Hornets sweat out game two but secure sweep of Van Buren
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be 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
Photos by Rick Nation
Don Stanhouse was a closer with the Baltimore Orioles in the late 1970’s, back when the[more] Orioles were competitive every year under the leadership of legendary manager Earl Weaver. Stanhouse led the team with 24 saves in 1978 and 21 more in ’79 when the O’s went to the World Series to play the Pittsburgh “We are Family” Pirates.
He had a couple of nicknames. Most notably, he was called “Stan the Man Unusual”, a take off of Hall of Famer Stan “The Man” Musial. Unusual, Stanhouse was.
But Weaver had another name for him: “Two pack.”
A notorious smoker, Weaver was often caught by the TV cameras sneaking down the runway between the dugout and the clubhouse and nervously catching a drag or two on a cigarette.
Just so, Weaver dubbed Stanhouse “Two Pack” because that’s how many cigarettes the manager claimed he went through while Stanhouse pitched himself into a jam then pitched his way out of it to ultimately get the save.
On Friday night, Bryant Hornets’ right-hander Dylan Cross did a spot-on impression of Don “Two-Pack” Stanhouse. Not that Bryant head coach Kirk Bock did any smoking but, with his team leading 5-4 over the Van Buren Pointers, Cross came on to pitch the seventh inning in relief of starter Caleb Milam.
He retired a pinch-hitter but then the Pointers’ Logan Patterson and Jake Smith rapped singles. A wild pitch put the potential tying and lead runs in scoring position so No. 3 hitter Tyler Spoon was issued an intentional walk to load the bases with one out.
Cross then proceeded to strike out clean-up hitter Brant Ramsey and No. 5 batter Zach Willhite to earn the save.
With the win, the Hornets earned a sweep. They took the first game 12-2 and, by doing so, maintained sole possession of first place in the 7A/6A-Central Conference with a pair of league twinbills yet to play. Bryant is 18-4 overall and 8-2 in league play. They travel to Russellville on Thursday, April 28, then host Little Rock Catholic on Thursday, May 5.
“We’ve got to win out,” Bock stated, recalling that, last year, his team managed a No. 1 seed for the Class 7A State Tournament by just a few runs in a tiebreaker after five teams finished deadlocked in first place. “It’s going to be the same way this year. We’ve messed around and split with Conway and Cabot. Russellville is tough as nails and, obviously, Catholic is really a tremendous club.”
In the second-game win, center fielder Josh Pultro came through with a clutch two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to snap a 4-4 tie then, in the sixth, made a pair of running grabs in the gap in right-center to rob a pair of Pointers of extra-base hits.
“He’s been pretty solid,” Bock said of his outfielder. “You know, on paper, the dude doesn’t move very well but out there in space, he does a good job. He made a tremendous play in the alley. That’s a game-changer right there. Then coming through in the clutch, he really helped us out. The guy’s been solid all year.”
In the first game, right-hander Jordan Taylor overcame a pair of unearned runs in the first inning to shut out the Pointers over the next five frames, scattering five hits in the run-rule win.
“He did a good job after those first two miscues we had, which has been unlike us,” Bock mentioned. “The wind was bad. A lot of the balls that went up (and were misplayed) were wind-aided errors but you’ve got to battle with it and get it done.”
The Hornets led 3-2 before they broke the game open with five runs in the fourth and finished it early with four in the sixth. Tyler Nelson, Tyler Brown, Landon Pickett and Chris Joiner each had two hits in the game. Brown, who had hits in both games to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, drove in three in the opener. Cross doubled home a pair.
“The kids did a great job being ready to play,” stated Bock. “They were up here off and on since 7 in the morning helping to get the field ready. And with no school, we were out of our routine. I was really pleased with the way they came ready to play.”
In the first game, a pair of errors put Taylor under the gun in the opening frame as Patterson and Smith reached base. A run scored when Spoon grounded to second then another came home on a sacrifice fly by Ramsey.
Taylor then worked around a single in the third, a pair of them in the fourth and two more n the fifth. He issued a walk with two out in the sixth. Smith finished with two of his team’s five hits. Taylor struck out three and walked just that one and, after those initial miscues, the Hornets played errorless defense.
Bryant took the lead with a three-run third. Evan Jobe rifled a single to left to open the inning then stole second. Hayden Lessenberry walked and a wild pitch moved the runners up. Another wild pitch allowed Jobe to score. Trent Rivers, running for the Bryant catcher, came in when Ramsey lost sight of Brown’s fly to left in the high sky (no clouds). After it hit, he pounced on it but bobbled it enough that Brown reached second.
With two outs and the game tied 2-2, Pickett roped a double to left to chase Brown home.
In the fourth, Joiner singled up the middle to get the Hornets’ offense geared up. Pultro walked and Spoon, the Van Burn starter, gave way to Patterson. Jobe greeted him with a sacrifice bunt that wound up being misplayed by Tyler Goodnight at third, loading the bases for Lessenberry who smacked an RBI single to left. Nelson yanked an RBI single to right then Brown ripped a single up the middle that plated two, making it 7-0. Nelson scored on a wild pitch to make it a five-run frame.
The Hornets made it a run-rule win in the sixth against lefty Collin Cottrell. Nelson worked for his team-high 24th walk of the season and, after Brown sacrificed, pinch-runner Braden Jones scored on Taylor’s single up the gut. Pickett followed with a drive that hit at the base of the wall in dead center for a double to set the table for Cross’ two-run gapper.
Joiner singled pinch-runner Lucas Castleberry to third then walks to Pultro and Jobe forced in the game-ending run.
Van Buren jumped on top again in the second game. Patterson led off with a triple and, an out later, Sppon singled him home. After a wild pitch moved Spoon to second, Ramsey looped a single to left that was booted. Spoon had stopped at third but scampered home on the miscue to make it 2-0.
Pointers’ right-hander Dylan Reese kept the Hornets scoreless and hitless over the first two innings. In turn, Milam surrendered a single to Quinton Ray to start the second only to retire the next three. In the third, he walked Smith but the Hornets turned a sparkling around-the-horn doubleplay to keep it 2-0.
And they tied it in the bottom of the third. Lessenberry opened the inning with a hard grounder to the right of second baseman Paul Schneider for the Hornets’ first safety. Courtesy runner Tyler Green came home all the way from first on Nelson’s shot to the gap in right-center for a double. Brown beat out a bunt single then Taylor grounded into a force at second as Nelson scored the tying tally.
Milam overcame an error in the fourth and Reese worked around a two-out double by Jobe. In the fifth, however, the Pointers regained the upper hand. Patterson, who had three hits in the game, singled up the middle with one out. Smith walked and, with two down, so did Ramsey. Willhite came through with a single to left to drive in two runs but the Hornets worked the cut-off to nail Ramsey rounding second too far to end the inning.
But Bryant countered starting with another walk to Nelson. Brown, who had four sacrifice bunts between the two games and another bunt for a hit, got a sac and a bonus on this occasion. Reese fielded the bunt and fired to first. The throw was toward the bag and first sacker Parker Johnson tried to snatch it and avoid colliding with Brown only to let it ricochet off his glove. Nelson wound up at third and Brown at second. Taylor tied the game with a liner down the left-field line for a two-run double.
After a visit to the mound, however, Reese regained his stride and retired the next two batters. Rivers, running for Taylor, tagged and went to third on Castleberry’s fly to right. With two down, Joiner was hit by a pitch bringing up Pultro who came through in the clutch with a liner to left for a single. Rivers raced home to make it 5-4.
Thanks in large part to Pultro’s defense, Milam finished strong with the only 1-2-3 inning of the game in the sixth.
Reese was able to wriggle off the hook in the bottom of the inning after an error and a hit batsman. That set up the top of the seventh with Cross taking the mound.
The Hornets are tentatively set to travel to Monticello for a non-conference game on Monday.
BRYANT 12, VAN BUREN 2
Game 1
Pointers ab r h bi Hornets ab r h bi
Patterson, ss-p 3 1 1 0 Nelson, ss 3 1 2 1
Smith, cf3120Jones, pr0100
Spoon, p-c 3 0 0 1 Brown, 3b 2 1 2 3
Ramsey, lf 2 0 1 1 Taylor, p 3 0 1 1
Thiele, dh 3 0 0 0 Green, cr 0 1 0 0
Whillhite, rf 3 0 1 0 Pickett, 1b 3 1 2 1
Bambridge, c 2 0 0 0 Cross, dh 3 0 1 2
Ray, ss 0 0 0 0 Castleberry, pr 0 1 0 0
Cottrell, p 0 0 0 0 Joiner, lf 4 1 2 0
Johnson, 1b 3 0 0 0 Pultro, cf 2 1 0 0
Schneider, 2b 2 0 0 0 Jobe, rf 1 2 1 1
Goodnight, 3b 0 0 0 0 Lessenberry, c 2 0 1 1
Rivers, cr0200
Hurt, 2b0000
Totals 24 2 5 2 Totals 23 12 12 10
Van Buren 200 000 — 2
BRYANT 003 504 — 12
One out when game-ending run scored.
E—Nelson, Hurt, Ramsey, Goodnight. LOB—Van Buren 6, Bryant 7. 2B—Pickett 2. SB—Jobe, Pickett. S—Brown 2, Taylor. Jobe. SF—Ramsey.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Van Buren
Spoon (L) 3 5 4 5 3 0
Patterson 2 3 2 3 1 0
Cottrell 0.1 3 3 4 3 0
Bryant
Taylor (W, 4-1) 6 2 0 5 1 3
Spoon faced two batters in the fourth.
WP—Spoon 3, Taylor 2, Patterson 1.
BRYANT 5, VAN BUREN 4
Game 2
Pointers ab r h bi Hornets ab r h bi
Patterson, ss 4 2 3 0 Nelson, 2b-ss 3 2 1 1
Smith, cf 2 1 1 0 Brown, 3b 2 1 1 0
Spoon, c 3 1 1 1 Taylor, ss-1b 3 0 1 3
Ramsey, dh 3 0 1 0 Rivers, pr 0 1 0 0
Willhite, rf 4 0 1 2 Pickett, 1b 4 0 0 0
Haywood, lf 2 0 0 0 Castleberry, dh 4 0 0 0
Thiele, ph 1 0 0 0 Hurt, 2b 0 0 0 0
Ray, 3b 3 0 1 0 Joiner, lf 2 0 0 0
Johnson, 1b2000Pultro, cf2011
Schneider, 2b 2 0 0 0 Jobe, rf 2 0 1 0
Lewis, ph 1 0 0 0 Lessenberry, c 3 0 1 0
Reese, p 0 0 0 0 T.Green, cr 0 1 0 0
Milam, p0000
Cross, p0000
Totals 27 4 8 3 Totals 25 5 6 5
Van Buren 200 020 0 — 4
Bryant 002 030 x — 5
E—Joiner, Ramsey, Schneider, Pickett, Johnson, Ray. DP—Bryant 1. LOB—Van Buren 7, Bryant 9. 2B—Nelson, Taylor. 3B—Patterson. S—Johnson, Brown 2.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Van Buren
Reese (L) 6 5 3 6 3 4
Bryant
Milam (W, 6-2) 6 4 3 6 3 2
Cross (S,1) 1 0 0 2 1 2
HBP—Joiner, Taylor (by Reese). WP—Milam 2, Cross 1.
