Defense shines as Sox edge AT
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
Stars on the scoresheet — they’re used to indicate a spectacular defensive play and most of the time there are no more than a couple in any given AAA American Legion game.
But in Tuesday’s Zone 4 battle between the Bryant Blacksox and Arkansas Trailer of Little Rock at Bryant Field, the count passed half a dozen in as fine a baseball game as a fan could want.
The Sox, buoyed by the majority of those “stars,” some tremendous relief pitching and clutch hitting, held on for a well-earned 4-3 win to improve to 7-2 on the season and 2-0 against Zone rivals.
Defensive gems were turned in by first baseman Derek Chambers, center fielder Matt White, Scotty Yant at second base and shortstop, catcher Cody Graddy and left fielder Kevin Littleton for Bryant. And Trailer had its share compliments of right fielder Drew Holbert and first baseman Chris Houk.
The importance of the defense was intensified by the closeness of the game.
And, on the mound, the Sox got a big lift from B.J. Wood. Start Chance King battled without his best stuff. Though Trailer managed nine hits, he had the lead when he left. That was in the fifth inning when Trailer scratched out four consecutive singles to draw within a run of Bryant’s lead.
Wood was called upon with runners at first and second — the potential tying and lead runs — and one out. He got Brian Heckmann to fly out to White in center. Then, after uncorking a wild pitch that put both runners in scoring position, he struck out Trevor Holbert to end the threat and preserve the 4-3 Bryant advantage.
In the sixth, Wood worked around a one out error and a two-out single with the help of Chambers who robbed Casey Dwyer of a base hit ranging far to his left then out-sprinting Dwyer to the bag with a finishing dive that just nipped him for the final out.
Yant relieved in the seventh and waltzed through the middle of the Trailer batting order 1-2-3 to pick up the save.
Trailer led briefly early, scoring a run in the first on singles by Dwyer, Jimmy Tanner and Heckmann. In the home half, Bryant scored twice. Wood and Chambers cracked doubles to produce the tying tally. Graddy then singled so hard to left that Chambers could only get to third. He raced home, however, when Littleton bounced sharply to the left of third baseman George Bain, who made a good play to get an out at first.
The Sox turned a doubleplay and Graddy gunned down a would-be base-stealer in the second. On the steal attempt, Graddy’s laser throw appeared to be headed to center field, but Yant, raced in from his spot at second and made a lunging stab and tag.
In the bottom of the inning, Yant singled off the pitcher’s glove and Jeff Carpenter laced a double past third. Yant scored on Wood’s grounder to second then White came through with a clutch two-out RBI single that would prove to be the difference.
Tanner, the Trailer starter, and Heckmann, who relieved in the fourth, combined with the team’s defense to limit Bryant to one hit after that.
Trailer threatened in the fourth with a one-out walk to Heckmann and a single by Trevor Holbert. Chambers saved a run or two with a diving stab behind first to rob Chris Houk of an extra-base hit, then White streaked into the gap in left-center to flag down a liner by Bain that seemed destined for the fence, ending the inning.
The Sox were set to travel to Maumelle for a doubleheader on Thursday, June 6, before returning to Zone action at home against Benton on Friday.
Slighted Sox slam Trailer, 15-2
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
When the Arkansas Trailer of Little Rock A American Legion team beat the Bryant Blacksox in the finals of the Benton Invitational Tournament a couple of weeks ago, there were a couple of things that stuck in the craw of Sox coaches Scott Williams and Mike Campbell and their troops.
And no one remembers better than baseball folks.
So, to say the Sox came to play when the two teams met for the third time this season on Tuesday, June 4, at Bryant Field — well, the final score should say it all: Sox 15, Trailer 2, five innings.
Bryant put up crooked numbers in every inning including a half dozen in the third using 12 hits to take advantage of five Trailer errors.
Scott Peeler, who continued his torrid hitting with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, picked up the win on the mound, scattering four hits in five innings to go to 2-0 as Bryant improved to 9-3 going into Wednesday’s home doubleheader with Stuttgart.
Todd Bryan went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in and Andrew Moseley was 2-for-2 with a walk for Bryant.
Trailer, which played the championship game in Benton with six players that were on the team last season (some as 15-year-olds) including Jimmy Tanner who was the starting pitcher in Tuesday’s AAA game against Bryant, had four of those players for Tuesday’s game. Those included starting pitcher Will Schmidley, who had two of his team’s hits at the plate.
The intensity of the Blacksox showed right away as Schmidley couldn’t get through two innings before he was kayoed.
Trailer scored a run in the top of the first on Schmidley’s RBI single, but the Sox got four in the home half. Dustin Easterly’s bad-hop triple opened the floodgates. Peeler singled him home, then took second and the ball was bobbled in the outfield. With two down, Bryan shot a single to left to plate Peeler. A walk to Korey Hunter was followed by run-scoring singles by Moseley and Daniel Hinton.
In the second, the Sox sent nine men to the plate and scored four times again. This time Dustin Tinkler was the instigator with a single to left. Easterly sacrificed him to second then Peeler’s bouncer to short was followed with a bad throw to first. With Tinkler at third, Peeler swiped second. Nick Dorsey reached on an error as both runners scored. Peeler hustled home from second even though the ball never left the infield.
After Schmidley gave way to Josh Jenkins, Bryan singled. He stole second and drew a bad throw that allowed Dorsey to score. Hunter then capped the inning with an RBI single to make it 8-0.
The six-run sixth included four walks to go with a two-run single by Bryan, an RBI hit by Peeler and a bases-loaded walk to Minton.
Schmidley doubled and scored on a single by Mitchell Webb in the top of the fourth but Bryant even got that run back in the bottom of the inning when Peeler doubled and scored when Dorsey reached on yet another Trailer miscue.
