Chism shines in first game
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
Left-hander Brad Chism took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and combined with Anthony Rose on a two-hit shutout as the Bryant Black Sox AAA American Legion team won its season opener 4-0 over the Hot Springs Lakeside Rams Friday, May 19, at Ashley Park.
With one out in the sixth, a double by Chris Slaton broke up Chism’s gem, but the Black Sox hurler kept his composure and retired the next two — in part thanks to a great play at first by Rose — to preserve the shutout.
Rose pitched the seventh, giving up a one-out single to Logan McInvale. Rose fanned two of the four batters he faced including D.J. Bates to end the game.
Offensively, the Sox scored single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, making the most of five hits. Rose had two singles and Dustin Morris clubbed his first home run of the season.
“I thought Brad Chism threw one heck of a game,” declared Black Sox manager Craig Harrison. “We challenged him. We told him last Wednesday during practice. I said, ‘Brad, you’re my starter the first night,’ and he said, ‘Yes, yes, I want to.’ He didn’t have a very good outing in our little intersquad practice on Saturday but we stuck with him and he came out here and struggled in the first inning — just nervous — and he got the two-ball which was really key. You don’t think a play in the first inning is that key but that doubleplay we got in the first inning was. Brad came back in and he started feeling it.”
Chism walked two of the first three batters he faced but got Lakeside clean-up hitter Wentz Akard to bounce into a 4-6-3 twin-killing to get out of the jam. That started a roll in which he retired 14 of the next 16 batters he faced. He worked around a two-out walk in the third then didn’t allow a base runner until the fifth when, with two down, Bates reached base on a catcher’s interference call that negated the third out. To Chism’s credit, he returned to the mound and got the next batter on a comebacker.
In fact, Chism retired four batters on bouncers back to the box, including a stellar snag of a hard chop in the third.
In the sixth, Morris made a splendid play to get the first out before Slaton doubled. Rose then knocked down a hard grounder that appeared to be headed to right for an RBI single. He flipped to Chism covering first for the second out. Akard then grounded to second to end the inning.
“We worked (Chism) with mostly fastballs,” Harrison related, “because he hasn’t thrown a lot of innings. I think he only threw 10 (varsity) innings this year in high school, so we didn’t want to really tax him with a lot of breaking balls because we don’t want him to come out of here with a sore arm. He was on an 80-pitch count and he threw 75. And it was real important that he got that last out (in the sixth) so we could start Anthony fresh.”
For awhile, the Sox had their hands full with Lakeside’s Tim Ward as well. Ward retired 7 of the first 8 batters before hitting Ryan Sanders with a pitch with one out in the third. Sanders stole second but remained there with two out. With Chris Sory at the plate, Ward got to an 0-2 count — a strike away from getting out of the inning — before Sory slapped an RBI single to right to break the scoreless deadlock.
“The hit that Sory got to put us on top — before that, we were still doubting ourselves a little,” Harrison said. “He got the hit and even though it was only 1-0, we relaxed a little bit and played our game. And we were real solid.
“We’ve got real good defense, we’ve got real good pitching,” he added. “If our bats come alive, we’re going to have a good ballclub.”
In the fourth, Rose led off with a bloop single to right that was booted by Lakeside’s Glenn Kuhn. He took third on a wild pitch and, after a one-out walk to Sean Sebourn, scored on a grounder to first by Tad Beene.
In the fifth, Morris’ one-out blast made it 3-0. In the sixth, Rose led off with a single, took second on a wild pitch and, after a two-out walk to Beene, came home on a pinch-hit single by Zach Martin.
“We didn’t swing very good,” Harrison said of the offense. “We had a few popups. But anytime you play a team like Lakeside early, you’re going to see their best pitcher. And (Ward) wasn’t bad. He threw strikes. He had what I thought was a breaking ball, but the (batters) came back saying it looked like a knuckleball which means it was a split-finger because it doesn’t have a lot of rotation to it.”
Sox A team begin season with win over Rams
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
Derek Chambers and Scott Yant limited the Hot Springs Lakeside Rams to three hits as the Bryant Black Sox A American Legion team notched a 6-3 win in their season opener Friday, May 19, at Ashley Park.
Chambers added a two-run single that put the Sox ahead for good in the third inning.
Bryant made the most of four hits, taking advantage of six walks and four Lakeside errors.
Chambers and the Sox got off to a shaky start as the first four Lakeside batters reached base. Josh Bennett singled, Adam Smith walked and Coby Richerson reached when his sacrifice bunt drew an errant throw to first. Chambers hit Logan McInvale to force in a run then balked in a second before regaining his composure and getting out of the inning. He got David Harrison to pop to short and when Steven McCrary popped to second, Dustin Morris fired home to double up Richerson who was trying to tag up and score on the play.
In the second, Chambers retired the side in order and, in turn, the Sox got on the board. An error allowing Chambers to reach base started the uprising. Jackson Moseley singled then both runners moved up on a wild pitch. With one down, John Hensley drew a walk to load the bases. Chris Sory followed with a pop behind first base. Harrison, the Lakeside first sacker, dropped the ball allowing Sory to reach and Moseley to score.
After Chambers worked around a double and a walk in the top of the third, the Sox took the lead in the home half. Beau Hamblin reached on an error with one out and proceeded to steal his way to third. With two down, Yant walked and swiped second, setting up Chambers’ clutch two-run single to give Bryant a 3-2 lead.
Yant took over on the mound for the Sox and, though he walked a pair and hit another, held Lakeside hitless until the seventh. By then, Bryant had added to its lead. In the fourth, Austin Allsup and Brandon Ballew walked. They advanced on a groundout by Sory then Morris singled in Allsup.
Morris picked up a base when the ball was mishandled in the outfield putting runners at second and third. Ballew scored on a balk then Morris came home on a sacrifice fly by Hamblin.
Yant ran into a bit of trouble in the seventh when he issued a lead-off walk to Drew Slay. Bennett singled then a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. The Sox traded a run for an out when Adam Smith grounded to short then Yant closed out the victory by striking out Richerson.
