Hornets go nine to top Tigers for tourney title
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
SHERIDAN — Senior Aaron Davidson laced a two-run double just inside the third-base line in the top of the ninth inning and sophomore Trent Daniel made it stand up with his fourth inning of shutout relief as the Bryant Hornets absconded with the championship of the Sheridan Invitational Tournament with a 5-3 win over the Little Rock Central Tigers on Tuesday, March 7.
It’s the fifth year in a row that Bryant has won the Sheridan tourney. But none has been in more dramatic fashion as they outlasted their rivals from the AAAAA-Central Conference.
By the way, if the game was any indication of what’s ahead in the conference — and it was — it will be a dogfight for the league’s four State Tournament bids. It’s believed there are six teams in the seven-team league, including Bryant and Central, that could legitimately believe they could earn one of those four spots.
Davidson, who was 2-for-3 with a pair of walks (one intentional), drove in three runs in the game. In the ninth, with the score 3-3, he came up after Jake Jackson had singled to lead off the inning, chasing reliever Adam Glasier. Danny Riemenschneider and Drew Short worked for one-out walks off Glasier’s replacement, lefty Drew Smyley, loading the bases for Davidson who hit the first pitch he got.
In the bottom of the inning, Daniel retired the first two batters, the second on a fine play by third baseman David Martin and first baseman Tyler Pickett. Justin Richards kept Central’s hopes alive with a double, just the second hit that Daniel allowed since relieving starter Drew Short in the sixth.
The count went to 3-2 on Cory Washington, who fouled off a pair of Daniel deliveries before becoming the lefty’s seventh strikeout victim to end the game.
The Hornets, who improved to 6-1 with the win, had to rally to tie the game after Central put up all three of its runs in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead. It was Short’s only rugged inning of a five-inning outing. He recovered nicely, working a scoreless fourth and fifth. He wound up striking out six, walking one and hitting a batter while surrendering eight hits.
Both the hit batsman and the walk and half of those hits came in the third. Two of the hits didn’t get out of the infield but singles by Drew Tappan, Brian Clark and Smyley drove in the runs.
The Hornets had taken a 1-0 lead in the opening inning when David Guarno walked, stole second, took third on a sacrifice by Riemenschneider and scored on Davidson’s two-out, two-strike shot up the middle.
After falling behind, the recovery began when Guarno blasted a solo homer over the 350-foot mark in left center. Riemenschneider, who was on base four times in the game, followed with a single but Central turned a doubleplay to get starter Madison Tappan off the hook.
In the sixth, however, the Tigers’ right-hander was greeted by a sharp double down the right-field line by Martin. Glasier relieved and struck out the first two he faced. But he fell behind Jackson who cracked a one-hopper off the pitcher’s glove for an RBI single, tying the game.
Bryant made a bid to take the lead in the top of the seventh when Riemenschneider walked and evaded a tag at second on a grounder by Short. With two on and nobody out, Davidson came to the plate and creamed a Glasier delivery only to have the liner speared by Washington the shortstop who doubled up Riemenschneider to diffuse the threat.
Daniel, meanwhile, retired eight of the first nine he faced. The lone baserunner came on a third-strike wild pitch. With two out in the eighth, Geoffrey Aultz reached him for a single but the young lefty sawed off the next batter Robert Van Ness and got him to ground weakly back to the mound for the final out.
Bryant was set to host the rival Benton Panthers on Friday, March 10, before opening conference play against Little Rock Hall on Tuesday, March 14.
