Bryant dispatches Hot Springs Village
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
Former Bryant Black Sox player Justin Gregory brought home his Hot Springs Village AA Legion team on Wednesday, May 28, and, after a few early jitters, extended the defending State champion Sox to seven innings before absorbing an 8-1 loss at Bryant High School Field.
The Sox put up four runs in the first inning then appeared to put it on cruise control the rest of the way, adding a pair of runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth.
Bryant manager Craig Harrison used the opportunity to get some work in for a quartet of pitchers. Ben Wells and Preston Adami worked two scoreless innings apiece, Austin Queck allowed the lone HSV run in the fifth then Tim Bearden closed it out with two scoreless frames.
The Hot Springs Village team was basically Gregory’s squad at Mountain Pine High School with a player from Ola and another from Jessieville added. Pitchers Ryan Herron and Derek McDorman struck out eight and allowed eight hits. After Herron walked four to aid Bryant’s cause in the first, the Sox didn’t get another free pass until the sixth.
The win improved the Sox to 6-0 on the season but Harrison insisted that the team would have to play much better — and with greater intensity — over the weekend when they were set to travel to Fayetteville to play the defending State runner-up Dodgers along with a pair of teams from Oklahoma (Midwest City and Bartlesville).
Hot Springs Village made a bid to take the lead in the first but a spectacular defensive play kept them off the board. McDorman opened the game with a long double to center and Brandon Burkeen was hit by a pitch. Wells got Wil King to bounce into a force at second but McDorman moved to third with one out.
Clean-up hitter Matt Harper followed with a long drive to left that appeared to be, at least, an RBI double in the making. But left fielder Justin Blankenship raced back and made an over the shoulder catch to rob the HSV hitter. McDorman and King were on the run from the outset and surprised when Blankenship made the catch. So much so that the Sox could’ve had a triple play if they’d needed it. As it was, McDorman, who had already crossed home plate and was headed to the dugout, couldn’t get back to third in time and was doubled up to end the inning.
Herron’s struggles ensued. He walked the first two he faced, Cody Walker and Kaleb Jobe. He got Tyler Sawyer to bounce back to the mound but his throw to get a force at second was dropped as Burkeen, the shortstop, tried to rush to turn a doubleplay.
With the sacks jammed, a wild pitch made it 1-0 then David Guarno’s sacrifice fly allowed Jobe to score. Jordan Knight singled to left to drive in Sawyer and, after he swiped second and Michael Haydon walked, Brady Butler’s bloop single to left capped the inning off.
Wells worked a 1-2-3 second then Adami pitched around a one-out infield hit in the third and a two-out single in the fourth.
Herron kept the Sox off the board until the fourth when, with two down, Sawyer laced a double down the left-field line. Gregory asked for an appeal, thinking that Sawyer had missed first base on his way to second but to no avail. And when HSV failed to call timeout while making the appeal, Sawyer scooted to third to add to the visitors’ frustrations.
Guarno was hit by a pitch and stole second. He followed Sawyer home when Knight cracked a double, making it 6-0.
Queck hit a batter to start his inning on the mound. But he struck out the next guy and fielded a bunt for out number two. But McDorman laced a single to right-center to put his team on the board only to be thrown out trying to steal second moments later by Butler, the Sox’ catcher.
In turn, the Sox greeted McDorman, who took over on the mound for Herron, with a pair of runs. Haydon singled off the first baseman, Butler reached on an error and Blankenship lined a base hit to right to drive in a run. A sacrifice fly by Jobe made it 8-1.
Bearden relieved in the sixth and surrendered a one-out hit to King who then stole second and went to third on an errant throw when there was some confusion about who was covering the bag.
King then tried to score on a bouncer to short by Harper. Walker fielded the ball and threw home, catching King in a rundown. Butler chased him back towards third then threw to Sawyer who tagged the runner out. In the meantime, Harper tried to sneak into second but Sawyer turned a fired to Jobe who tagged him out to end the inning.
In the seventh, Bearden worked around a two-out walk to finish the game.
