Junior Sox bounce back with win over Little Rock team
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).
HOT SPRINGS — Hunter Oglesby had two hits and Dakota Besancon allowed a run on just one[more] hit over the first four innings as the Sport Shop Black Sox Junior American Legion team of Bryant notched a 6-4 win over Little Rock Post 1 on Sunday. The game wrapped up a four-team jamboree that was hastily put together at Lakeside High School after a wood bat tournament at Bauxite was cancelled late last week.
The Sox built a 6-1 lead over those first four innings then held off Little Rock’s comeback for the win.
The game pitted former Black Sox teammates, Tyler Pickett for Sport Shop and Jordan Knight for Post 1, against each other as managers.
Now 2-2, the Sox are set to travel to Texarkana to play Genoa Central in a doubleheader Tuesday evening.
Besancon retired the first six batters he faced in the game before issuing a walk to Alex Stillwell to lead off the third. Stillwell swiped second, took third on a bunt single by Rashad Townsend and scored on a groundout by Braxton Bowmar.
By then, the Sox had built a 3-0 lead. In the home first, Drew Tipton beat out a bunt for a hit then took second on a passed ball. Stillwell, the Post 1 starter, retired the next two batters before Oglesby cracked an RBI single.
A pair of wild pitches allowed Oglesby to advance to third and he scored to make it 2-0 when Weston Jones’ grounder to short was misplayed.
The lead grew to 3-0 in the bottom of the third when Andrew Kincaid and Tre Davis each drew a walk. Kincaid tagged and went to third on a fly to center by Dalton Holt so he was in position to score when Tipton grounded into a force at second, beating the relay to first to avoid the inning-ending doubleplay.
Little Rock got on the board in the top of the third but Bryant answered. With one out in the bottom of the frame, Oglesby ripped a triple. Pickett called for a squeeze to get the run home and Jones got the bunt down and the Sox led 4-1.
Two pitches later, Jimbo Seale belted a double and, when Kincaid reached on an error, it was 5-1.
Besancon closed out his work on the mound with a 1-2-3 fourth and the Black Sox padded the lead with another tally in the home half. Blake Patterson’s two-out bunt single set the stage. Harrison Dale beat out a bunt for another hit then, after taking third on a passed ball, Patterson scored on a wild pitch.
Patterson took over on the mound in the fifth and Little Rock took advantage of a trio of Bryant errors to trim a run off the margin. In the sixth, a bunt hit by Cole Weber, a groundout by Tucker Mann and an error which allowed Hayden Mills to reach produced another unearned run, making it a 6-3 game.
Devin Dupree took over on the mound for Bryant in the seventh. Bowmar reached on an error, Lance Nolan walked and, after a wild pitch, Weber was hit with a pitch with one out. Jonathan Carruth bounced into a force at second as Bowmar scored then Dupree struck out Mann to close out the win.
