Chism blanks Pine Bluff as Sox make it 12 straight
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
Left-hander Brad Chism hadn’t taken the mound in a game for the Bryant Black Sox AAA American Legion team in two weeks. He didn’t figure to be sharp and the fact that he was taking on the vaunted lineup of the Pine Bluff Simmons First Bank squad seemed almost too much to ask.
The Simmons team is made up of the Pine Bluff High School team that finished as the runner-up in Class AAAAA this spring along with some of the best players from Watson Chapel, White Hall and Pine Bluff Dollarway high schools — a powerhouse by all means.
And the Bankers put their best on the mound, lefty Matt Klamm, as they made their season debut after four previous dates were all rained out.
Surely, the Black Sox’ 11-game winning streak was in danger of being snapped.
Well, make it a dozen.
Chism, after struggling with his control early, found his way to a two-hit shutout as the Sox stunned the Pine Bluff team 6-0 at Bryant High School Field Tuesday night.
The Sox not only got the best of the Bankers’ ace but, when No. 2 starter Omar Blunt took the mound in the fifth, they added four insurance runs off of him.
And the shutout — it was the sixth of the season for the Bryant pitching staff — half of their 12 wins. It lowered the team earned run average to 1.30 per seven innings, 1.08 per game.
“This guy was the star of the game tonight,” declared Bryant manager Craig Harrison as he patted Chism on the back after the game.
Chism struck out two, walked three — but only one after issuing passes to the first two Pine Bluff batters. The only hits for Pine Bluff were a looper to right by Cory McCoy to lead off the second inning and a sharp single up the middle by Paul Witt with one out in the sixth.
“Everytime we play, especially when we play a good team, we still have some doubts in our mind,” Harrison allowed. “We watched them warm up — you know, that’s an all-star team over there — and we went out there in the first inning and Brad was a little nervous. He couldn’t find his control but then we get a doubleplay ball. The second inning, we get another one.”
With the first two walks, Pine Bluff had a runner at second for what would be the first of just two times in the game. Chism got John Hadley to fly to Matt White in center field then Jason Miner grounded into the twin-killing that ended the inning.
In the second, McCoy, after his single, was off and running from first when Keke Ento popped up to first baseman Michael McClellan. As the speedy McCoy sprinted to get back, McClellan grabbed the pop in front of the first-base bag and dove to the base to barely double up the runner.
That started a string in which Chism set down 12 of 13 batters. Only a one-out walk to Ryan Kizer in the third produced a Banker baserunner.
Meanwhile, the Sox gained the lead in the second. Cody Graddy, who came into the game having hit in all 11 of Bryant’s games this season, was issued a one-out walk by Klamm. (The one sour note of the night was that Graddy’s hitting streak was stopped.)
Matt Lewis followed with a hard grounder to short that looked like a sure doubleplay. But Witt, the Pine Bluff shortstop, bobbled the ball as he tried to get it out of his glove and all hands were safe. It was, in fact, somewhat reminiscent of Witt’s last appearance on the Bryant field. In a semifinal game at the AAAAA-South Conference tournament, Witt, a two-time all-state performer, made critical errors that contributed to the demise of the top-ranked Pine Bluff Zebras.
Still, nothing had happened for Bryant when Chris Sory came to the plate with two outs. On a 3-2 pitch, Sory hit a hard grounder at Witt that took a horrendous hop over the shorstop’s right shoulder and into left field. Graddy scored easily and Lewis made a bid to reach third. And when the return throw from left sailed into the Bryant dugout, Lewis scored as well.
The Sox would need no more than that but it eased some tension when they struck for two more in the fifth and a pair in the sixth off Blunt.
In the fifth, Dustin Morris walked and McClellan singled. Witt made a splendid play on a grounder into the hole by Matt Brown to get a force at second. But, with Beau Hamblin at the plate, Blunt unleashed a wild pitch and Morris scored. Hamblin then slapped a single to right, his second hit of the game. Brown held up at third when Hadley, the Pine Bluff right fielder, charged hard and came up gunning. Lee Smart, the Bankers’ first baseman, cut off the throw and when Hamblin made a big turn at first, beat him back to the bag for the second out of the inning. Brown, meanwhile, scored the second run of the inning.
Witt finally broke through against Chism with the one-out single in the top of the sixth. George Howard then hit a soft liner in front of Morris at second. In an ill-advised attempt to get Witt on the force, Morris whipped a throw to Brown at second but it was too late and Pine Bluff had two on with one out and the heart of the Bankers’ lineup coming up.
But Chism got Hadley to pop to short then Miner ripped a line drive that Sory speared at third base to end the inning.
A two-out walk to Sory began Bryant’s sixth-inning uprising. White then hit a slow roller that Witt charged in to field. White beat the throw to first and, when the throw sailed wide of the bag, he took second as Sory continued to third.
Morris then battled Blunt to a 3-2 count before drilling a two-run single to left to set the final margin of victory.
Chism needed just four pitches to set down the side in the seventh.
“We just kept battling,” Harrison noted. “That’s what this team is and, you know, they’re starting to believe in themselves. Every night that we strap it on, they’re going to come at us. Something about that zero in the loss column. We saw Klamm and Blunt tonight, their top two. We saw (Zac) Bradley Monday (against Oxford Printing), probably their ace. We saw (Brian) Harper and (Jay) Sayes Friday at North Little Rock, their two best.
“I’m pleased, very pleased,” he added. “It’s still early in June but we’re 4-0 in the league (Zone 4) and that’s where we wanted to be at this time.”
Harrison noted that the 12-game streak is the longest of any Black Sox team since he started coaching it in 1995. The previous longest was 10 games in 1997.
