Price, Sox oust Diamonds
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).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
After the Bryant Black Sox AAA American Legion team was held to one run and five hits by Jimmy Tanner of Arkansas Trailer of Little Rock in the second round of the Area IV Zone Tournament on Friday night, the Sox hauled out the batting practice gear and went to work.
And it helped. The Sox piled up 10 runs in the first four innings on the way to an 11-3 win that knocked the Diamonds out of the tournament and kept Bryant alive.
The Sox advanced in the losers’ bracket to take on Texarkana Advanced Medical on Sunday, a win away from the losers’ bracket final and a chance at reaching the State Tournament for the third year in a row.
The renewed hitting was augmented by a stellar pitching performance by right-hander Daniel Price who pitched his first nine-inning complete game, scattering seven hits, striking out six and issuing just one walk as he improved to 7-2 on the season.
Price shut out the Little Rock team for five innings then rebounded from a three-run, three-hit sixth to hold the Diamonds hitless over the final three innings.
Offensively, B.J. Wood, Todd Bryan, Scott Peeler, Andrew Norman and Dustin Tinkler each had two hits. Tinkler, in fact, was on base all four trips to the plate, scoring twice and driving in a run. Derek Chambers belted a home run for Bryant.
Price worked around a pair of two-out singles in the top of the first then the Bryant offense went to work. Walks to B.J. Wood and Travis Wood set the table. Peeler delivered an RBI single to left, Jeff Carpenter doubled to right and, when the ball was misplayed, made it to third as two runs scored. Norman then capped the inning with a two-bagger to chase Carpenter home.
Over the next four innings, Price held Little Rock to just two singles and one of those baserunners was erased in a Bryant doubleplay.
Meanwhile, the Sox kept piling it on. In the second, Tinkler drew a lead-off walk and scored when B.J. Wood’s single to right was booted. After Wood advanced on a passed ball and Bryan walked, Derek Chambers drove a sacrifice fly to left.
After a pitching change by the Diamonds, Bryant tacked on three in the third. Again, walks helped as Norman and Tinkler reached base. B.J. Wood drove both in with a long double to right-center. And when Bryan singled him in, it was 9-0.
Travis Wood, who reached base five times without a hit in the game, got there to lead off the fourth on a third-strike wild pitch (he walked twice and was hit by pitches twice along the way). Peeler then singled to left and when Wood took off for third the throw from the outfield got away allowing him to score.
The Diamonds prevented a run-rule loss with three runs on three hits and a wild pitch in the sixth. Chambers tacked on his solo homer in the bottom of the seventh.
