Logan White scored from third base on a wild pitch with one out in the bottom of the seventh as the Bryant Black Sox walked off with a 4-3 win over the rival Texarkana Razorbacks in a tense contest in the winners’ bracket of the 2020 Junior American Legion State Tournament on Tuesday night at Bryant High School Field.
The Sox advance to play Sheridan ST on Wednesday at 8 p.m., in a winners’ bracket semifinal.
Tuesday’s game was a pitchers’ duel between Bryant’s Will Hathcote and Texarkana’s Nate Moore. Both pitched as long as they could — there’s a 105-pitch limit — with the game deadlocked 3-3. Hathcote came out of the game after 102 pitches with two out in the top of the fifth. He had retired the first two in the inning then walked a pair. Lefty Tyler Bates relieved and got out of the inning on a comebacker to the mound.
He then blanked the Razorbacks on one hit over the next two innings.
Meanwhile, Moore worked into the bottom of the seventh. After retiring Bryant lead-off man Lawson Speer to start the inning, he had to come out having reached the 105 limit. Riley Drew relieved and got into trouble quickly. White beat out an infield hit on a grounder in the hole at short. Drew walked Ryan Riggs and, after an errant pickoff throw allowed White to go to third, the Razorbacks chose to walk Connor Martin intentionally to load the bases, creating a force play at every station.
But Drew’s 1-0 pitch to Colby Morrow was in the dirt and inside. It skipped past catcher Colby Brooks and White sprinted home with the game-winner.
Texarkana had done all its scoring in the first inning as Hathcote started the game with some command issues. He wound up walking Nate Brower after the Hogs’ lead-off hitter had fouled off a trio of 3-2 pitches.
Skeet Roberts walked on another 3-2 count.
After Sox manager Ozzie Hurt visited the mound, Hathcote appeared to settle in. He got Brooks to groundout to third then he fanned Texarkana clean-up hitter Dalton Raley. He got two strikes in on Tanner Edwards but made the third pitch too sweet and Edwards grounded a single up the middle to plate two runs.
Edwards advanced to second on a late throw to the plate. He scored when the next batter, Trey Malone, sent a 3-2 pitch up the middle for an RBI single, making it 3-0.
The Razorbacks threatened to get more when Shane Sutton was hit by a pitch and Blaine Farrington reached on an error, loading the bases. But Hathcote got Rilyn Coleman to grouned out to Cade Parker at third to end it there.
Hathcote’s shortened stint on the mound was largely due to the fact that it took him 40 pitches to get out of the first.
But he settled in and only allowed two hits after that, one a bunt single by Brower with two down in the fourth. He fanned seven in his stint on the mound. He walked the first two he faced and the last two.
Bryant whittled at the lead. In the first, Speer doubled but was thrown out trying to go to third on a grounder back to the mound. White reached on the fielder’s choice then Moore issued free passes to Riggs and Martin. Morrow’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1.
After giving up a single to Brower to start the second, Hathcote struck out the side.
In Bryant’s second, Moore had retired the first two before Jordan Knox lashed a single to right. He stole second and scored from there when Speer hit a grounder to short that drew a wild throw to first.
Moore ended the inning with a strikeout to keep it 3-2.
Texarkana was retired in order in the third with Hathcote needing just 10 pitches.
In Bryant’s third, Martin reached first on a one-out error. Morrow grounded to first to get Martin to second then Gavin Burton lined a single to right-center to drive in the tying run before he was thrown out trying to get to second on the throw to the plate.
After Hathcote worked around Brower’s two-out bunt single in the top of the fourth, Moore gave up a lead-off single to Parker. A passed ball allowed him to take second. He got to third but was stranded there.
In the fifth, Martin made a fine play in the hole at short to retire Brooks. Hathcote fanned Raley for the third time but followed up with eight consecutive balls to walk Edwards and Malone.
Bates relieved at that point.
Moore worked around Riggs’ infield hit in the bottom of the fifth. He fanned two.
In the sixth, Bates got himself in a little trouble when he knocked down a comebacker but, in his haste, threw wildly to first allowing Farrington to get to second. Coleman struck out and, with Brower up (at that point he was 2 for 2 with a walk), Farrington was thrown out trying to steal third by Riggs, the Bryant catcher.
Bates went on to strikeout Brower to end the inning.
Bryant made some noise in the bottom of the sixth. With two away, Jaxon Ham slapped a single to right. Knox hit a grounder to third but the throw to first was wild down the right-field line. Ham tried to score from first on the play but was thrown out at the plate.
Texarkana’s seventh included two strikes around a two-out single by Raley, setting up the game-winning rally in the home half.
