FARMINGTON — After dropping their first three game in pool play, including a couple of gut-wrenchers, in the 16U division of the Chad Wolff Classic, the Bryant Black Sox Junior American Legion team swept their last two contests on Saturday at Farmington High School.
Early in the afternoon, Colby Morrow and Braxton Prather combined to limit Perfect Timing 15U Blue of Fayetteville to a run on four hits over six innings in a 9-1 victory. Later, Jaxon Ham went the distance, allowing just two runs on four hits in a 5-2 victory in seven innings over Academy Select 2022 – Wytek/Lytle of Allen, Texas.
The decisions improved the Sox to 6-5-1 this season.
Bryant 5, Academy Select 2
Ham walked no one and struck out four in his mound gem. Both runs came in the first then Ham shut out the Texas team the rest of the game.
Bryant took advantage of five Select errors, four walks and four hit batsmen with five hits including two for Luke Dreher.
Two singles and a wild pitch put Select in position to get its two runs in the first. A single to right plated both runs but, after that Ham retired the side on a pair of infield pops.
After the Sox were unable to take advantage of singles by Connor Martin and Ethan Andrews in the bottom of the first, they took the lead in the bottom of the second.
Gavin Burton led off and reached on a third-strike wild pitch. Dreher singled then so did Morrow to drive in the first Bryant run. Dreher scored when Drew Hatman grounded into a doubleplay but the inning continued when Ham was struck by a 2-1 pitch and Lawson Speer’s grounder to short was booted, making it 3-2.
Ham retired the side in order in the third as he had in the second. He would run that string to nine in a row before giving up a two-out single in the top of the fourth.
Bryant loaded the bases in the home third when Will Hathcote was struck by a 3-2 pitch, Burton walked and, with two down, Hatman worked a free pass. But all three were stranded. In the fourth, walks to Speer and Andrews came to naught.
After the fourth inning single, Ham finished out the ballgame by retiring the last 10 batters he faced. And the Sox added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth.
In the fifth, Dreher reached second on an outfield error, took third on Morrow’s grounder to the right side and scored on a passed ball.
In the sixth, Martin was plunked and, with two away, Burton was drilled again. Dreher came through with a clutch RBI single to set the final score.
Bryant 9, Perfect Timing 1
In four innings, Morrow walked six and struck out four but only surrendered two hits. Prather took over in the fifth and walked two and fanned one while giving up the other two hits.
The Sox, in the meantime, used seven hits including a double by Hathcote and a triple by Martin, to take advantage of seven walks.
The game was tight for three innings with Perfect Timing managing its run in the bottom of the third to take a lead. Four walks produced the run.
But Bryant put together a four-run uprising in the top of the fourth to take the lead for good. Martin was hit by a 1-1 pitch to get things started. He took second on a wild pitch then Andrews walked. They worked a double steal and Hatchote singled them both home. With two down, Morrow worked a four-pitch pass then Hatman singled to center to make it 3-1. Ham’s knock to center capped the inning.
Morrow pitched around a pair of two-out walks in the bottom of the fourth then the Sox pushed the lead to 7-1 in the top of the fifth.
Andrews’ one-out single was the spark. He stole second and scored on Hathcote’s double. A passed ball allowed Hathcote to take third. He scored on a single by Dreher to make it 6-1.
The inning continued when Burton and Morrow each walked to load the bases. Hatman grounded into a force at second to get Dreher home.
Prather surrendered a two-out double and a walk, then balked the runners to second and third but got out of the inning by inducing a grounder to Hathcote at third.
Speer walked to open the sixth and, on the very next pitch, Martin ripped his triple to center. Andrews provided a sacrifice fly to set the final score despite another double and a walk from Perfect Timing to start the bottom of the sixth. The Sox turned a doubleplay to take the starch out of the potential rally.
