CONWAY — A clutch two-run double by Blaine Sears and a three-run homer by Ryan Riggs highlighted a six-run sixth inning as the Bryant Hornets erased a 2-0 deficit then held on for a 6-4 win over the Conway Wampus Cats on Tuesday in a battle for a share of first place in the 6A-Central Conference.
As it turned out, the Hornets expanded their one-game lead atop the conference to two games over the second-placed Wampus Cats with a tiebreaker as well. Bryant has now swept Conway. And with North Little Rock’s 4-3 win over Cabot on Tuesday, the Hornets lead both those teams by three games going into Thursday’s game with the Charging Wildcats at Bryant.
The Hornets improved to 17-1 overall this season, 7-0 in league play. Conway is not 16-5 and 6-2.
Through five innings, Conway right-hander Ben Weese had the Hornets shut out on one hit. Weese and the Wampus Cats’ manager Leighton Hardin appeared to be determined not to let Bryant star Austin Ledbetter beat them. To start the sixth, Weese walked him for the third time. Conner Martin, whom Weese had fanned twice, got the bat on the ball this time and hit a worm-burner to Sam Stroth at short. Stroth bobbled the ball and Martin beat his throw to first.
Weese came back with his eighth strikeout of the game but Turner Seelinger, Bryant’s starting pitcher, came through with an RBI single to left.
Garret Wilson followed suit. His lined single to left was hit too hard for Martin to score so the bases were loaded when Sears came to the plate. The centerfielder had been struggling at the plate in recent games. Head coach Travis Queck had been DH’ing for him until the team’s April 6 game in Cabot when he’d gone 0 for 2 with a walk. In fact, his last hit was when the Hornets beat Conway 9-8 on March 19.
Sears battled with Weese, working the count to 3-2 and fouling off a couple of tough pitches before drilling a liner to left-center for a two-run double that put the Hornets ahead 3-2.
“We’ve just got guys,” said Queck after the game. “We’re fortunate to have six to seven outfielders and it’s just finding the guys that are going to produce offensively because every one of them’s going to play defense. And we’ve had a couple of nicks here and there, just some nagging injuries and it was Blaine’s opportunity.
“In BP, he had made some mistakes and we were able to talk him through it and do some things,” he continued. “And what he did in that last at bat was huge. He came up big, and that’s what seniors do in those moments. So, I couldn’t be more proud of him for figuring that out.”
Again, Weese rebounded with a strikeout before Riggs, who was 0 for 3 in the game, came to the plate and, on a 3-1 delivery, Weese’s 107th pitch, he blasted a drive over the boards in right-center for a three-run jack that made it 6-2.
“It’s a game,” Queck said. “Sometimes these kids put so much pressure from at bat to at bat on themselves. They’ve got to realize, there’s another opportunity coming. We’ve got to shed that. I couldn’t be more proud of Riggs because he struggled early. But he just kept plugging away and the next opportunity, he made the most of it.”
Seelinger, who had surrendered both Conway runs, one unearned, in the bottom of the third, had retired six in a row going into the bottom of the sixth. He got Cameron Leach to ground out to Martin at third. Anthony Snyder beat out an infield hit that shortstop Noah Davis knocked down deep in the hole.
Seelinger fanned Hugh Hill. The Hornets got within a strike of getting out of the inning but, on a 2-2 pitch, Austin Rainey lined a single to center. A blooper fell in for Kyler Spencer, driving in Clay Fisher, the courtesy runner for Snyder. Zach Schuba’s soft liner to left fell in for an RBI single and it was 6-4.
Queck brought Will Hathcote to the mound in relief.
“They didn’t hit many balls hard,” Queck said, regarding Seelinger who was at 81 pitches. “But I felt like we just had to change the dynamic right there.”
Hathcote, who had looked so good in his relief appearance to close out a win at Cabot, issued a walk to nine-hole hitter Sam Gregg. So, the bases were loaded with lead-off man Logan French coming to the plate. Earlier, French had doubled in a run.
After getting down 2-0, Hathcote threw three consecutive strikes to fan French looking, ending the threat.
In the seventh, the big right-hander retired the 2, 3 and 4 hitters on eight pitches to earn the save.
“He’s dynamic with that,” Queck said of Hathcote. “He’s got four pitches that just move out of this world. He’s just got to find which one’s working that day. I’m tremendously proud of him for taking on that role and responsibility when, all his life, he’s been a starter.”
Weese hit Noah Davis with a pitch in the first then walked Ledbetter but worked around it. In the second, Sears reached on a two-out error but Weese forced the Hornets to strand him.
In the third, again, Davis got Bryant’s first hit, a single, with one out. Ledbetter walked again but Weese retried the next two to preserve the shutout.
Seelinger gave up a single to Stroth in the first but Leach lined to J.T. Parker at first, who doubled Stroth off the bag to end the inning.
In the second, Hill singled and stole second but was stranded.
Seelinger struck Schuba with a pitch to start the bottom of the third. Gregg sacrificed him to second then French doubled in the first run. Stroth’s grounder to short resulted in an errant throw to first allowing French to score a second run.
But Riggs threw Stroth out when he tried to steal second. Seelinger then struck out Leach to send it to the fourth.
Weese set the Hornets down in order in both the fourth and the fifth innings.
In the bottom of the fourth, Snyder and Hill led off with a singles but Seelinger forced the Cats to strand them by retiring the next three, two of them on strikes.
He worked a 1-2-3 fifth setting up the Hornets’ big inning.
“I didn’t think we played with the most enthusiasm,” said Queck. “I think we were just kind of waiting for things to happen early on. And part of that’s on me because we had a forfeit two Friday’s ago and last Friday we got rained out. So, we haven’t been in a routine. I’ve got to do a better job of scheduling and all that.
“But they did a good job of finding it when they needed to and competing,” he said of his players. “If we look back to it, we gave them one run, so we should’ve been only fighting to get that one run, plus one. But to come away a big inning like six is huge.
“It’s a testament to this senior class,” he concluded. “These guys have been with us four years. They’ve been the heart and soul. They’ve competed their butt off for four years and it’s their time and they’re not going to lose it.”
