Pitching, clutch hits enable Hornets to snap streak with 5-1 win over Bulldogs
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).
Relief at last.
The Bryant Hornets snapped a four-game skid behind a strong pitching performance by Blake Davidson and clutch two-out run-scoring hits by Garrett Bock and Caleb Garrett in a 5-1 win over the White Hall Bulldogs at Bryant High School Field Friday night.
“I’m thrilled to death we’re back on top,” declared head coach Kirk Bock, whose team improved to 16-5 overall this season.
The seeds of the victory, he allowed, were sewn the night before when the Hornets got up off the deck and came back from a 6-1 deficit to send their 7A-Central Conference game into extra innings with a five-run seventh, though they eventually lost 7-6.[more]
“Last night helped our confidence a ton,” Bock stated. “It was a ballgame we felt like we should’ve won. We battled to the dad-gum end, the chips were down and we came back and tied it in the top of the seventh and we were just a play away from winning that one. Obviously, we were disappointed that we got beat but there were a lot of positives that kind of spilled over to today. Now, this one is going to take off and go into Tuesday. I feel good about it.”
Tuesday, the Hornets host the Cabot Panthers in another critical game in the jumbled 7A-Central where half the teams are 3-2 and the other half, including Bryant and Cabot, are 2-3.
Friday’s game started out as a pitchers duel. The Hornets were facing a left-hander for, perhaps, just the second time all season. Zach Barr struck out five over the first two innings only allowing one base runner on a walk to Jordan Taylor.
“He was pretty good,” Bock said of the lefty. “I thought he did a good job. He kept the ball down and his breaking ball was hard to distinguish because it broke late. He did a good job and we didn’t do a very good job of hitting it. But he’s one of the best we’ve seen.”
Davidson, meanwhile, was just as stingy. He gave up a scratch hit to Michael Smith with one out in the top of the first but courtesy runner Nathan Lee was thrown out trying to steal by catcher Dylan Cross. Davidson worked a 1-2-3 second on a trio of grounders to Taylor at short including an eye-popping play to end the inning.
In the third, White Hall’s Alex Staton singled to left with one out and Skylar Hobbs was hit by a pitch when he tried to sacrifice. But Davidson fanned lead-off hitter Zach Gober then got Smith to fly to Garrett in right to end the threat.
The Hornets eked out a run against Barr in the home third. Garrett legged out an infield single, hustling to beat the throw on a chopper to second. A wild pitch got him to second then Cross got a nice bunt down for an apparent sacrifice. But the play was negated when the throw from the catcher sailed over the first baseman’s head, the homeplate umpire called obstruction on Cross for running inside the baseline.
Had the play stood, Garrett would’ve scored. Initially, he was sent back to third, making it a good sacrifice but, upon appeal, he was returned to second.
Barr got an out away from getting off the hook after his sixth strikeout, although the third strike was in the dirt and, on the catcher’s throw to first to retire the batter Brennan Bullock, Garrett went to third.
Garrett Bock then delivered by beating out an infield hit that got Garrett in with the game’s first run.
Davidson issued a lead-off walk to start the top of the fourth but worked around it and, against a new pitcher right-hander Scott Scifres, the Hornets added to their lead in the bottom of the frame. Chris Joiner greeted the new hurler with a solid single to left. Taylor drew a walk then senior Brady Butler executed the sacrifice with a well-placed bunt. Landon Pickett followed with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 2-0. On the next pitch, Garrett doubled in Taylor to make it 3-0.
Davidson surrendered a one-out walk and a single in the top of the fifth but left them stranded as he closed out his mound stint for the day. In five shutout innings, he allowed three hits, walked two and fanned three.
“I thought Blake did an excellent job,” Coach Bock said. “He threw 61 pitches, he walked two and he was down in the zone the majority of the time. I think he maybe left one, maybe two balls up a little bit but, other than that, I thought he did a great job. One thing is he took a lot of confidence out there onto the mound. That’s about three (good outings) together and that’s what he has needed.
“I think Taylor and Blake and (Caleb) Milam are all about the same,” he added. “Then Cross is right there too when he locates. We’ve got some arms. If we can just keep the ball down and score a couple of runs, we’re all right.”
The Hornets tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. Bullock reached on an error to start the inning, taking second on a bad throw after the grounder had been booted. Bock beat out a bunt single to put runners at the corners. Bock then took off early from first and drew a throw from Scifres. Bullock took off from third and beat the relay home as the duo completed the double steal.
With one out, Joiner singled up the middle to get Bock home with the fifth run. Taylor followed with a single but, after another pitching change that brought in Josh Guy, the Hornets were retired.
Taylor took over for Davidson in the sixth and surrendered a lead-off single to Guy but he got Barr to tap back to the box and he started a 1-6-3 doubleplay.
In the seventh, Taylor eased through the first two batters fielding an infield pop himself then striking out Staton. But the third batter, Hobbs, drew a walk. Taylor got Zach Gober to hit a ground to short that figured to be the final out but a wild throw to first kept the Bulldogs alive. With Staton at third, Nathan Lee hit a slow roller to short and beat it out for a hit that got Hobbs home with White Hall’s lone run.
Taylor got the final out by fielding a comebacker off Guy’s bat and throwing to first to retire him.
BRYANT 5, WHITE HALL 1
Bulldogs Hornets
abrhbiabrhbi
Gober, ss 4 0 0 0 Bullock, lf 4 1 0 0
Smith, c 3 0 1 0 Bock, cf 4 1 2 1
Lee, cr-c 1 0 1 1 Mayall, dh 3 0 0 0
Guy, 1b-p 3 0 1 0 Joiner, 2b 3 1 2 1
Barr, p-rf-1b 3 0 0 0 Taylor, ss 1 1 1 0
Scifres, cr0000Wilson, pr0000
James, 3b 3 0 0 0 Butler, 1b 2 0 0 0
Robinson, lf2000Pickett, 3b2001
Scifres, p-rf 1 0 0 0 Garrett, rf 3 1 2 1
Stone, rf-lf 3 0 0 0 Cross, c 2 0 0 0
Staton, cf 2 0 1 0 Daniel, cr 0 0 0 0
Hobbs, 2b 1 1 1 0 Davidson, p 0 0 0 0
Castleberry, ss0000
Totals 26 1 5 1 Totals 24 5 7 4
White Hall 000 000 1 — 1
BRYANT 001 220 x — 5
E—Gober 2, Cross, Castleberry. DP—Bryant 1. LOB—White Hall 8, Bryant 6. 2B—Garrett. S—Butler. SF—Pickett. SB—Bock 2, Wilson, Daniel, Bullock.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
White Hall
Barr (L) 3 1 1 2 1 6
Scifres 1.1 4 3 5 1 0
Guy 1.2 0 0 0 1 1
Bryant
Davidson (W) 5 0 0 3 2 3
Taylor 2 1 0 2 1 3
HBP—Hobbs (by Davidson). WP—Barr.
anime-live
gr8 Thank 4 shar Very intriguing article.