Daniel, Hornets subdue Conway
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
CONWAY — In recent years, winning at Conway has been a rare thing for the Bryant Hornets but, in their 7A-Central Conference opener on Monday, March 17, they found a way to knock off the previously unbeaten Wampus Cats, 3-1.
It took a bulldog effort on the mound by ace lefty Trent Daniel who pitched in and out of trouble all evening, giving up just one run on five hits while striking out a career-high 16 batters and walking seven.
Daniel was backed by errorless defense and Conway wound up stranding 11 baserunners including the potential tying runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Head coach Terry Harper said later that, with his pitch count up the 121, he had planned to relieve Daniel to start of the bottom of the seventh but the lefty insisted on returning to the mound and Harper relented.
Conway’s Jeremy Atkins led off the frame with a double but Daniel struck out the next two and was within a strike of ending it when James Murphy beat out an infield hit on the lefty’s 140th delivery.
With runners at the corners, Harper pulled the trigger on a change and brought Tyler Sawyer in. He fanned Grant Blodgett on four pitches to end it, earning a save.
“We got a championship performance from Trent,” Harper noted. “He had one rough inning and outside of the walks he was superb. He was throwing his fastball well but his curveball was the best I have seen him throw as far as location. He was able to throw in underneath the righthander’s hands. He takes a special hitter to be able to hit his curveball when he throws it underneath their hands as he did most of the night.”
The Hornets left 13, but managed a key hits in a two-run fourth and again for a run in the fifth.
“That was a great win for us,” stated Harper. “To get a win on the road at Conway is huge. Those types of wins you have to have to win a championship.”
Since the Hornets joined the 7A-Central, they have won two league titles and Conway two. Bryant hadn’t beaten the Cats since 2005 when, incidentally, they last won a league title.
Daniel and Conway starter Jordan Leach dueled through the first three innings. Leach worked around a single by Daniel and a walk to Tyler Sawyer with one out in the top of the first then Daniel struck out the side around a one-out walk to Jeremy Atkins and a single by Zach Cates.
Bryant got another chance to score in the second when Kaleb Jobe pulled a double into the right-field corner and Jordan Knight blooped a single to left to send courtesy runner Brennan Bullock to third. An out later, Justin Blankenship slapped a pop down the left-field line that no one could get to. Bullock got a late break from third, however, and was thrown out at the plate.
Jake Jackson followed with a walk to load the bases but Leach got Daniel to fly out to center to end the threat.
After Daniel worked a 1-2-3 home second, the Hornets put runners on base again when Cody Walker singled and Jobe drew a two-out walk but both were stranded when Leach got a third strike past Knight.
B.J. Lowe started Conway’s third with a single and eventually made it to third with two down. Cates belted a 2-0 pitch to shallow left-center that appeared to be destined for a two-out RBI single. But Knight charged over and made a diving catch to end the inning.
Then the Hornets finally broke through, starting with a one-out single by Blankenship. Jackson slapped a base hit tonight to send Blankenship to third. Daniel’s shot up the middle was flagged down by Atkins, the shortstop, but he had no time to do anything with the ball as Daniel reached and Blankenship scored the first run.
Zach Wyatt came on in relief of Leach and promptly walked Sawyer to load the bases for Walker who delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Daniel’s roughest inning ensued. After striking out Wyatt, he issued a trio of walks around another strikeout. A run scored on a passed ball as he was issuing a fourth free pass. But, with the top of the Conway order due up, he regained his control and got Ryan Valovich to ground out to Jackson at second to end the frame with his team still leading 2-1.
And, tellingly, the Hornets got that run back in the top of the fifth, sparked by a double by Knight. Drew Ransdell dropped a single into shallow right-center and Knight raced home to make it 3-1.
“I felt like we hit the ball well again,” Harper said, noting his team had 10 hits. “Trent is really hitting the ball well for us. I was also glad to see Jordan have a good game at the plate and Drew did a good job at the plate for us too. They had two hits each. I also felt we played a pretty good defensive game and, outside of one bad base running mistake, we did okay on the bases too.”
Daniel responded by striking out the side in the bottom of the inning, wading through the Cats’ top hitters.
In the sixth, however, James Murphy slapped a lead-off triple to the corner in right to instigate a new Conway threat. After a strikeout, Daniel walked two batters to load the bases with one out. But, again, he locked back in and struck out the next two batters on seven pitches.
Wyatt surrendered a walk to Jobe and a one-out single up the middle by Ransdell but got out of the jam in the top of the seventh.
