Yant’s two-hitter helps Hornets top Tigers
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
BENTON — Senior right-hander J.J. Yant pitched a two-hitter as the Bryant Hornets bounced back from a disappointing extra-inning loss to the rival Benton Panthers with a 13-3 pounding of the Little Rock Central Tigers Thursday night at Bernard Holland Park.
The win, which improved the Hornets to 9-6, put Bryant into the third-place game of the Benton Invitational Tournament against the Conway Wampus Cats on Friday.
Tad Beene whent 3-for-5 with three stolen bases and three runs scored. Anthony Rose had two hits and both Rose and Michael McClellan homered as the Hornets pounded out 10 hits to take advantage of five Central errors.
Yant, though he walked six and hit a batter, struck out eight and only allowed an infield single in the first by Brad Henry and a sixth-inning double by A.D. Yancey.
In support of Yant’s pitching, the Hornets committed just one error — though it allowed a run — and scored in every inning but the second.
Both teams put up a run in the first. For Bryant, Beene singled, stole second, took third on a base hit by Billy Landers and scored on Yant’s groundout. Central tied it with Henry’s scratch hit, a groundout, a stolen base and a two-out error.
The Hornets took the lead for good in the third when, with two down, Kris Kuykendall walked and Rose reached on an error. After a double steal, both runners scored on a double by Matt Brown.
In the fourth, Dustin Morris led off with a walk for the Hornets. Beene beat out an infield hit then Landers’ fly to deep left was dropped. Morris scored on the play and Beene reached second. Beene and Landers then pulled off another double steal and, when Beene drew a wild throw to third, he was able to score. A pair of wild pitches enabled Landers to come home to make it 6-1.
Meanwhile, Yant worked around a one-out walk in the second and a lead-off pass in the third. In the fourth, he hit a batter and walked two, but the first batter that walked, Reid Smith, was thrown out trying to steal by catcher Michael McClellan. The second, Jonathan Caudle, was picked off by Yant as the Tigers tried to steal a run. The Hornets were able to run down Caudle before the lead runner, Damon Parker, could score.
Bryant tacked on three more runs in the top of the fifth. Rose led off with a single then Brown and Travis Lawhon each walked to load the sacks. Central pulled a nifty 3-2-4 double play to keep a run from scoring but, with runners at second and third, Beene bunted. Central pitcher Wes Bulloch fielded it and threw to first into the basepath. Adam Acklin, the Tigers’ first baseman pulled his glove back as Beene bore down on him and the throw wound up in the right-field corner. Both Brown and Lawhon scored.
Beene, who held at first, swiped second then scored on a single by Landers to make it 9-1.
In the sixth, McClellan belted a solo homer with one out. Kuykendall followed with a single then Rose unloaded to make it 12-1.
Bulloch gave way to Henry on the mound but Henry hit Brown then issued a walk to Lawhon and uncorked a wild pitch. With two down, Beene singled in Brown to complete Bryant’s scoring.
Yancey’s double led off the bottom of the inning. A third-strike wild allowed Acklin to reach and both, eventually, scored on wild pitches. But Yant kept it at that, keeping the 10-run rule in effect.
