Senior Black Sox sweep season-opening twinbill
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For more photos from this event by Rick Nation, go here
Alex Shurtleff and Myers Buck combined on a five-inning no-hitter in the first game of a season-opening doubleheader against the Arkadelphia NAFT Badgers Tuesday night, then Coby Greiner added three more no-hit innings in the second game as the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team swept the twinbill, 9-0 and 9-5.
Brandon Hoover looks to make a throw to the plate. (Photo by Rick Nation)
Arkadelphia managed just four hits in the two games as Sox manager got moundwork for six of his pitchers. Along with Greiner, Will McEntire, Logan Catton and Logan Allen worked in game two.
Offensively, the Sox used six hits to take advantage of five errors, five walks and two hit batsmen in the first contest. But five of those six hits were two-out RBI knocks, producing six of the runs.
In game two, they belted 11 hits with three doubles. Five more were two-out run-scoring hits accounting for eight of the runs.
Shurtleff, back from Harding University, allowed just one base-runner in his three innings of work. With two out in the second, he struck Dalton Guthrie with a 1-2 pitch. The right-hander struck out the last two batters he faced and needed just 31 pitches to get through three.
Buck worked around a walk and a two-out error in the fourth then closed out the no-no by setting down the side in order in the fifth.
“We wanted to throw everybody a little bit and try to keep everybody under 30 pitches or so, so that we can be ready to go in Atlanta,” said Sox manager Darren Hurt, referring to the team’s trip to the East Cobb, Ga., Perfect Game tournament that starts Thursday.
“And just see some different guys in different positions,” he added. “We’ve got guys playing spots they haven’t played in a long time, some of them. But that’s what we’re going to have to do this summer. We’re going to have to move some guys around depending on who’s pitching, could really affect our defense. So, we wanted to see some of that.”
Any baseball coach will tell you that you can’t have too much pitching even more so in Senior Legion. Plus Bryant’s schedule always includes a number of tournaments and showcases. Not only are a lot of pitchers necessary to survive those but those events, in turn, help develop that depth.
Asked how many he had, Hurt related, “Pitchers? Probably four or five. Then, as usual, we’re going to find four or five other guys. I think by the time we get to where we need to get to, we’ll have eight guys that can go out there and throw. That’s what we’ve got to have. We’ve got to have a lot of arms. We’ve got to have some young guys step up on the mound. But they’ve been doing it all year in high school so I think we can find them.”
Dylan Hurt (Photo by Rick Nation)
In that regard, the manager acknowledged the diversity in ages on the 2017 team.
“Everything from about 19 to about 15,” he said. “It’s something that we haven’t had in a while. We’ve been fortunate the last few years to have a veteran team. This is going to be an interesting summer but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Regarding the hitting on Tuesday, Hurt said, “Offensively, I was really happy, especially the two-out hits. I don’t know how many of our runs came with two outs but most of them did. I thought that part was really good.”
The Sox broke open the first game in the third. Allen, who along with Dylan Hurt, is back after his freshman year at UA-Fort Smith, was struck by a pitch from Arkadelphia starter Braydon Todd. He stole second and, with two down, scored when Jake Wright’s grounder to second was misplayed.
An errant pickoff throw allowed Wright to sprint all the way to third. Logan Chambers yanked a single to right to make it 2-0.
Chambers stole second and, with two down, Greiner walked. Matthew Sandidge followed with a lined shot to center for an RBI single on an 0-2 pitch. Chambers scored then Greiner followed when Scott Schmidt smacked the next pitch to right for an RBI knock.
Todd gave way to Carson Smith for the Badgers and ended the uprising with a strikeout.
Buck relieved Shurtleff in the top of the fourth. With one out, Danny Spradlin walked. Alec Lewis fouled out to Hurt, the Bryant catcher, who came well up the third-base line and halfway to the Sox’ dugout to make the grab.
Todd followed with a grounder to short that was misplayed off a tricky hop but Buck got Guthrie to ground out to Wright at third to strand both runners.
The Sox got after Smith in the fourth. This time, the uprising began with Hurt taking one for the team with one out. Wright’s grounder to third resulted in a wild throw to first and runners at second and third.
Chambers was robbed of a hit by Guthrie at third as the runners held, setting up more two-out production. Shurtleff scorched a 2-1 pitch into the gap in right-center to make it 7-0. Greiner walked then Sandidge’s singled to center was misplayed and two more scored to set the final count.
In the nightcap, Arkadelphia actually grabbed a 2-0 lead without a hit. An error allowed lead-off man Alec Ruble to reach then Spradlin was hit by a pitch. A pair of wild pitches got Ruble home and Spradlin to third before Greiner settled in and retired the next three. A grounder to first by Lewis got Spradlin in.
Greiner allowed just one other baserunner in his three innings of work. He eased through the second on just four pitches, all pop-ups including a splendid play by first baseman Brandon Hoover in foul territory down the right-field line.
In the third, an error allowed a base-runner but the Sox turned a doubleplay started by Chambers at third. Greiner finished off his stint by getting Spradlin to sky to Shurtleff in right.
Meanwhile, the Sox had taken a 6-2 lead in the home second. Chambers singled and Hoover walked. The Badgers turned a doubleplay as Chambers advanced to third and the two-out scoring resumed.
Greiner drilled a double to left to drive in Chambers then Sandidge hit a bloop into the Bermuda Triangle in left-center, legging out a double when the second-base bag was left uncovered.
Schmidt and Allen drew walked to load the bases for Hurt who mashed a 3-2 pitch for a two-run single. A throw to third allowed Hurt to take second so he could follow Allen home when Wright smacked a single to cap the inning.
Spradlin came on in relief of starter Drew Saunders and got out of the inning. In the third, he worked around a double by Shurtleff and a two-out walk to Sandidge.
McEntire relieved for Bryant in the fourth and issued a walk. Lewis followed with a grounder into the hole at short. Greiner did a good job to get to it but Lewis beat the rap at first for Arkadelphia’s first hit of the night.
Todd, who had walked, was off from second as Logan Honeycutt squared to bunt. Honeycutt popped up the bunt and Wright, the Sox catcher, jumped out to catch it. He fired to second to double off Todd. McEntire then struck out Guthrie to end the inning.
Bryant’s fourth started with a single by Allen. He swiped second and, with one out, Wright walked. And there was two away when Hoover reached on an error that allowed Allen to score. Shurtleff walked to load the bases.
Guthrie came on to pitch for Arkadelphia and battled with Greiner who fouled off a pair of 3-2 pitches before drilling a two-run single to right-center, making it 9-2.
In the top of the fifth, Tanner Smith hit a liner to left as the sprinkler system at the BHS field came on. Buck kept his concentration, however, and hauled it in.
But it took a couple of minutes to turn off the water and, when play resumed, McEntire issued walks to Deven Horn and Turner Pentecost. Catton was called in to pitch and an error loaded the bases for Spradlin, who fouled off three 2-2 deliveries before cracking a double to left-center, driving in two.
Buck made another nice play to get to the ball and hit the cut-off, Greiner, who relayed a strike to Chambers at third in time to retire Ruble. Todd flew out to right as Catton kept the damage to two runs.
In the home half, the Sox loaded the bases as Catton walked and Allen singled. A two-out hit by Wright filled up the sacks but the Badgers avoided the two-out barrage this time by turing a doubleplay.
Lewis singled to open the sixth. He was forced at second on a grounder to third then Guthrie doubled to put runners at second and third. Smith picked up an RBI with a groundout to short then Horn flew out to right to end the inning.
Allen took over on the mound for the Sox in the seventh. With one out, he hit Ruble then walked Spradlin to bring up Todd. In a most unusual finish, a pitch up and in, hit the knob of the bat and, apparently pinched Todd’s hand. As the batter clutched his hand and walked up the line, the ball rolled in front of the plate. Allen alertly picked it up and fired to second, starting a game-ending doubleplay.
The Sox open play at East Cobb, Ga., with an 18-and-under game at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday. They’ll play a 16-and-under game at 4:30 p.m.
Each team will play pool play games on Friday and Saturday before bracket play commences on Sunday with the finals on Monday.
