four hits by Lee’s Al Braley who struck out seven.
Bryant was only able to get two runners on base in one inning twice in the game. In the third, Casey Grisham walked but was thrown out trying to go to third on Aaron Davidson’s single to right.
Davidson had two of the Hornets hits.
In the top of the seventh, Travis Wood reached on a two-out error to keep the Hornets’ hopes alive. Richie Wood followed with a single to right but Braley got the last out on a grounder to third by Zack Young.
Bossier City, La., Airline 6, Bryant 0
The Hornets were held to three hits, a single by Todd Bryan, a double by Danny Riemenschneider and a triple by Richie Wood. The triple came with one out in the second inning but Airline hurler Jimmy Hurd retired the next two batters on a strikeout and a grounder to first to maintain the shutout.
Two fielding mistakes helped Airline gain the upper hand with three runs off Bryant lefty Corey Lambert in the first inning.
A pair of singles and a wild pitch produced a fourth run in the third then two more scored in the fourth on another error and two hits.
Riemenschneider relieved with two out in the fourth and retired all seven batters he faced. The Hornets just couldn’t muster a rally.
Shreveport, La., Captain Shreve 5, Bryant 4
Controversy plagued the Hornets in this loss. With the game tied 4-4 in the top of the seventh, Wells cracked a two-out double but was ruled out. In the fifth inning, Joey Winiecki came in as a pinch-runner for Wells and Harper notified the umpires that Wells would re-enter in the next half inning. Wells played the bottom of the fifth and the sixth at shortstop but after his double, the umpires ruled that he had not reported back into the game when he came to bat and called him out.
Harper argued the matter, noting that others had re-entered earlier in the game without reporting in but to no avail. Wells was ruled out and, in the bottom of the inning, Captain Shreve scored on a double and a two-out single to win the game.
Riemenschneider, the third Bryant pitcher, absorbed the loss. Travis Wood had started for the Hornets and given up three runs in four innings, two earned. He struck out six and walked two.
Captain Shreve’s Gators had taken the lead with a run on a single, a passed ball, a groundout and a two-out wild pitch. In the fourth, Wood struck out the first two he faced then walked a pair. Lance West doubled to plate both runs and make it 3-0.
After threatening to score in the first and third, the Hornets rallied for four runs in the fifth to take the lead. Lambert walked but was forced at second on a grounder by Casey Grisham. Bryan reached on an error and, with two out, so did Wells. Travis Wood drilled a two-run single to right-center then Richie Wood singled in Winiecki who was running for Wells, tying the game. Travis Wood scored on an error to give Bryant the lead.
Bryan pitched a scoreless fifth before giving way to Riemenschneider in the sixth. A walk, a single and a two-out error allowed the Gators to tie it going into the seventh.
Bryant 7,
Longview, Texas 3
Davidson allowed three hits in six innings to pick up the win with an inning of relief from Grisham, and the Hornets broke through with 10 hits, two each by Travis Wood, Richie Wood and Davidson.
Longview scored an unearned run in the top of the first to take the lead initially but the Hornets got that back in the home half on back-to-back doubles by Wells and Travis Wood.
In the second, Longview put together back-to-back two-out doubles to regain the advantage, then made it 3-1 on a walk, a single and a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth.
In the home fourth, the Hornets tied it. Travis Wood and Zack Young singled to put runners at the corners. Richie Wood delivered one run with a sacrifice fly then Bryan Griffith singled and advance to second on a late throw to third. Lambert’s sacrifice fly made it 3-3.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth when Bryant scored four times. A one-out double by Richie Wood sparked the inning. Walks to Griffith and Lamber followed. With two out, Bryan came through with a two-run single to snap the tie. Davidson singled in Lambert then Bryan scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-3.
Grisham relieved Davidson in the top of the seventh and retired the side in order, two on strikeouts.
