Bryant AA splits opening twinbill with Little Rock rival
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
As might be expected when a team splits a doubleheader, the news was good and bad for the Bryant Black Sox AA American Legion team as it made its 2006 debut against Little Rock Red at BHS Field on Saturday, May 20.
But the good and bad wasn’t mixed in a way one might expect. In the opener, the good news was that the Sox pounded out 12 hits and scored 15 runs. The bad news, however, was they committed eight errors. Because of the former and despite the latter, they extracted a 15-9 victory.
In the nightcap, Bryant cut down on the errors (just two and only one that played into the scoring) but managed just two hits while absorbing an 8-3 setback.
“I saw a lot of good things but we’ve got a long way to go,” allowed Sox manager Mark Kehrees. “I like the way we hit the ball today but we’ve got to work on our defense and our pitching. It’ll come. I think a lot of good things are going to happen this summer.”
In the opener, the Sox were sparked by Jake Jackson and Matt Hargrave who both drove in four runs. Jackson’s came on a pair of two-run triples. Hargrave drove in a run with a groundout, another with a double and two more on a single. Jordan Knight went 3-for-4 in the game and Ryan Wilson was on base in each of his five plate appearances.
Wilson also picked up the win in relief of starter Ryan Guffy. Wilson worked three innings including a 1-2-3 fourth in which he struck out the side. After he gave up a pair of runs in the fifth, Tim Bearden relieved in the sixth and closed it out with two hitless innings.
Red opened up a 3-0 lead in the first, taking advantage of a one-out error with four consecutive hits.
The Sox got on the board in the bottom of the inning. Wilson walked but was forced at second as Jackson reached. Justin Gaddy grounded into another force and, when the relay to first was wild, he took second. Little Rock starter Brandon Showmar unleashed a pair of wild pitches and Gaddy scored.
Another pair of Bryant errors played into a three-run second for Red. Hayden Blair’s two-out, two-run double made it 6-1.
But the Black Sox tied it in the bottom of the inning. Consecutive singles by Trent Daniel, Knight and Jeremy Burge produced the first run. After a wild pitch put runners at second and third, Hargrave picked up his first RBI with a grounder to the right side on which second sacker Scott Chalene robbed him of a hit.
But the inning continued with a walk to Wilson and Jackson’s first two-run three-bagger. Gaddy tied it by delivering Jackson homeward with a sacrifice fly.
Red utilized two more Bryant errors and a pair of hit batsmen to snap the tie with a run in the top of the third but the Sox grabbed their first lead in the home half.
The rally began with two down. Burge reached on an errant throw to first from third. Hargrave reached base on a third-strike wild pitch then Wilson singled past third to tie it ahead of Jackson’s shot to deep center for his second two-run triple and a 9-7 lead.
After Wilson struck out the side in the top of the fourth, the Black Sox continued their onslaught. Tyler Pickett led off the bottom of the inning with a double and, after being awarded third on a balk against Red reliever Lance Black, scored on Daniel’s sacrifice fly. Knight singled and, with two down, scored all the way from first on Hargrave’s hit-and-run double to the corner in right to make it 11-7.
A walk, a stolen base, and an RBI single by Chalene cut into the lead in the top of the fifth. After an errant pickoff throw, Chalene scored as well when Luke Osborn’s single to right was misplayed.
But the Sox put the finishing touches on their scoring in the bottom of the inning with a little help from the Red defense. After Alex Kehrees singled and Pickett was hit by a pitch, both scored when Daniel’s drive to left was misplayed. After Knight’s third hit, Hargrave capped things off with his two-out, two-run single.
Bearden took care of the rest, striking out three while working around a pair of walks in the final two frames.
