Bryant sophs combine on two-hit shutout
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continue 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
BRYANT TIMES
Bryant sophomores Travis Wood and Justin Wells combined on a two-hit shutout to out-duel Little Rock Parkview senior Antoine James as the Hornets notched a 3-0 win in AAAAA-Central Conference play on Friday, March 14.
James allowed just six hits and two of the three runs Bryant managed were unearned. Errors helped the Hornets score runs in the first and second innings. They tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth.
Wood worked 5 1/3 innings in picking up his first varsity victory. He struck out eight, walked four and hit two batters but didn’t allow a hit except in the fourth inning when Brian Gray beat out an infield single and Justin Holt bounced one up the middle. Those hits came at the beginning of the inning but Wood worked around them with the help of Bryant’s sparkling defense — errorless for the second game in a row — to preserve the shutout.
After issuing a one-out walk in the sixth, Wood gave way to Wells who got out of the inning by inducing a comebacker that started a doubleplay. He then walked the lead-off man in the seventh before striking out the side to end the game for his second save of the season.
James was nearly as tough. He walked just one and fanned four but his defense let him down.
The Hornets took the lead in the first when Korey Hunter slapped a one-out single to left. James committed a balk and Hunter moved to second. He took third when B.J. Wood bounced to second. With two away, Andrew Norman grounded to third but he reached first — and Hunter scored — when Derrick Rainey’s throw to first was bad.
In the second, Josh Groves singled with two out then Todd Bryan reached safely on another Rainey miscue. Senior A.J. Nixon followed with a clutch RBI single to left on a 1-2 delivery, making it 2-0.
Bryant managed only one baserunner over the next three innings. Meanwhile, Wood worked around a hit batsman and a walk in the third. In the fourth, after the singles by Gray and Holt, Wood fanned Rainey. Justin Harris then tapped back to the mound and Wood fired to hit brother B.J. at third for a force. The inning ended when Nick Smith grounded to Hunter at second for a force out.
In the home sixth, Scott Peeler lashed a one-out triple to left — the lone extra-base hit of the game. With two down, Andrew Moseley grounded into the hole at short and beat the throw to first for a base hit that not only kept the inning alive but allowed Peeler to score.
Dustin Easterly’s infield hit put runners at first and second but James got off the hook he got Bryan to fly out to right.
The win improved the Hornets to 6-1 overall, 2-1 in the league going into Tuesday’s showdown with Conway, a team that had yet to lose in league play.
