AAA team busts out of slump in big way
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 continueposting 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).
SHERWOOD — With three straight losses and a 4-6 record over their last 10 games, the Bryant Black Sox AAA American Legion team had come to a crossroads going into their game at Sylvan Hills on Thursday, July 12. Pressure was starting to build as they continued to be ranked No. 1 in the state by arkansasbaseball.com and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette — ratings that were beginning to draw considerable fire. There may have been some fatigue after 39 games. And there was certainly some depression after the loss of the team’s top RBI man, shortstop Matt Brown (46 runs batted in in 32 games) who was working on a 10-game hitting streak and batting .400 when he was hit in the jaw by a pitch while facing Jonesboro’s Isaac Dillon.
So, on Wednesday after a 14-6 drubbing at Pine Bluff on Tuesday, Sox manager Craig Harrison held a vigorous practice that included a little heart-to-heart talk that, according to Harrison, a visit from former Black Sox player Anthony Rose, a pitcher at the University of Central Arkansas. Rose, Harrison said, told the team which is primarily 18-year-old players, to cherish these last few weeks of Legion baseball and that he’d love to back on the team. Harrison mentioned that other players spoke up and vowed to rededicate themselves.
And, along the way, Brown showed up with good news, reporting that he probably would be cleared to return for at least designated hitter duty before the season is through.
With that as backdrop, the Sox went to Sylvan Hills and took out weeks worth of frustration on a good Sylvan Hills team, blasting five home runs as part of a 28-hit explosion that resulted in a 26-4 romp.
A heck of a 30th win.
Jordan Davis had five hits, Dustin Morris four and five other Black Sox players had three apiece in support of right-hander Matt Lewis who improved his record to 7-0. In six innings, he scattered 10 hits and allowed three runs, but he had Sylvan Hills’ Bruins shut out through four innings as the Sox amassed a 10-0 lead.
Morris and Davis each homered for Bryant, as did Matt White Kevin Littleton, and Cody Graddy. White’s was a grand slam that highlighted an eight-run sixth inning. He, Morris and Littleton drove in five runs apiece.
Davis singled in Bryant’s first run after Morris had singled and Michael McClellan had doubled to start the game.
In the second, Graddy walked and scored on a long double by Lewis. Chris Sory followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0.
A walk to McClellan opened the third. Davis doubled and Beau Hamblin walked to load the bases for Littleton who grounded into a force at third that plated a run. Graddy singled to load them up again and Lewis picked up an RBI with a ground out to short, making it 5-0.
The fourth was the only inning in which the Sox did not score.
They made up for that in the fifth. Singles by Hamblin, Littleton and Graddy make it 6-0. Lewis reached on an error to load the bags and Sory delivered a sacrifice fly. Morris followed with a three-run shot to make it 10-0.
After the Bruins broke through for two runs in the bottom of the inning, the floodgates burst. Davis led off the sixth with a solo blast, his team-high ninth of the season. Hamblin singled then Littleton and Graddy blasted back-to-back jacks to make it 14-2.
Singles by Lewis, Sory and Morris set the stage for White’s slam.
Sylvan Hills scored a run in the bottom of the inning as Lewis finished his moundwork then the Sox bats revved up again for another eight-run uprising. Morris doubled home a run, White got another RBI with a sacrifice fly, McClellan singled in a run and Littleton singled home two and, at the end, Sory and Morris drew RBI walks.
Littleton took the mound in the bottom of the seventh and gave up an unearned run to close out what had been scheduled as a nine-inning game.
