Senior Sox earn repeat Firecracker title in eight-inning thriller
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
FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. — Like two heavyweights trading licks, the Bryant Black Sox and O’Fallon, Mo., Panthers went full tilt in the championship game of the Southwest Illinois Firecracker Classic. One would take the lead and the other would rally. Ultimately, the game went to extra innings and, in the top of the eighth, Chase Tucker and Blake Patterson ripped consecutive doubles with one out to snap a 7-7 deadlock.
And, in the bottom of the inning, Dalton Holt, the third Bryant pitcher, put the game to bed with the help of his team’s defense, which had sparkled the entire game. Holt fanned the first batter he faced, gave up a single then the Sox turned a game-ending doubleplay as Bryant successfully defended its Classic championship with a wild 8-7 win.
The game-ending twin-killing was started by Korey Thompson, the team’s starting second baseman, who had been necessarily moved to short after Harrison Dale was hit in the face by a pitch in the top of the seventh. With abrasions on his face, Dale, who started in place of Trevor Ezell who was unavailable for the game, was taken to the hospital where it was verified that he had suffered a broken nose but no worse.
The Sox improved to 32-4 overall this season with the victory. They’re set to play a rare home game on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Coaches Darren Hurt, Jason Thompson and Mike Lee were trying to re-schedule a league game against Benton that night but, if that can’t be worked out, the Sox will host Sheridan.
Sunday’s win also completed a road trip that included a trip to Memphis for a tournament that started June 27. Like the Battle of Omaha tourney in June, the Sox finished as runners-up of the Memphis tourney, called The Hagan. So Sunday’s championship was a welcome one.
O’Fallon jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first before Bryant starter Zach Jackson got out of the two-out, one-out jam with a pair of strikeouts.
The right-hander settled in and retired the next seven in a row before giving up a single in the home fourth. A walk and a two-out single produced a fourth O’Fallon run.
The Sox had stranded runners in the first two frames but got one home in the third when Tucker belted a triple and Patterson doubled him home.
A two-run fifth cut the lead to 4-3. Drew Tipton walked and scored on a long double by Tucker. With two out, Hayden Lessenberry singled him in.
The Panthers pushed in another run in the bottom of the inning on a walk and a pair of hits. But Jackets retired the next three including two more on strikes to keep it 5-3.
In the top of the sixth, Warner and Breeding laced singles to left. Dale sacrificed and, with two down, Tipton delivered a two-run double to left-center to tie the game.
Justin Emmerling relieved for the Sox in the bottom of the sixth and the sidewinder worked around a pair of singles with a strikeout and a diving catch by Breeding, his catcher, on a pop-up bunt. With runners on the corners, Warner made a nice play at third to get the third out, keeping it tied going into the seventh.
The Sox made a bid to win it. Patterson cracked a single to left and Lessenberry walked. Holt sacrificed them to second and third for Warner, who singled in the go-ahead run run. Trey Breeding then got a squeeze bunt down and C.J. Phillips, running for Lessenberry, flew home to make it 7-5.
But O’Fallon had its own answer. A walk and a single set things up. And, when a sacrifice bunt drew an errant throw, a run scored and the potential tying run went to third. The Panthers squeezed in that run and had the potential winning run at third. But Emmerling picked him off. The runner broke for the plate and Warner fired to Breeding in time for the out.
A hit batsman put the potential winning run on base again but Emmerling sent it to extra innings with a strikeout, setting up the Sox’ go-ahead uprising.
