Bryant AAA rallies past Searcy
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SEARCY — After playing six games in four days including three on Sunday, June 17, when they won the Brooks Robinson Twin Lakes Classic for the second year in a row then jumping right back into regular-season action with games against Jacksonville and Pine Bluff, the Bryant Black Sox AAA American Legion team needed a bit of a break. So the five days that they didn’t play between the Pine Bluff game and a trip to Searcy were welcome even though they may have been a little rusty when they got back into competition.
But after falling behind 5-2, the Sox rallied for an 8-5 win in nine innings over Searcy Crain Automotive to improve to 16-3 on the season.
A five-run sixth inning gave the Sox the lead and right-handers Ryan Wilson and Aaron Davidson, working in relief of starter Tanner Zuber, made it stand up for the win. Manager Craig Harrison had planned to use Davidson, the team’s closer, for just one inning but at the end of the seventh found out it was a nine-inning game. Davidson stayed on the hill and finished. He didn’t allow a hit in his three frames.
Zuber struggled with his control over the first three innings. He walked five including two in the fourth. His walk in the first was followed by a two-out, two-run homer by Shane Crossen. He worked around a pair of walks in the second but, in the third, hit a batter who went to third on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly to give Searcy a 3-2 lead.
Wilson relieved after the fourth-inning passes and surrendered a two-run single that put Crain on top 5-2. He allowed just one other hit, however, as he worked through the sixth.
The Sox got on the board in the second. Devin Hurt and Tyler Pickett singled and, after Jordan Knight hit into a force at third, Tyler Sawyer walked to load the bases and Trent Daniel picked up the RBI with a grounder to first.
In the third, they tied it 2-2 when Joey Winiecki singled, swiped second and drew an errant throw that allowed him to take third. He scored from there on a sacrifice fly by Hurt.
After Searcy built the 5-2 advantage, the Sox trimmed a run off the margin in the top of the fifth. Alex Kehrees singled, Winiecki walked and Davidson singled to load the bases for Hurt who drew a free pass to force in the run.
The game-turning sixth began with Knight reaching on an error. Sawyer singled then Daniel bounced into a force at third. Kehrees then came through with an RBI double and Winiecki singled to tie the game.
Jake Jackson bounced into a force at second but beat the rap at first to keep the inning alive for Davidson and Hurt who each reached on Searcy miscues that allowed, in turn, Kehrees and Jackson to score. A base hit by Pickett chased home the final run.
