Junior Black Sox successful in season opener
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
BAUXITE — The Bryant Black Sox Junior American Legion team only managed three[more] hits in their season-opener against Little Rock Post 1 Blue on Saturday morning, but they came at opportune times.
Tyler Nelson’s double started a six-run first. Ozzie Hurt’s double cleared the bases when they’d been loaded. And Nelson’s two-out single in the third drove in two more runs as the Sox forged a 10-2 run-rule win in pool play at Miners Field as part of the 29th Wally Hall Tournament of Champions. Wood bats are being used in the event.
The Sox were set to play Sheridan later in the day.
Right-hander Tryce Schalchlin picked up the win on the mound with solid relief from lefty Zach Cambron. Over 4 2/3 innings, Schalchlin allowed two runs, just one earned, on four hits with two walks, two hit batsmen and six strikeouts. Cambron, over the last 1 1/3, walked one, hit one and fanned one.
“I liked what Tryce did a lot,” stated Sox manager Jimmy Parker. “He threw about 80 pitches. We don’t want to stretch him out further than that. He threw well. He’s got to get some throwing in but he got some good work in today. His off-speed stuff will start working better.
“Cambron came in and did a good job too,” he added. “He’s another guy we’ve got to get some work. And I thought (catcher) Josh (Davis) did a good job behind the plate, calling the game.”
After the high school season ended on Sunday, May 15, the coaches gave the players time off before they began Leion season.
“We didn’t practice one time,” acknowledged Parker, who coached most of the team as 15-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars last summer. “We came out here, talked to them about some stuff before the game and, basically, just went after it. But they’d played for us before and, of course, they played for (Bryant High) Coach (Kirk) Bock, so the game of baseball is not difficult to them. We just got out there and kept it simple and got it done.”
It was a bit of a shaky start. A bloop single by J.T. Thompson opened the game for Blue. Schalchlin struck out Will Richardson but, in the process, unleashed a pair of wild pitches that allowed Thompson to reach third. He scored on a solid base hit by Alex Harvey.
Walter Bass bounced into a force at second but J.D. Hill reached on an error. With runners at second and third, Schalchlin had Hill picked off second but his throw was off target and Bass scored to make it 2-0.
He came back to strike out Hunter Seib to end the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Nelson’s one-out double deep down the right-field line was followed by wildness from Harvey, the Little Rock starter. Marcus Wilson drew a free pass then Daniel Richards was hit by a 2-2 delivery to load the bags.
With two down, walks to Schalchlin and Cambron forced in runs to tie the game. And when Harvey fell behind Davis 3-1, Richardson came in to relieve. His first pitch was a ball resulting in another RBI walk. That gave Bryant a 3-2 lead.
Hurt came up and battled to a 3-2 count, fouled off one delivery then laced a liner to left just beyond the reach of Eddie Del Cid. The ball went to the fence allowing all three runners to score.
In the top of the second, Schalchlin was a strike away from a 1-2-3 inning when he hit Del Cid. Thompson beat out an infield hit on another two-strike pitch then Richardson walked. But Schachlin picked off Del Cid to end the threat.
It stayed 6-2 until the home third when the Sox added to their lead. Schalchlin’s fly to right was dropped and Cambron’s sacrifice bunt drew a wild throw to first that allowed courtesy runner Trevor Ezell to score.
With one out, Hurt drew a walk and, with two out, he and Cambron worked a double steal, setting the stage for Nelson’s two-run single to left.
After working a 1-2-3 third, Schalchlin surrendered a single to lead off the fourth. But he struck out the next two batters and, on the third strike to Nathan Woodell for the second out, Davis fired a pick-off throw to first to nab Seib for an inning-ending doubleplay.
The right-hander hit Alex Stillwell to start the fifth then fanned the next two before issuing a walk to Harvey. Cambron relieved at that point and issued a walk to Bass before striking out Hill to end the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Seib was hit by a pitch but was caught straying too far off first when Ezell came on in right field to haul in a short flyball.
The Sox needed just one run to win it but went down in order in the bottom of the fifth. In the sixth, however, Nelson drew a walk and stole second. A wild pitch by Hayden Mills, the third Blue pitcher, got Nelson to third as Wilson drew a walk. Little Rock decided to walk Richards intentionally to set up a force at every base, hoping to choke off the game-ending run. But the third pitch of the intentional walk was wild and Nelson raced home to end it.
BRYANT 10, LITTLE ROCK POST 1 2
Junior American Legion
Blue ab r h bi Black Sox ab r h bi
J.Thompson, ss 3 1 2 0 Green, cf 4 0 0 0
Richardson, 2b-p-lf 2 0 0 0 Nelson, ss 3 2 2 2
Harvey, p-dh-2b-lf-cf 2 0 1 1 Wilson, lf 2 1 0 0
Bass, 3b 2 1 0 0 Richards, 3b 0 1 0 0
Hill, 1b 3 0 0 0 Gogus, 1b 2 0 0 0
Seib, rf 2 0 1 0 Schalchlin, p-rf 2 0 0 1
Mills, cf-p 3 0 0 0 Ezell, cr 0 2 0 0
Woodelly, c 3 0 0 0 Cambron, rf-p 1 2 0 1
Del Cid, lf 0 0 0 0 Davis, c 2 0 0 1
Stillwell, 2b 0 0 0 0 K.Thompson, cr 0 1 0 0
Graddy, c0000
Hurt, 2b2113
K.Thompson, 2b0000
Totals 20 2 4 1 Totals 18 10 3 8
LR Blue 200 000 — 2
BRYANT 603 001 — 10
No one out when game-ending run scored.
E—Richards, Schalchlin, Seib, Richardson. DP—Bryant 2. LOB—LR Blue 8, Bryant 3. 2B—Nelson, Hurt. SB—Cambron, Hurt. S—Gogus, Cambron.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
LR Blue
Harvey (L) 0.2 6 6 1 4 0
Richardson 4.1 4 0 2 2 1
Mills 0 1 1 0 2 0
BRYANT
Schalchlin (W) 4.2 2 1 4 2 6
Cambron 1.1 0 0 0 1 1
HBP—Del Cid, Stillwell (by Schalchlin), Seib (by Cambron), Richards (by Harvey), Richards (by Richardson). WP—Harvey, Mills 2.
