Short hurls no-no in Hornets’ romp
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
You know a baseball game has gotten out of hand when a pitch gets past a catcher and the runners on base don’t try to advance.
It was that kind of night for the Little Rock Hall Warriors. The Bryant Hornets took advantage of nine Hall errors, nine walks and three hit batters to swamp the Warriors, 23-0, in five innings.
And the errors, walks and hit batsmen weren’t all. Bryant senior right-hander Drew Short twirled a no-hitter, striking out 11 and walking three as the Hornets improved to 7-2 overall and picked up their first AAAAA-Central Conference victory.
The Warriors never got the ball out of the infield. Other than the strikeouts, they grounded out four times, twice right back to Short.
The Hornets, meanwhile, scored 11 runs in the first two innings then 11 more in the third to blow the game up.
David Guarno singled to lead off the game, went to second on a balk by Hall starter Patrick O’Malley. Danny Riemenschneider singled him to third then David Martin laced a liner to the fence in right for the first of his two triples in as many innings.
Aaron Davidson doubled home Martin to make it 3-0. Ryan Wilson walked then a wild pitch pushed runners to second and third. Short drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. With two out, Alex Kehrees walked and, moments later, he and Wilson worked a double steal for the fifth run of the inning.
In the second, the Hornets started right back at the top of the lineup. Gaston Youngblood, batting for Guarno, drew a walk. He took second on a wild pitch then scored on Aaron Beard’s pinch-hit single. Martin, then, drilled one to the gap in left center for his second three-bagger to make it 7-0.
A pitching change didn’t help the Warriors. Davidson singled in Martin then Wilson was hit by a pitch. Short lifted a fly to left that was misplayed, loading the bases. Chris Lawrence, running for Davidson, scored on a grounder to short by Kehrees, then so did Wilson when the relay throw to home was wild. The sixth run of the inning scored when Youngblood’s grounder to short was botched on his second at-bat of the inning.
Bryant sent 17 batters to the plate in the third, all off the bench. Cody Walker walked and Tyler Pickett reached on an error to start the inning. Lawrence drew a walk to load the bases for Joey Winiecki, who singled to center to drive in the first two. Ryan Guffey walked then Justin Gaddy was hit by a pitch to force in a run. An error allowed another run in as Youngblood reached base then Beard slapped another RBI single.
There would be two more errors, two more hit batsman, a walk and a pitching change before Hall got out of the inning. Lawrence contributed a two-run single along the way.
The final run came in the fourth when Pickett reached on an error, Matt Hargrave singled in his first varsity at bat and Winiecki reached on an error.
The Hornets were set to host Watson Chapel in a non-conference game on Thursday, March 16, then return to conference action at home against Little Rock Parkview the next day before taking off for spring break.
