‘A’ Sox snap skid
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
BRYANT TIMES
Part of the measure of a baseball team is how it responds to adversity. The Bryant Black Sox A American Legion team would get a chance to test their metal in that regard after their 4-3 loss to the Stuttgart Ricemen on Thursday, May 31.
Right-hander Jeff Carpenter took a two-hit shutout into the seventh inning and three times was on the verge of closing out the win. But a pair of errors and a 3-2 pitch that missed helped Stuttgart rally for four runs.
Though the Sox put themselves in position to snatch back the win in the bottom of the inning, Stuttgart got off the hook and claimed the victory.
Carpenter was hardly over-powering — Stuttgart had runners on base in all but one inning — but he pitched his way out of a few jams and the only hits he allowed over the first six innings were a two-out bloop to right in the second and an infield hit with one out in the sixth. He struck out seven but walked four and hit three batters.
Bryant staked him to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Carpenter, in fact, walked to start that inning and he stole second. Jackson Moseley chased him home with a single to left. After Moseley swiped second, Clay Jones laced a single to right to bring him home.
The seventh-inning trouble began with a one-out walk to Drew Jacobs. With two down, Jon Dardenne slapped a single to right to move Jacobs to third.
The Sox appeared to have the win in hand when, with Cody Starks at the plate, Dardenne took off trying to steal second. David Moore’s throw was in plenty of time but, in his haste to make the tag, second baseman Jackson Moseley had the ball graze off his glove and into shallow center. Dardenne was safe and Jacobs was able to race home to make it 2-1.
Still, the Sox were within a strike of victory when Starks worked the count to 3-2. But he walked to load the bases.
Again, the game looked over for sure when the next batter, Jonathan Petrus, hit a grounder to B.J. Wood at short. The ball was bobbled, eliminating a force at second and a late throw to first was wild. Dardenne scored, tying the game.
Seth Capps followed with a single to center that got past A.J. Nixon, allowing two runs to score. Capps wound up at third.
Carpenter gave way to Justin Woods at that point and Woods ended the inning by getting Ford Rogers to ground out to Andrew Norman at third.
The Sox’ bid to overcome all that began with a single up the middle by Moore to start the home seventh. An out later, Carpenter doubled down the left-field line and Moseley walked to load the bases.
A run scored when Wood grounded into a force at second and the tying and winning runs moved into scoring position. But Curton, in relief of Clint Shadwick, then got Clay Jones to ground to second to end it.
