Bryant AAA notches 8th consecutive win
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By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
STUTTGART — Aaron Davidson had three hits including a three-run homer and lefty Alex Kehrees pitched five shutout innings as the Bryant Black Sox AAA American Legion team tuned up for the annual Twin Lakes Classic in Mountain Home with a 9-2 win over the Stuttgart Ricemen amidst the mosquitoes at Charlie Crawford Field.
Kehrees out-dueled Stuttgart’s collegiate lefty Jett Jones and left with a 5-0 lead. Tanner Zuber pitched a scoreless sixth and Drew Short finished with the Ricemen managing a pair of unearned runs.
“Jones is a good pitcher,” acknowledged Bryant manager Craig Harrison. “He was tough to handle there early but we picked up a cheap run in the first and that took some of the pressure off, then Davidson’s three-run homer going opposite field. We tried to stay back and go the other way. We had a lot of base hits up the middle and going the other way.
“Alex did a fine job, a really good job for us,” he added. “We were hoping three or four (innings) but we got five and he probably could’ve gone the whole way. I wanted to get Zuber an inning and Drew an inning then get out of them bugs.”
Kehrees was economical, needing just 54 pitches in his five frames. He struck out three and pitched to contact, allowing his defense, which played errorlessly until the seventh, to make the plays. He contributed a pretty good play himself on a bunt by Jones in the first, then shortstop Justin Wells and center fielder Joey Winiecki pitched in with stellar glove work along the way.
Winiecki, who went 2 for 5 at the plate in the game has now hit safely in every Sox game this season, 12 in a row.
The Sox take a 12-1 record (including a forfeit) into the tournament in Mountain Home. They were set to take on the host team on Thursday, New Baden, Ill., on Friday and Parsons, Kansas on Saturday in pool play in hopes of returning to Sunday’s championship round.
Against Stuttgart, the Sox got a run in the first when Wells beat out an infield hit with two down, raced to third on a base hit by Davidson and scored on a passed ball.
Davidson’s blast came in the third with Danny Riemenscheider and Wells aboard.
Kehrees retired the first eight batters he faced before giving up an opposite field single by Taylor Sherman. In the fourth, Jones hit a long wind-blown drive to right that evaded Ryan Wilson. Jones made it to second and was headed to third when he got the stop sign from his third-base coach because Wilson’s throw from the fence was so strong. Jones was caught in a rundown and tagged out.
Kehrees pitched around an infield hit in the fifth then gave way to Zuber in the sixth. He gave up a lead-off single to retired the next three with ease.
The Sox, meanwhile, scored another run in the fifth to end Jones’ moundwork. Wells singled, stole second and scored on Davidson’s third hit of the game.
In the seventh, Bryant added four more off of reliever Chris Hooker. Devin Hurt had his second hit of the game after Davidson was hit by a pitch. David Martin drew a walk to load the bases for Travis Queck who beat out an infield hit to drive in a run. Tyler Pickett was hit by a pitch to force in another then Wilson came through with a sacrifice fly. The fourth run scored on Winiecki’s grounder to first.
A hit batsman, two singles and a wild throw allowed Stuttgart to get its two runs in the bottom of the inning but Short struck out Sherman and got Blake Lockwood to tap out to Pickett at first to end the game.
