AA Sox split opening twinbill
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be 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
For many of the members of the Bryant Black Sox AA team, it was a first taste of American Legion baseball on Friday, May 18, when they hosted a doubleheader with Pine Bluff Kells Athletic at Bryant High School Field.
As might be expected, the Sox had their good moments and their not so good. The result was a split in the twinbill. Both were run-rule wins. Bryant took the opener 10-2 in six frames. Pine Bluff won the nightcap, 8-0, in five.
In their victory, the Sox used nine hits to take advantage of nine walks and a pair of hit batsmen by Pine Bluff pitchers. Their efforts in the second game were undermined by five errors. Six of the eight runs were thus unearned.
Preston Adami picked up the win on the mound in the first game with Austin Queck pitching three innings of one-hit, shutout relief to pick up a save.
Tyler Sawyer and Justin Blankenship each had two hits and two runs batted in, as seven of the Bryant starters hit safely.
Kells took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on a bad-hop single, a bloop hit, a wild pitch and an RBI groundout with one down.
The Sox took control of the game in the bottom of the inning, scoring seven times. A one-out walk to Aaron Schrock got the inning started. Blankenship then sliced a one-hopper at third that was booted and when Ryan McKnight singled, the bases were loaded for Jeremy Beadle. His walk tied the game.
Sawyer followed with a chopper up the middle that drove in two and gave the Hornets a 3-1 lead against right-hander Kenny Marshall who was one of the conference starters for the Pine Bluff Zebras, who reached the Class 7A State Tournament this spring.
Marshall walked Jeremy Burge to load the bags again and gave way to Tommy Lewis who hit Kaleb Jobe with his first pitch, forcing in another run. A passed ball allowed Sawyer to score then Burge followed on a bouncer to second by Drew Ransdell. Jobe brought home the seventh run on a wild pitch after Michael Haydon was hit by a pitch.
Pine Bluff managed a second run in the top of the third when Lee Lloyd, who was 3 for 3, doubled with one down, took third on a bloop single by Jesse Blackstock and scored on a two-out hit by Nick Cox.
But Adami got Sean Baldwin to ground into a force at second to end the threat.
Queck relieved in the fourth and issued a pair of walk to start before settling in. A two-out single loaded the bases but he got Blackstock to fly to center to end the threat. He then retired six of the last seven batters to finish up.
The Sox added a pair of runs in the fourth when Burge walked and scored all the way from first on Haydon’s long double to the fence in center. Ransdell walked and, with two down, Blankenship came through with a clutch single to make it 9-2.
A lead-off double by Beadle in the fifth was wasted but the Sox made it a run-rule (8 after five) win in the bottom of the sixth when Haydon walked, Ransdell and Schrock singled and Blankenship drew a bases-loaded walk.
In the second game, Blankenship was the tough-luck starter for the Black Sox. In the first, he gave up a pair of singles but, with two down, appeared to be out of the inning unscathed on a grounder to short by Baldwin. But an errant throw to first allowed a run to score and kept the inning alive. A walk, a single that was misplayed in the outfield and another error resulted in a four-run frame for Kells.
In the second, two more errors set up a two-run inning with Brandon Arnold and Justin Jones each singling in a run.
Kells put together four hits in the third to plate another pair of runs to make it 8-0. With two down and runners at first and second, Ransdell came on to relieve. He proceeded to get the final out then retire the next six in a row, four on strikeouts.
In the meantime, the Sox had their hands full with Blackstock who took a no-hitter into the fourth. A solid one-out single to right by Haydon spoiled the no-no for the Pine Bluff hurler, but that was Bryant’s lone hit. Blackstock fanned five, walked two and hit a batter.
The Sox twice got runners to second. In the first, Burge was hit by a pitch and Blackstock was errant on a pickoff throw that allowed him to take second. In the fourth, Haydon was forced at second after his single but Ransdell hustled to first to avoid the inning-ending doubleplay. He advanced on a wild pitch as McKnight walked but Blackstock got out of the jam when Queck flew out to right.
