Schalchlin shackles Sheridan as Sox earn Zone 4 win
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By Rob Patrick
BENTON — Right-hander Tryce Schalchlin needed just 53 pitches to get through six innings[more] as he shut down the Sheridan Yellowjackets on two hits in the Bryant Black Sox’ 9-1 win in Zone 4 play Monday night. Schalchlin struck out six and walked no one. In fact, he only a phenomenal 46 strikes and seven balls before giving way to Zach Jackson, who finished off the win in the seventh.
Hayden Lessenberry had three hits including his third home run of the young season. Trevor Ezell added three hits and Chase Tucker drove in a pair of runs for the Sox, who improved to 6-0 on the season.
The game was played at Bernard Holland Park in Benton because of a scheduling conflict at Sheridan and work on the field at Bryant. The Sox will be back there tonight against Benton McClendon’s at 8 p.m., following a Junior game between the two rivals.
“Shack was just great all night,” acknowledged Black Sox manager Darren Hurt. “He was pounding the zone and he was able to do that with all three of his pitches. I don’t think he threw a first-pitch fastball but four or five times. When he’s able to command those pitches like that, he’s going to be good.
“It was funny,” he added. “Shack’s used to that closer roll and he was willing to give (Jackson) the baseball because he knows what it’s like to be over here in the dugout waiting for your opportunities. He was ready to let him go in there and get an inning’s worth of work.”
Schalchlin, who pitched in five games this spring as a true freshman at Ouachita Baptist University, allowed a one-out single up the middle to Evan Thompson in the second then retired nine in a row before Brady Bibb slapped a double on the chalk down the right-field line. The right-hander worked around a two-out error in the sixth before turning it over to Jackson.
In the seventh, an error allowed the Jackets’ Wyatt Daggett to reach base. But Lessenberry threw him out when he tried to steal second and Jackson finished with a strikeout and a groundout.
Bryant built an 8-0 lead in the first three innings with Lessenberry adding his solo bomb in the bottom of the sixth.
“I thought we came out and knocked the baseball all over the park, ran the bases well, executed some things, played really good defense with Ezell over here making a great play,” Hurt said, referencing a lined shot that Ezell speared with a lunge to his left at third to start the second inning.
“The only negative tonight was a little bit of that killer instinct — not that we haven’t had some blowouts and stuff but this was a conference game,” he continued. “The first three innings we came out with some fire and really good at-bats. But I thought from the fourth on, we just kind of went to sleep. I think that probably had a lot to do with the way Shack was throwing and having that big a lead. But we can’t do that.”
Sheridan’s lone run came after Bibb’s double in the fifth. A pair of wild pitches as was striking out the next two batters allowed the runner to come around.
The Black Sox grabbed a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Ezell lined a single to right and Ozzie Hurt sacrificed him to second. With two down, Lessenberry pulled a single through the hole on the left side to drive him in.
Marcus Wilson followed with a base hit and Hayden Daniel walked to load the bases. A wild pitch allowed Lessenberry to score then Chase Tucker came through with a two-out, two-strike, two-run double down the left-field line to cap the scoring.
In the second, Korey Thompson led off for the Sox, ripping a single into left-center. When the ball was booted in the outfield, Thompson hustled into second. He scored from there when Ezell plugged the gap in right-center for a triple.
Hurt singled in Ezell, stole second, took third on a base hit by Lessenberry and scored on Wilson’s sacrifice fly to make it 7-0.
Wyatt Daggett, the side-winding Sheridan starter, gave way to left Garrett Williams in the third. Austin Caldwell bet out a slow roller up the third-base line for a one-out hit. He swiped second then scored when Ezell shot a base hit through the right side, making it 8-0.
Williams pitched around a pair of walks in the fourth but when he walked Caldwell and Thompson to start the fifth, Bibb was brought in to throw. He got out of that jam unscathed but, in the sixth, surrendered Lessenberry’s blast.
BRYANT 9, SHERIDAN 1
Yellowjackets ab r h bi Black Sox ab r h bi
Davis, cf 3 0 0 0 Ezell, 3b 4 2 3 2
T.Daggett, 2b 3 0 0 0 Hurt, ss 3 1 1 1
Wylie, ss 3 0 0 0 Nelson, 1b 3 0 0 0
W.Daggett, p-rf 3 0 0 0 Lessenberry, c 4 2 3 2
E.Thompson, c 3 0 1 0 Wilson, lf 2 1 1 1
Bibb, lf-p 3 1 1 0 Daniel, cf 3 1 0 0
McKinzie, 1b 2 0 0 0 Tucker, dh 3 0 1 2
Bradford, 3b 2 0 0 0 Caldwell, rf 2 1 1 0
Williams, rf-p-lf 2 0 0 0 K.Thompson, 2b 2 1 1 0
Schalchlin, p0000
Jackson, p0000
Totals 24 1 2 0 Totals 26 9 11 8
Sheridan 000 010 0 — 1
BRYANT 431 001 x — 9
E—Davis, McKinzie, Hurt, K.Thompson. DP—Sheridan 1. LOB—Sheridan 2, Bryant 6. 2B—Tucker, Bibb. 3B—Ezell. HR—Lessenberry. SB—Hurt, Lessenberry. S—Hurt. SF—Wilson.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Sheridan
W.Daggett (L) 2 7 7 8 1 2
Williams 2 1 1 2 4 1
Bibb 2 1 1 1 0 0
Bryant
Schalchlin (W) 6 1 1 2 0 6
Jackson 1 0 0 0 0 1
WP—W.Daggett, Schalchlin 2, Williams.
