Hornets finish 3-1 at tourney in Texas
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).
Photos courtesy of Samantha Breeding
WACO, Texas — Bryant Hornets head baseball coach Kirk Bock has said that the 2014 version of his team is farther along than any team he’s had before and that was further verified as the team wound up winning three of four games at the Midway Spring Classic over the last two days.
Hornets catcher Trey Breeding smothers a pitch in the dirt. (Photo courtesy of Samantha Breeding)
In a similar tournament last year, the Hornets went 2-3 in Waxahachie, Texas. As it turned out, those three losses were half of the team’s total for the year when they wound up 27-6.
The 2014 Hornets closed out the Texas trip on Friday by splitting a pair of games after they’d swept two on Thursday. It was the Waxahachie Warriors that wound up providing the lone blemish of the tourney for Bryant, 8-5, but Bryant turned around and edged a tough team from Lee High School Raiders of Tyler, Texas, 4-3.
In the win, the Hornets took advantage of each of their four hits in support of a quartet of pitchers, starter Evan Lee along with Dylan Hurt, Chase Tucker and Harrison Dale.
Lee worked into the top of the fifth inning allowing one run on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts. The Hornets held a 2-1 lead when Hurt came in to relieve. Tyler Lee got a second run to tie it but the Hornets got those two runs back in the bottom of the fifth to regain the advantage.
The Raiders tried to rally in the top of the seventh but Dale came in to get out of the jam and earn the save. The potential tying run was at third when the contest concluded.
Brandan Warner dives back into first on a pickoff play. (Photo courtesy of Samantha Breeding)
Evan Lee worked around a one-out walk in the first with the help of catcher Trey Breeding, who threw out the runner trying to steal second to end the frame. In the second, the Bryant lefty fanned the first two he faced then surrendered a double and a single. But both runners were stranded when the next batter grounded to Dale at third.
In the third inning, the Raiders managed a lead-off single but the next batter lined to Korey Thompson at second for a quick doubleplay.
The Hornets were kept hitless up to that point but, in the bottom of the third, Lee beat out an infield hit and Thompson walked. Trevor Ezell got a sacrifice bunt down to move up Thompson and courtesy runner Connor Tatum. Drew Tipton lashed a single to center to drive in Tatum with the game’s first run.
Trevor Ezell applies the tag at second on an unsuccessful steal attempt. (Photo courtesy of Samantha Breeding)
And when Tucker got a sacrifice bunt down, Thompson sprinted home to make it 2-0.
Tyler threatened again in the top of the fourth with a one-out single and a hit batsman. Lee got a strikeout then walked a man to load the bases. They were left stranded however when he got the third out on a called third strike.
The Hornets went down in order in the home fourth and a double opened the Raiders’ fifth. A walk and an error produced the first Tyler run. Hurt relieved at that point and promptly picked off the runner at third. A passed ball allowed the runner at second to advance. He would score the tying run on a single to center.
Hurt retired the next two to keep it 2-2.
And it didn’t stay tied long. In the Bryant fifth, Lee slapped a single to left and Thompson sacrificed him to second, setting the stage for Ezell’s RBI double. When the ball was bobbled in left, Ezell sprinted to third. Moments later, he scored on a passed ball as Tucker was working a walk.
Tucker took over on the mound in the top of the sixth and hit the first batter he faced. But he retired the next three to keep it 4-2.
Bryant head coach Kirk Bock (Photo courtesy of Samantha Breeding)
In the seventh, a walk and a fielder’s choice opened the inning. A passed ball moved the runner up to second. A single and a walk followed, loading the bases with one out. Dale came on and induced a tapper that the pitcher fielded, taking the out at first as the runner from third scored. A fly to Lee in left ended the game.
The Hornets led early in the game against Waxahachie but four errors and a couple of disputed calls helped the Warriors extract a win.
Ezell, Tipton and Jason Hastings each had two hits for Bryant. Ezell drove in a pair.
Hastings worked the first four innings on the bump and left with the game tied 5-5. Alex Shurtleff finished up and absorbed the loss.
The Hornets loaded the bases in the bottom of the first on singles by Tipton and Breeding around a walk to Tucker but couldn’t get a run in.
In the second, Waxahachie broke on top with a two-out RBI triple. The Hornets trumped that with three in the bottom of the frame. Brandan Warner instigated the uprising with a lined single to right. C.J. Phillips was hit by a pitch then Thompson got a sacrifice bunt down to move them to second and third for Ezell who delivered a two-run double. Tipton singled him in to make it 3-1.
An error and a double trimmed a run off the margin in the top of the third and, after the Hornets were retired in order in the home half, Waxahachie put together a two-out rally to take the lead. The Warriors used a double, two singles, a walk and a two-out balk to score three runs and take a 5-3 lead.
Bryant’s tying uprising in the top of the fifth started with a walk to Thompson. Ezell singled and, with one out, Tucker was hit by a pitch to fill the bases. Hastings singled in a run then Breeding walked to force in the tying tally.
Waxahachie ended the inning with a doubleplay that started with a throw to the plate after a grounder to third by Dalton Holt.
The Warriors regained the lead with an unearned run in the top of the fifth. Shurtleff issued a walk then an error and a hit batsman loaded the bases. Shurtleff got a strikeout then induced a comebacker that resulted in a force at the plate. Another error on a grounder by the next batter allowed the tie-breaking run to score.
The final out of the inning came on a pop to Hastings at first.
Thompson reached on a two-out error in the bottom of the fifth but was forced at second on a bouncer to short by Ezell.
The Warriors’ two-run sixth started with a single and a sacrifice. A grounder to Thompson at second had the Hornets within an out of escaping the threat but a base hit to right knocked in a run. Consecutive singles followed, making it 8-5.
Back in Arkansas, Bryant plays next on Thursday, March 13. The Hornets and Van Buren Pointers will meet at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.
Korey Thompson strains to get to first base after his sacrifice bunt was fielded by the pitcher for Tyler, Texas, Lee. (Photo courtesy of Samantha Breeding)
