AAA Blacksox open season with comeback win over Sylvan Hills
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
SHERWOOD — It would’ve been great if the Bryant Blacksox AAA American Legion team had squelched a rally by the Sylvan Hills Bruins to reward right-hander Scotty Yant with a victory in their season opening game at Kevin McReynolds Sports Complex on Monday, May 20.
But what wound up happening may have been even better for the Sox as a team. After the Bruins erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to spoil Yant’s three-hit shutout, Bryant, down to its last three outs and three times down to its last strike, put together its own seven-run uprising after two were out in the top of the seventh.
The Sox’ rally included just one huge hit and a lot of patience. Sylvan Hills pitchers — the Bruins went through four of them in the inning — walked five and hit a batter then, with two outs on a 3-2 pitch, surrendered a grand slam to Clay Jones which gave Bryant a 10-7 lead.
Chance King relieved in the bottom of the inning and waltzed through the heart of the Sylvan Hills lineup for the save.
“That’s one of the best wins we’ve ever had,” declared Bryant manager Craig Harrison who’s beginning his eighth season leading the Sox who have not dropped a season-opening game during his tenure.
In fact, after the Sylvan Hills’ rally, it appeared the Sox might be tangled up in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Before the game, Cody Graddy, Bryant’s star catcher, came up to Harrison and asked him if he’d ever lost a season-opener. When he returned to the group of players he’d been talking with, one of them moaned, “Oh, no, we’ll be the first ones to lose.”
Yant, standing close by, took a bit of umbrage at the remark and proceeded to put the team in position to win with his pitching performance over the first five innings. He worked around a pair of two-out singles in the first then shut the Bruins down. Jordan Verdell singled to lead off the third but was erased in a doubleplay. The only other baserunner was Justin Franco, who led off the fifth with a walk but got no further than first.
“We got good pitching all night,” Harrison commented. “Scotty had only thrown 44 pitches after four innings. We told him we were going to cut him off at 75 and he made it through the fifth with 57 then we had a couple of miscues in the sixth.”
“I’ve said the key to the year is we got to make plays and we didn’t make a play starting the sixth inning and it snowballed on us,” Harrison added. “But, also, a key to a good team is coming back when you’re down. No one gave us a chance in the seventh inning. We said, ‘Hey, we’re going to take a strike and make this guy earn it.’ They fell behind, we got some walks then Jones stepped up when we needed a good hit. I’d have taken a double but it went over the boards. We got Kinger in and, man, he pitched well.”
It was a game that could affect the rest of the Sox’ season, Harrison concurred. “Anytime now that we are behind, we can fall back and say, ‘Look, we were behind the first game of the year,’ — and that’s a good team over there (Sylvan Hills). They were in the final four of the (high school) state tournament. That kind of a win let’s me tell them, ‘Don’t ever give up. Don’t give up. You never know what’s going to happen.’”
The Sox had taken the lead, initially, with three runs off Sylvan Hills lefty T.J. Wheeler in the third. An error opened the door, much as it did for the Bruins in the sixth. B.J. Wood reached base for Bryant then Jeff Carpenter lashed a single up the middle. Derek Chambers followed with a shot on a 2-2 pitch that hit at the base of the wall in right-center. Wood scored easily but Sylvan Hills executed its relay well. Carpenter had rounded third then tried to scramble back as the throw came in to the plate. But Franco, the Bruins’ catcher, fired to third to nail him for the second out of the inning.
It looked like a rally-killer but Graddy and Kevin Littleton both came through in the clutch with RBI singles to make it 3-0.
Elijah Peters opened the Sylvan Hills sixth with a slow roller to third that Carpenter stayed back on. He had to rush his throw which was in the dirt and Peters was on base. Danny Hurt followed with a double just inside the third-base bag. A bad-hop single by Brent Mason put the Bruins on the board then Seth Weinberg cracked a triple to right-center to tie the game.
With the infield in, Grant Huddleston grounded to short. Wood took it off his chest, made sure Weinberg, with the go-ahead run, was holding at third and fired to first for the out.
Franco, followed with a looper down the line in right. Jones, just into the game for starter Cody Dreher, appeared to have gotten to the ball in time but let it drop. Harrison blamed himself for that.
“We yelled too late to say ‘If it’s foul, don’t catch it,’ and he just heard ‘Don’t catch it,’” he explained. “We’d played a game at North Little Rock a couple of years ago where we caught (a fly) in foul ground and a guy tagged up and scored (to break a tie) and we lost the game.
“But, hey, (Jones) came back,” Harrison noted. “And Carpenter did too. On the last out of the game he made a nice play in the hole, deep, and threw the guy out. I’m very proud of those guys, all these guys.”
Ironically, Wheeler, who had held the Sox in check since their third, was pulled to start the seventh. Closer Billy Brazel came on and promptly walked Andrew Norman and Wood. He retired the next two but then lost sight of the strike zone again. Graddy walked on four pitches then Littleton was hit by a pitch to force in a run.
Brazel was pulled for Mason with Yant coming to the plate. On Mason’s second pitch, he hurt his back. After trying to stretch it out his third pitch was off the mark and he had to come out in favor of Weinberg. The count went to 3-2 before Yant walked to force in a run, making it 7-5. A.J. Nixon took a 3-2 pitch for an RBI walk moments later and when the count went to 2-0 on Jones who, with another walk, would’ve tied the game, on came Chad Taylor.
The count went to 3-0 then Jones took two strikes right in the same spot. The next pitch was right there as well and Jones unloaded on it.
