Photos courtesy of Jon Staton
Jason Hastings picked up the save in Friday’s game. (Photo courtesy of Jon Staton)
EL DORADO — Blake Patterson drove in five runs including three on a game-breaking bases-loaded double after the Bryant Hornets had escaped a jam with an unusual doubleplay in a 10-5 win over the El Dorado Wildcats on Friday night.
The win came in the final South Conference game for the Hornets and it clinched the league championship. Bryant, now 26-2 (or so) overall and 13-1 in the South, will be the second seed from the West Conference at the Class 7A State Tournament in North Little Rock. The tourney begins this Thursday but, as a two seed, the Hornets earn a first-round bye. They’ll debut on Friday at 3 p.m.
Fayetteville, which completed an unbeaten run through the West with a doubleheader sweep of Bentonville Friday, is the top seed.
Along with Patterson, Trey Breeding and Evan Lee each had two hits for the Hornets. Trevor Ezell walked four times.
With starter Blaine Knight shutting out El Dorado over the first three innings, the Hornets built a 6-0 lead. Taking advantage of a small strike zone, Ezell and Drew Tipton drew walks. Though Ezell was picked off second, Jason Hastings cracked a two-out single up the middle then Lee spanked a hit to left that drove in Tipton. Hastings reached third on an errant throw from the outfield and Lee sprinted into second.
Brandan Warner (Photo courtesy of Jon Staton)
Patterson followed with a grounder to the right side that Wildcats’ second baseman Justin Messer flagged down with a dive. But Patterson beat his throw to first as Hastings scored. Lee, hustling all the way, slid home safely all the way from second on the play, surprising the Wildcats.
Staked to a 3-0 lead, Knight eased through a 1-2-3 home first. He would work around a one-out walk in the second.
In the meantime, Dalton Holt led off the top of the second with a solid single to left. Korey Thompson sacrificed and, after Ezell walked again, Breeding came through in the clutch with a shot past the El Dorado third baseman for an RBI double to make it 4-0.
In the top of the third, Lee singled, stole second, took third on Brandan Warner’s infield hit and scored when Holt’s grounder to short drew a wild throw to first, making it 5-0.
El Dorado’s Ty Owens singled with two out in the bottom of the third for his team’s first hit. Clay Henry followed with a hit but with his mound counterpart, Mason Clay, at the plate, Knight picked off Owens at second on a nice play by Ezell at short to put the threat down.
Clay walked Ezell and Tipton again in the top of the fourth and Breeding beat out a bunt for a single to load the bases. Ezell scored when Hastings bounced into a doubleplay, making it 6-0.
Bryant shortstop Trevor Ezell dives for a grounder.(Photo courtesy of Jon Staton)
El Dorado mounted another threat in the bottom of the inning when Clay singled and Rhett Conner yanked a double inside the line in left. Justin Messer walked then Brandon Trossle bounced to Warner at third. He threw home for a force.
Knight struck out Grant Garrison on three pitches then got a strike in on Justin Childs. An errant pickoff throw, however, allowed Conner to score before Childs struck out to end the inning with Bryant up 6-1.
In the fifth, the Hornets were kept off the board for the first time in the game as Clay’s pitch count reached 107. El Dorado took advantage in the home fifth. Knight started having trouble getting the ball down in the zone and he issued walks to nine-hole hitter Caleb Stubbs and Owens, the lead-off. Zach Jackson relieved and was a strike away from retiring Henry who drove one to left that landed just inside the line for and RBI double. Owens scored as Clay grounded out to Thompson at second. Trying to catch Henry off third, Holt fired across the diamond but the low throw got away and Henry scored as well, making it 6-4.
Drew Tipton hauls down a fly to left-center as Evan Lee backs him up. (Photo courtesy of Jon Staton)
Conner doubled and went to third when Messer reached on an error, putting the potential tying runs on base and bringing up Trossle, representing the go-ahead run.
Bryant head coach Kirk Bock brought in Hastings, a lefty, to face him and the count ran full. El Dorado tried to steal a run as Messer left first early. Hastings stepped off and threw ahead of the runner to Thompson, who looked Conner back to third then ran Messer back towards first, waiting until the last second to throw to Holt, who was just barely able to put a tag on as Messer dove for the bag.
Meanwhile, Conner, after hesitating, rushed home. Holt fired a strike to Breeding who tagged Conner out for an inning-ending doubleplay.
That escape preserved the lead for the Hornets, who proceeded to pad it back out a little in the top of the sixth against Stutts, on in relief of Clay. Stutts hit Thompson in the helmet on his fourth pitch of the game. Ezell then walked four the fourth time on four pitches. With one out, Breeding drew a free pass to load the bases for Hastings who bounced to Messer, who had moved to first. He threw home for a force.
With two down and the bases still loaded, Stutts issued an RBI walk to Lee, making it 7-4 and bringing up Patterson who laid into a 2-1 pitch and ripped it to the base of the wall in left-center for his three-run double.
Hastings issued a pair of walks around a strikeout in the bottom of the sixth. Jacob Primm then smacked a liner to the right side that Thompson hauled down. He whirled and threw to Ezell at second to catch Trossle off the bag. The doubleplay ended the threat.
In the seventh, Owens doubled, took third as Henry reached on an error and scored on Connor’s sacrifice fly to make it 10-5. Messer then lined out to Logan Allen in right to end the game.
BRYANT 10, EL DORADO 5
Hornets ab r h bi Wildcats ab r h bi
Ezell, ss 1 2 0 0 Owens, cf 3 2 2 0
Tipton, cf 3 1 1 0 Henry, lf 4 1 2 1
Breeding, c 4 0 2 1 Clay, p-ss 4 0 1 1
Tatum, cr 0 1 0 0 Turnbull, cr 0 0 0 0
Hastings, rf-p 4 1 1 0 Connor, rf 3 1 2 1
Tucker, cr 0 1 0 0 Messer, 2b-1b 2 0 0 0
Lee, lf 3 3 2 2 Trossle, dh 1 0 0 0
Patterson, dh 4 0 2 5 Garrison, 3b 3 0 0 0
Warner, 3b 4 0 1 0 Childs, ss-2b 2 0 0 0
Holt, 1b 4 1 1 0 Stutts, 1b-p 1 1 0 0
Thompson, 2b 1 0 0 0 Primm, p 1 0 0 0
Tucker, pr 0 0 0 0 Boshear, c 0 0 0 0
Knight, p 0 0 0 0
Jackson, p 0 0 0 0
Allen, rf 0 0 0 0
Totals 28 10 10 8 Totals 24 5 7 3
BRYANT 311 104 0 — 10
El Dorado 000 130 1 — 5
E—Henry, Childs, Knight, Holt, Ezell 2. DP—Bryant 2, El Dorado 1. LOB—Bryant 8, El Dorado 5. 2B—Connor 2, Henry, Patterson, Owens. SB—Lee, Ezell. S—Thompson, Trossle. SF—Conner.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Bryant
Knight (W) 4 3 2 4 4 5
Jackson 0.1 1 0 2 0 0
Hastings (S) 2.2 1 1 1 2 1
El Dorado
Clay (L) 5 6 4 8 5 5
Stutts 0.2 4 4 1 2 1
Primm 1.1 0 0 1 1 0
Knight faced two batters in the fifth.
HBP—Thompson (by Stutts).
