Senior Black Sox in Memphis: Bracket play
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting 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).
Photos courtesy of Samantha Breeding
MEMPHIS — After going 5-0 in pool play at the annual Keith Hagan Memorial All-America Classic at the University of Memphis’ Tiger Stadium, the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team faced a pair of rematches. In the semifinals, behind a gutsy pitching performance by Devin Dupree, they Sox bounced the Rawlings Recruits of Fenton, Mo., 4-3. But in a rematch with Team Canada, the Ontario Blue Jays of Mississauga, Ontario, the Sox fell victim to some late scoring, absorbing a 4-1 loss.
Bryant took a 17-4-2 record to the annual Southwest Illinois Classic in Alton, Ill., just outside of St. Louis.
Here are the details of the final two games at The Hagan for the Black Sox:
Bryant 4, Rawlings Recruits 3
Dupree went the distance on the mound allowing just one earned run on three hits. Though he struggled with his control, walking five and hitting a batter, he finished strong, fanning two in a 1-2-3 seventh to close it out.
Connor Tatum had two hits for the Sox and Evan Lee belted a key two-run triple.
The Recruits took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a pair of walks, a passed ball and a single. In the third, there was another walk but the Sox turned a doubleplay to keep it 2-0.
They grabbed the lead in the bottom of the third with Tatum getting things started with a single. Brandan Warner was struck by a pitch then Dylan Hurt bunted but the pitcher made the play and got a force at third. Patterson, however, came through with an RBI single and Lee pounded the triple that made it 3-2.
A crucial insurance run scored in the home fourth. With two down, Tatum walked, stole second and third then scored when Warner’s grounder to second was booted.
Dupree, who had worked around an error and a two-out walk in the top of the fourth, retired the side in order in the fifth before running into some trouble in the sixth. A single started the inning then, with one out, he hit a batter. A groundout moved the runners up setting the stage for a two-out RBI single that cut the lead to 4-3.
But he got out of the jam with a strikeout then flew through the tense top of the seventh.
Ontario 4, Bryant 1
The Sox took a 1-0 lead in the first when Warner doubled and Hurt singled him home. But that proved to be all they could get. In the third, singles by Tatum, Hurt and Lee loaded the bases but Ontario escaped.
Meanwhile, Alex Shurtleff was shutting out the Blue Jays on two hits over the first four innings. He issued a walk and a single to start the game but picked the runner off second. A fly to center and a strikeout ended the inning.
In the third, he worked around a walk and a single by inducing a one-out doubleplay ball. A one-out single in the fourth came to naught.
But Shurtleff, who had pitched a complete game in the opener of the Classic, tired and the Blue Jays hit up Bryant relievers for two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth before Warner got the final six outs around an error that allowed the final run to score.
The Sox were unable to muster much offense after the third-inning threat. In the fifth, Tatum walked but was caught stealing. Hurt had a two-out hit that came to naught. In the seventh, Tatum worked another walk but the Ontario pitcher otherwise struck out the side.
