Junior Sox sweep Benton, including 26-6 debacle
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
BENTON — It was a long, long, long night at Holland Park on Thursday.
But, in the end, the Bryant Black Sox Junior American Legion team had two wins over its rival from Benton, 6-3 and 26-6, improving the Sox to 9-4 on the season going into a doubleheader at home on Saturday against Texarkana.
Thursday’s opener was highlighted by the pitching of right-hander Landon Pickett who used 85 pitches to get through six innings with a one-hit shutout. The lone hit, a single by Zak Sparks with two down in the third inning was the lone baserunner against Pickett who gave way to reliever Austin Johnson to start the seventh, with his team up 6-0.
Benton rallied for three runs before Tyler Brown got the final out by fanning Tanner Bates with the bases loaded.
Pickett struck out four and was backed by flawless defense. He set down the first eight batters he faced and, after Sparks’ single, retired the last 10 that he pitched to.[more]
Pickett also led the team with three hits. In the two games combined, he was 6 for 8 with six runs batted in.
Bryant took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Evan Jobe and Lucas Castleberry drew walks. Sparks, the Benton starter, appeared to short-circuit the inning for the Sox by inducing a doubleplay ball off Dylan Pritchett’s bat but Pickett stroked a single to left to drive in Castleberry.
In the second, Brown smacked a one-out single to left, took second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball. With two down, Matt Neal, the nine-hole hitter for the Sox, worked Sparks by fouling off five two-strike pitches. Sparks then unleashed another wild pitch to allow Brown to score before Neal finally drew a well-earned walk.
Castleberry, who would finish 5 of 7 at the plate for the day, was hit by a pitch from Sparks to start the third. He stole second and advanced to third on a bouncer to the right side by Pritchett. A balk allowed him to trot home, making it 3-0.
The Sox added to that in the fifth when Pickett doubled with one down and, with two away, Brodie Nixon belted a two-bagger to chase him home.
Brandon Balding relieved for Benton in the sixth and he retired the first two before issuing a four-pitch walk to Jobe. With Castleberry at the plate, Jobe swiped second then scored on Castleberry’s double to the gap in right-center. He stole third then scored on Pritchett’s single to center, making it 6-0.
Garrett Parker picked up Benton’s second hit, a double, to lead off the bottom of the seventh. A pair of walks followed around a fly out to center. With Johnson in the wind-up in a bases-loaded situation, Parker stole home to get his team on the board.
Johnson went on to fan Chance Capinger but, before he had that accomplished an error allowed a second run to score. Blake Berry singled and, with a 1-0 count on Dwight Taylor, Brown was called on to relieve. His first pitch hit Taylor to load the bases. Zach White then singled in a run before Brown ended it with the strikeout of Bates.
In the interminable second game, Bryant scored six in the first, four in the second, four in the third, 11 in the fourth and one more in the fifth. The Sox took advantage of 15 walks, three errors, nine wild pitches, two passed balls and a balk with 15 hits against five Benton pitchers. Castleberry and Pritchett had four each and Pickett three.
Pickett singled in a run in the first and Jobe picked up an RBI with a bases-loaded walk. Two runs scored on wild pitches then the sixth came in on Castleberry’s second hit of the inning, a sharp single to center.
In the second, Pritchett ripped a double to get things revved up again. But the walks and the wild pitches began to drag the game out. Austin Johnson contributed a sacrifice fly to make it 7-0. Two runs scored on wild pitches and another on an error.
Pritchett and Johnson singled to get things going in the fourth. Two wild pitches and a passed ball brought runs home, another scored on a groundout by Neal, making it 14-0.
Neal, meanwhile, worked the first two innings without giving up a hit. In the third, however, Sparks broke up his no-no too with a lead-off single. Base hits by Ethan Holicer and Parker followed with the latter driving in the first Benton run. Two more runs scored on a wild pitches as Neal went through a wild stretch in which he issued a pair of walks. He got back on track by fanning Michael Pope and getting Caplinger to groundout to end the inning.
Bryant’s 11-run fourth included seven hits, an error, a hit batsman, and three walks. Pickett singled in the first run of the inning after opening singles by Castleberry and Pritchett. Brown picked up an RBI with a bases-loaded walk. Tyler Gattin followed with a hard grounder to Bates at third but he was unable to get a force and another run scored.
Neal singled in a run and Chris Jackson picked up an RBI by being hit with a pitch with the bases loaded. Castleberry’s second hit of the inning drove in a run then Pritchett walked to force in a run ahead of Pickett’s two-run double. Johnson picked up an RBI with a groundout before Nixon capped the inning with an RBI single that made it 25-3.
Benton trimmed three runs off the margin in the bottom of the fourth. Sparks walked with one out then Holicer and Parker followed with singles. Sparks scored on a wild pitch as did Holicer. Parker scored on a passed ball as the score turned to 25-6.
At that point, the fans were looking for a 15 after three run rule to end the game but it was not in affect. So, in the fifth, Chris Jackson laced his first hit of the season and, an out later, Pritchett moved him to third with a double. Pickett’s sacrifice fly brought Jackson home.
Brown relieved again in the bottom of the fifth and worked around a two-out single by Taylor to bring a merciful end to the proceedings.
BRYANT 6, BENTON 3
Game one
Bryant ab r h bi Benton ab r h bi
Jobe, cf 2 1 1 0 Bates, ss 4 0 0 0
Castleberry, 3b-2b 2 3 1 1 Parker, cf 3 1 1 0
Pritchett, c 4 0 1 1 Long, c 1 0 0 0
Pickett, p-1b-3b 4 1 3 1 Creel, c 1 1 0 0
Johnson, 1b-p 4 0 1 0 Balding, 1b-p 3 0 0 0
Nixon, lf 3 0 1 1 Harris, 2b-1b 2 1 0 0
Brown, 2b 4 1 1 0 Caplinger, lf 3 0 0 0
Gattin, ss 4 0 0 0 Berry, 3b 3 0 1 0
Neal, rf 2 0 0 0 Taylor, rf 2 0 0 0
Sparks, p 1 0 1 0
White, 2b 2 0 1 1
Totals 29 6 9 4 Totals 25 3 4 1
BRYANT 111 012 0 — 6
Benton 000 000 3 — 3
E—Johnson. DP—Benton 1. LOB—Bryant 8, Benton 4. 2B—Pickett, Nixon, Castleberry, Parker. SB—Castleberry 2, Jobe, Nixon, Parker.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Bryant
Pickett (W, 3-1) 6 0 0 1 0 4
Johnson 0.2 3 3 2 2 1
Brown 0.1 0 0 1 0 1
Benton
Sparks (L) 5 4 4 7 3 2
Balding 2 1 1 2 2 2
Balk—Sparks. HBP—Castleberry (by Sparks), Taylor (by Brown). WP—Sparks 4, Johnson. PB—Creel.
BRYANT 26, BENTON 6
Game two
Bryant ab r h bi Benton ab r h bi
Jobe, rf 1 0 0 1 Harris, p 0 0 0 0
Jackson, rf 2 2 1 1 Holicer, ss-p-3b 2 2 2 0
Castleberry, 3b-2b 5 3 4 2 Parker, cf 3 2 2 1
Pritchett, cf 5 5 4 1 Creel, c 2 0 0 0
Pickett, c-3b 4 3 3 5 Frelin, c 1 0 0 0
Johnson, 1b-p 5 2 1 2 Balding, rf 1 0 0 0
Nixon, lf-c 3 2 1 1 White, 2b 2 0 0 0
Brown, 2b-p 1 4 0 1 Berry, 3b-p 0 0 0 0
Gattin, ss 1 3 0 2 Pope, ss 2 0 0 0
Neal, p-1b-lf 4 2 1 2 Bates, ss-p 1 0 0 0
Caplinger, 1b-p 2 0 0 0
Taylor, lf 3 0 1 0
Sparks, 1b-3b 2 2 1 0
Totals 32 26 15 18 Totals 21 6 6 1
BRYANT 644 (11)1 — 26
Benton 003 30 — 6
E—Bates, Holicer, Brown, Taylor. DP—Bryant 1. LOB—Bryant 9, Benton 6. 2B—Pritchett 2, Pickett. SB—Nixon, Brown, Pritchett, Johnson, Parker. SF—Johnson, Pickett.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Bryant
Neal (W) 3 3 3 3 4 3
Johnson 1 3 3 2 1 3
Brown 1 0 0 1 0 1
Benton
Harris (L) 0.2 6 3 2 4 1
Bates 1 3 2 2 3 0
Berry 0.2 5 5 2 4 2
Holicer 1 8 8 4 2 1
Caplinger 1.2 4 4 5 2 0
Balk—Holicer. HBP—Jackson (by Holicer), Balding (by Johnson). WP—Harris 2, Neal 2, Bates 2, Berry 2, Holicer, Johnson 3. PB–Creel 2, Pritchett.
