Senior Sox salvage one win at Mountain Home
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).
MOUNTAIN HOME — For the first time since 2001, the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team was unable to get out of pool play at the annual Brooks Robinson Twin Lakes Classic in Mountain Home.
Of course, when a team has won a tournament two years in a row, they somehow find their way into the toughest of brackets the next year.
Not that the Sox were at their best, admittedly. But, after coming in with an 11-1 record, they had to outslug a Columbia, Mo., team on the last day of pool play to salvage a victory in three games.
The Sox beat Columbia Red Weir, 12-7 on Friday, June 13, after falling to Sylvan Hills, 6-5 on Thursday and opening with an 8-3 loss to DeSoto, Mo., 8-3. DeSoto advanced to the championship tournament out of the pool as the event concluded over the weekend.
Even in the win, the Sox had to overcome five errors. It helped that they scored in each of the first three innings to build a 10-5 lead. Columbia scored an unearned run off starter Drew Ransdell in the first on a single, a stolen base and a two-out error.
In the bottom of the inning, Bryant took the lead on the strength of back-to-back homers by David Guarno and Tyler Pickett. Garrett Bock led off with a single, advanced on a groundout by Kaleb Jobe and scored the tying run on a triple by Tyler Sawyer. A pitch later, Guarno unloaded to left. Moments later, so did Pickett to make it 4-1.
Columbia tied it, however, in the second, taking advantage of two more Bryant miscues in the field.
The Sox regained the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. Sergio Arias, Bock and Jobe drew one-out walks to load the bases. The first run scored on Sawyer’s bouncer to second, the second came in when, after Guarno was issued an intentional pass, Pickett worked a walk for an RBI as well.
A solo homer cut a run off the Bryant margin in the top of the third before the Sox blew the game open against the third Columbia pitcher of the game, in the bottom of the third. Jonathan Wade reached on a one-out error to get things started with Arias following with another walk. Bock was hit by a pitch to load the bases but, trying to score on a pitch that got past the catcher, Wade was out at the plate.
After yet another pitching change, Jobe walked to load the bases and Sawyer walked to force in the first run of the inning. Bock scored on a passed ball and Brady Butler, running for Jobe, came in on an errant throw to third on the play which allowed Sawyer to take third. He scored to cap the inning on a double to right-center by Guarno.
Ransdell worked into the fifth inning when a one-out error put a runner on base. Preston Adami relieved and another error, a sacrifice and a double produced Columbia’s final two tallies.
Adami worked around a hit batsman in the sixth and a two-out single in the seventh to close out the victory.
In the meantime, the Sox tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth when Sawyer doubled, Guarno shot his third hit up the middle for his fourth run batted in and, after taking second on a late throw to the plate, came home on a two-out single by Trent Daniel.
On Thursday in the loss to Sylvan Hills, the Sox led early as well. In the first Jobe singled, advanced on a groundout by Sawyer and scored on a single by Guarno.
In the second, they made it 4-0 with Pickett driving home two with a double then scoring on a base hit by Sawyer.
Sylvan Hills got on the board in the bottom of the inning with a pair of singles and a home run. With two out, a walk and a triple tied it.
Daniel, the Bryant starter settled in after that and struck out four in a row, retiring seven straight but the Sox left the bases full in the third and didn’t take advantage until the top of the sixth after Sylvan Hills squeaked out a run to take the lead in the home fifth on a hit batsman and a pair of two-out singles.
Bryant’s tying run was scored by Bock who led off the inning with a walk. Jobe beat out a bunt for a hit then the duo turned in a double steal to set up Sawyer’s sacrifice fly.
In the home sixth, however, a walk, a sacrifice and a single put the Bruins back on top and that held when the Sox went down in order in the top of the seventh.
In the opener, DeSoto broke open a 2-2 game in the third when a two-out error with no one on base extended the inning and led to a five-run uprising.
DeSoto had taken the lead in the first on a ground-rule double and a two-out error. Bryant tied it in the second when Daniel singled, stole second, took third on a bad throw and came home on a two-out single by Justin Blankenship.
A walk and a pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the inning gave DeSoto a one-run edge only to have the Sox tie it in the top of the third. Jobe doubled, Pickett singled and Sawyer picked up the RBI with a base hit. With runners at the corners and no one out, however, the Sox were unable to tack on.
Jobe, the Bryant starter, gave up a lead-off single but retired the next two in the bottom of the third and appeared to be through the inning with ease when he induced a grounder to short. But the ball got through and the go-ahead run scored. After a wild pitch, a single, a walk, a double and a two-run single followed before Jobe got the final out on strikes.
A solo homer in the fourth made it 8-2. Adami and Tim Bearden finished on the mound for the Sox with no further damange.
But the Sox couldn’t muster enough of a rally to extend the game. In the top of the seventh, they made a bid when Bock and Pickett drew walks and Sawyer singled in a run.
Guarno was hit by a pitch to load the bases but a new pitcher was called upon who struck out the next two batters to end the game.
Bryant was set to return to action at Stuttgart on Tuesday, June 17, at Jacksonville on Wednesday, June 18, and at North Little Rock on Friday, June 20.
