Free passes help AAA ease to win
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).
LITTLE ROCK — Twelve walks helped as the Bryant Blacksox used eight hits to score 11 runs, improving to 3-0 in Zone IV play and 12-0 overall with an 11-1 romp over the Little Rock Post 1 Red AAA American Legion team on Wednesday, June 2.
Daniel Price picked up the win in the six-inning contest with three innings of work in which he scattered four hits and worked around three walks. Justin Wells worked two innings of relief and Travis Wood worked a scoreless seventh to close out the game.
Red’s lone run came in the fourth when Jake Sullivan doubled, advanced to third on a balk and scored on a sacrifice fly.
Travis Wood singled in Bryant’s first run in the opening inning. In the second, three walks, an error and a walk pitch produced two more for the Sox.
In the top of the fourth, Corey Lambert walked, Korey Hunter sacrificed and Dustin Easterly singled to put runners at the corners. A wild pitch allowed Lambert to score then Todd Bryan doubled to make it 5-0.
After Little Rock got on the board in the bottom of the inning, the Sox tacked on two in the fifth. Travis Wood walked and swiped second. He held, with one out, as Zack Young beat out an infield hit. But both moved up on a wild pitch and Lambert delivered a two-run single to make it 7-1.
A four-run sixth blew the game open. Jeff Carpenter opened with a double then Wells tripled. He scored on a passed ball. Travis Wood got things rolling again with a single. Walks to Scott Peeler and young loaded the bases. Wood was thrown out trying to score on a grounder to third by Lambert but Hunter came through with a sacrifice fly and Young scored the 11th run of the game when Easterly reached on an error.
That held up for the run-rule win with Travis Wood’s work in the bottom of the inning.
Zuber’s relief work helps AA dump LR
LITTLE ROCK — Tanner Zuber pitched four innings of scoreless relief to calm a fast-developing slugfest as the Bryant Blacksox AA American Legion team out-lasted the Little Rock Post 1 Red squad, 9-4, on Wednesday, June 2.
Zuber came in to relieve starter Aaron Beard in the fourth inning after the Sox had erased a 4-3 deficit with a three-run uprising in the top of the fourth.
Little Rock had taken a 3-0 lead in the second only to have the Sox tie it in the third. The inning began with a one-out walk to Gaston Youngblood. Danny Reimenschneider was hit by a pitch then Devin Hurt walked to load the bases.
Though Youngblood was out at the plate on a force play as John Newman reached, Aaron Davidson came through with a double that cleared the bases and tied the game.
Little Rock regained the lead in the bottom of the inning with the help of a pair of Bryant errors but the Sox rallied again. With one out, Lance Hodges and Cory Caldwell singled. Youngblood walked and singles by Reimenschneider and Hurt drove in the runs.
Zuber worked around a single and a double in the fourth but closed the game out by retiring 12 of the last 14 Little Rock batters.
Bryant added single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively. Singles by Casey Grisham and Nick Roberts led to the fifth-inning tally. In the sixth, John Newman tripled in a run. In the seventh, Blake Zuber tripled to chase in the final run.
