Wood brothers lead win over Trailer
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
LITTLE ROCK — The Little Rock Arkansas Trailer AAA American Legion team has a core of seven players that — for opponents anyway — seems like its been playing for a long time. They were a big reason the team slugged its way into the State Tournament last season.
None of them are easy outs and a couple — big catcher George Bain and third sacker Michael Arnold come to mind — can be downright intimidating.
Now, Bryant’s Travis Wood, who just turned 16 years old, has accomplished a lot already in his baseball career. A great run to the Babe Ruth World Series last summer including a 17-strikeout no-hitter in the opening game at the Series. As a sophomore, he was the Bryant Hornets’ ace, earning all-State honors. And since then, he’s been invited to try out for the prestigious Area Code Games.
Tack on one more accomplishment as of Thursday, June 4: A stunning performance against that formidable Arkansas Trailer lineup in a two-inning relief appearance that produced his first save of the season, protecting an 8-7 win for the Bryant Blacksox.
With the eventual final score already on the board, Wood waded through the Trailer lineup, walking two but accounting for five of six outs with strikeouts. His victims included Arnold and Bain.
Actually, it was a good day to be a Wood. Older brother B.J. picked up the win in relief, squelching an Arkansas Trailer rally in the fourth inning that ended with the tying run at third. He also provided what proved to be the decisive run with a solo homer — his third dinger of the season — in the top of the fourth.
The win vaulted the Sox (10-1) into a first-place tie atop the District IV standings. It was Trailer’s first league loss.
It was a typically unpredictable game at War Eagle Field at J.A. Fair High School between the two teams. No lead has been safe the last few years. A seven-run third gave the Sox a 7-1 lead but it didn’t hold up.
It didn’t help that starting pitcher Daniel Minton developed a blister on his pitching hand.
“That hurt us because we were wanting him to go a little longer,” noted Sox manager Craig Harrison. “He couldn’t throw strikes in that fourth inning. He said that it was hurting him really bad and I didn’t know it. Next time, he’ll tell me so I can get somebody loose because I don’t think B. was loose really. We B. to get us through the fifth because we knew we could throw Travis for two. That was all he was going to throw because he was throwing this weekend for a tryout at the Area Code Games. We’ve never had anybody invited to it. We wanted him to do well there so we weren’t going to throw him a lot. If (Arkansas Trailer) had tied it right there, I would’ve had to go get somebody else but Travis came through for us.
“He’s got maturity beyond a 16-year old on the mound,” Harrison added. “A guy could get really upset with some of the borderline pitches there. I was getting upset and all of us over here (in the dugout). He just maintained his cool, came back and threw strikes. He’s got a nice fastball and he was slinging it tonight. We didn’t have to throw the breaking ball much. You get on this close, compact field and you realize how hard he throws the ball.”
Trailer took an early 1-0 lead with a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly by Arnold in the first. That held until the Bryant third. A walk to Andrew Norman to lead off the inning provided the Sox with their first baserunner against AT starter Josh Jenkins. David Moore followed with a walk then Dustin Easterly came through with the key play of the game, laying down a bunt that was better than a sacrifice. He beat it out for a single, loading the bases.
“The bunt was key to the inning,” Harrison asserted. “We’d had trouble with not getting runners around (in a 3-2 loss to Pine Bluff earlier in the week). Dustin got the bunt down, gave us bases loaded with no one out. We got a couple of hits, took advantage of a couple of errors and got a lead.”
Todd Bryan came through with the first big hit, a double down the left-field line that chased two runs home. An errant throw to first on a tap to third by B.J. Wood provided more fuel for the inning. Derek Chambers followed with a two-run double that opened up the inning and after A.J. Nixon reached on another Trailer error and Jeff Carpenter delivered a sacrifice fly, the lead was 6-1.
Jenkins issued a walk to Travis Wood then gave way to Nathan Frazier who walked Norman and Moore again to force in a seventh run.
Trailer a run back with the help of a Bryant error in the bottom of the third but B.J. Wood’s blast countered that, making it 8-2.
Minton’s struggles began with a walk to Chad Broadway in the bottom of the inning. Philip Wood’s bloop double was followed by walks to Geoffrey Campbell and Mitchell Webb, forcing in a run. Minton had to come out but B.J. Wood was greeted by Will Schmidley’s two-run double, an RBI single by Arnold and a sacrifice fly by Bain before he gained his stride. He ended the inning with Arnold at third with the tying run, striking out Sessions and Brian Heckmann.
Broadway walked again to open the fifth and, on a wild pitch and a flyout by Philip Wood, he reached third with one out. With the infield in, B.J. Wood got Campbell to tap out to third then retired Webb on a grounder to second to protect the lead.
Travis Wood then took over in the sixth and, after an opening walk to Schmidley, fanned Arnold and Bain. With Schmidley at second, Sessions hit a grounder wide of first that Chambers ranged over to field, but Travis Wood was a little slow getting off the mound. Realizing the base was hit to cover, the young hurler sprinted to the bag and took a perfect toss from Chambers to just beat Sessions for the final out.
In the seventh, Heckmann walked but the lefty blew away the next three batters to nail down the win.
