Black Sox take 3 of 4 in Texarkana
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TEXARKANA — On the heels of their first loss of the season, the Bryant Black Sox AAA American Legion team traveled to Texarkana to take on that city’s two American Legion teams (one from each side of the state line) in four games over two days. The Sox took three of the four games including both Zone 4 battles with the Arkansas squad.
On Saturday, Bryant swept the Hogs of Texarkana, Ark., 6-3 and 7-3. On Sunday, The Indians of Texarkana, Texas, pinned a 10-9 loss on Bryant before the Sox came back in the final game of the trip with an 11-6 victory.
The results left the Black Sox 15-2 overall this season and 6-0 in Zone 4 action going into Monday’s non-zone game against Sylvan Hills.
Black Sox 6, Hogs 3
Bryant needed a four-run rally in the top of the seventh to extract the initial win.
The Sox trailed 3-2 going into the seventh. Matt White then instigated the comeback with a single. He was forced out at second on a grounder to short by Dustin Morris but Michael McClellan followed with a single. Matt Brown then hit a bouncer to second and Texarkana’s Brandon Hall, attempting to get a force on McClellan, threw wildly allowing Morris to score the tying run.
McClellan wound up at third and Brown at second on the play. Hamblin then laced a 1-2 delivery from reliever Bryan Bearden, into the gap in right-center for a two-run double that gave the Sox their first lead of the game.
An out later, Jordan Davis singled in Hamblin to make it 6-3.
Right-hander Scott Yant surrendered three runs in the first inning (with a pair of Bryant errors figuring into the third tally) then shut out Texarkana through the sixth inning. He fanned nine and walked just one while scattering six hits. He picked up the win to improve to 3-0 this season and Hamblin earned his second save with a scoreless seventh inning in relief.
The Sox were stopped initially by Texarkana’s Chris Bearden. They were able to push a pair of runs across in the third. Morris’s single to center was misplayed, allowing him to reach second. McClellan bounced a base hit up the middle and Brown drove in a run with a single to left that was botched. McClellan was able to score when Hamblin’s grounder to short drew a wild throw to first.
The Sox threatened in the fifth when Morris and Brown singled. That’s when Bryan Bearden came on in relief with one out. He walked Hamblin to load the bases but when Cody Graddy bounced to third, the Hogs got off the hook with a 5-2-3 doubleplay.
Black Sox 7, Hogs 3
The Sox saw a 3-0 lead disappear in the second game of the twinbill but rallied for four runs in the bottom of the sixth (Bryant was the home team because the game was a Zone contest that would’ve ordinarily been played in Bryant) to forge the win.
McClellan improved to 3-0 on the season with a rout-going performance on the hill. He fanned six and walked just one. Only two of the Hogs’ runs were earned as McClellan allowed seven hits. He pitched a 1-2-3 top of the seventh after Bryant had gained the upper hand in the sixth.
An error helped the Sox put the rally together as Morris reached base to open the inning. McClellan followed with a single and Brown doubled him home. Hamblin and Graddy, who each had two hits in the game, followed with RBI singles to make it 6-3. An out later, Cody Dreher’s sacrifice fly set the final score.
The Sox had grabbed the early lead with a two-run first. Morris drew a one-out walk and, with two down, Brown’s grounder to third drew a wild throw. Morris scored on a passed ball then Hamblin singled Brown home.
In the third, Hamblin and Graddy drew walks. A pair of wild pitches later, it was 3-0.
McClellan had allowed only two hits over the first three innings. In the fourth, however, the Hogs managed an unearned run.
In the fifth, two singles, a sacrifice and a two-run hit by Brandon Adaway tied the game.
The Sox turned a doubleplay to keep it at that and McClellan did not allow a baserunner after that.
Indians 10, Black Sox 9
Texarkana, Texas pounded out 13 hits to out-slug the Sox who suffered just their second loss of the season on Sunday. A three-run fourth put the Indians ahead to stay as starter Brad Chism absorbed his first loss of the season in three decisions.
A two-out RBI single by Hamblin had Bryant up 1-0 in the first but the Indians, aided by three walks, rallied for two in the bottom of the inning.
That lead didn’t last long as Bryant struck for five in the second. Jordan Davis belted his first home run of the season to begin the uprising. An out later, Dreher singled and White doubled. Morris knocked in a run with a base hit and, after McClellan walked to load the bases, Brown and Hamblin cracked run-scoring hits forcing a pitching change. Graddy’s grounder to short brought home McClellan to make it 6-2.
Texarkana, sparked by a solo homer from Brandon Greenwood, cut the margin to 6-5 in the second and, in the third, used a bunt single, an errant throw, a wild pitch and a groundout to get the tying run home.
Bryant regained the edge with a run in the fourth, manufactured in similar fashion. Morris singled and took second when the hit was misplayed in center. A wild pitch moved him to third as McClellan walked then Brown came through with a sacrifice fly.
Three singles and a pair of walks produced the Indians’ three run fourth, however. Cody Krisp produced the big hit of the inning, a two-out, two-run single to right.
With Chance King on in relief of Chism, Greenwood belted a his second solo homer of the game in the fifth to make it 10-7. King regrouped and retired the next three and, in the sixth, worked around a pair of hits.
That gave Bryant a chance to pull out the victory. The Sox trimmed the lead to one in the top of the sixth on a walk, an error and back-to-back sacrifice flies by Morris and McClellan. But the Sox were retired in order in the top of the seventh as Texarkana held on for the win.
Black Sox 11, Indians 6
The Sox continued to rattle the bats in the second game, using 14 hits to finish on a winning note.
Kevin Littleton picked up the win as the starter, going 6 1/3 innings before getting relief help from Dreher in the bottom of the seventh.
Bryant scored in all but the seventh inning. Graddy went 4-for-5, Scott Yant 3-for-4 and Matt Lewis and Morris had two hits each. Davis contributed his second homer of the weekend with a three-run shot in the sixth that put the game out of reach.
An RBI single by Matt Brown had the Sox on top 1-0 in the first but the Indians countered with three in the bottom of the inning, sparked by Greenwood’s third homer of the day.
Unfazed, the Sox tied it in the second. Lewis walked, took second on a wild pitch and scored when Luke Brown’s grounder to third drew a wild throw. After Yant singled Brown to third, Morris brought him home with a sacrifice fly to knot it up.
After Littleton worked a 1-2-3 second, the Sox took a brief lead. Graddy singled in Hamblin who had walked and taken second on an errant pickoff throw.
The Texarkana third began with a trio of singles that produced two runs and a 5-4 lead. But Littleton battled through the trouble and held the Indians the rest of his stint.
The Sox tied the game at 5 in the fourth. Singles by Yant and Morris around a walk to White loaded the bases and Yant scored on a wild pitch.
In the fifth, Graddy singled and Lewis doubled to get things going. An RBI bouncer to second by Luke Brown put the Sox back on top. Yant then singled in a run. After White grounded into a force at second, he advanced on an error and scored on a single up the middle by Morris, beating the throw to the plate.
Davis’s one-out blast in the sixth came after Hamblin had walked and Graddy had singled.
Littleton retired the first batter he faced in the seventh (Greenwood) then gave up a single to Bryan Humphrey. He gave way to Dreher who was greeted with a single up the middle by Taylor Dunlap. The Bryant lefty got clean-up hitter Josh Howard to pop to second before surrendering an RBI single to Grant Stanley. He ended it there, however, inducing a grounder to third for a force.
