Hornets ‘gorked’ by Texarkana, 6-5
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
Chicago White Sox announcer Ken “Hawk” Harrelson calls them “duck-snorts.” In the movie “Bull Durham,” Kevin Costner’s character Crash Davis reeled off other terminology: “a flare . . . a gork . . . a groundball with eyes . . . a dying quail.”
They’re cheap hits. The ball’s not hit hard, just in the right place. Hall of Famer Wee Willie Keeler said all you have to do is “hit it where they ain’t.” He did too, to the tune of a .343 lifetime average. At 5-4 1/2 and 140 pounds, Wee Willie was not known for his shots off the wall.
On Friday night, it’s what the Texarkana Razorbacks did to the Bryant Hornets. The Hogs “gorked” the Hornets to death. With the aid of five Bryant errors — a season high for the usually sound Hornet defense — Texarkana knocked Bryant out of sole possession of first place in the AAAAA-South Conference with a 6-5 win at Hornets Field.
Texarkana put together 10 hits in the game but only two of them were hit hard and only three got out of the infield, one of which was one of those “flares,” a “Texas-Leaguer.”
The win came a day after the Razorbacks had picked up their first conference win, 2-1 against a Camden Fairview team that Bryant had whacked 13-0 in five innings; a day after the Hornets had separated themselves from a pack of five teams all tied at 2-1 atop the conference by beating one of the other four teams, Sheridan, 5-4. Texarkana improved to 5-7 overall, Bryant fell to 12-3.
It was as if spring break began a day early for them. Nothing seemed to go right. The Hornets, who came into the game with a team batting average of .307, were limited to just three hits over the first six innings by soft-tossing lefty Brandon Wells, Texarkana’s No. 2 pitcher.
Bryant starter Scott Yant struggled a bit but battled as usual. Texarkana took a 1-0 lead in the second when Yant hit Stosh Skinner, a walk to Brad Schilling and a two-out bloop single to Brandon Sillivan to bring home the run.
One of Texarkana’s lone hard-hit ball came in the third. With one out, David Magness drilled a fly over the head of center fielder Matt White. Bryan Bearden followed with a little looper behind the mound that no one could get to, one of those “gorks.”
But Yant worked out of the inning, keeping it 1-0.
No such luck in the fourth when Austin Jones beat out a single to deep short that Jeff Carpenter could only knock down. Sillivan followed with a dribbler towards third that B.J. Wood couldn’t get to in time to get an out. And when Ben Smith served one of those “dying quails” behind second base, the Hogs had the bases loaded.
Even then, the Hornets appeared to have a shot at getting out of the inning when Wells hit a soft grounder to second. But the ball was misplayed and two runs scored.
Magness grounded into a force at second that was hit too slowly for the Hornets to get a doubleplay and the inning continued. That’s when Texarkana’s only other hard-hit ball, a grounder by Bearden found its way into left field for an RBI single that made it 4-0.
In the meantime, Wells was frustrating the Hornet batters. Wood ripped a one-out triple in the first but was stranded. In the second, Cody Dreher singled up the middle and stole second only to remain there as the inning ended. In the fourth, Cody Graddy reached on an error but courtesy runner Zack Cardinal was picked off. Dreher singled again with one out in the fifth to no effect.
Kevin Littleton relieved Yant in the top of the sixth and his luck wasn’t much better. With one out, Magness looped a single to left and Bearden reached on an error. The duo attempted a double steal and Graddy, the Bryant catcher, appeared to have a throw to third that would nail Magness only to have it get through and into the outfield. Magness raced home where a throw was too late. It was 5-0.
The Hornets, with some patience, started to get to the wearying Wells in the bottom of the sixth. White worked him for a walk and, an out later, Graddy reached base when Bearden couldn’t hold a throw from third on his grounder. White, who had swiped second, scored Bryant’s first run on the play.
Graddy wound up at second. A wild pitch allowed Cardinal to take third and, after Derek Chambers was hit by a pitch, Cardinal scored when Carpenter’s shallow fly to center was dropped by Skinner.
But that’s all the Hornets could get.
In the top of the seventh, Littleton retired the first two Hogs before Austin Jones beat out a slow roller to third, swiped second and scored when Sillivan, on a 3-2 pitch, got a little “duck-snort” to fall in behind short for an RBI single to make it 6-2.
That proved to be the decisive run when the Hornets pushed three runs home in the bottom of the inning, stranding the tying run at third and the winning run at first.
Littleton, snapped an extended slump, with a lined single to left to open the inning. Jackson Moseley and White each drew walks to load the bases and finish Wells. Right-hander Joe Velasquez relieved and B.J. Wood greeted him with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3.
Graddy gave Texarkana some of its own medicine with a “flare” to right for an RBI single. Chambers followed with a walk to load the bases with one out. Carpenter got a run home when he grounded into a force play on which Cardinal, again running for Graddy, took third with the potential tying run.
But Velasquez got Cody Jones to ground out to second to preserve the Texarkana win.
The Hornets are scheduled to get back to action in a tournament at Nettleton High School in Jonesboro starting Thursday, March 28. They’ll play Freeport, Ill., then Nettleton on Friday and Notre Dame, Mo., on Saturday.
They return to conference action on Tuesday, April 2, at El Dorado.
