The last time the Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team took on the Paragould Glen Sain GMC squad, it was the 2019 State championship. Paragould had made an impressive run through the loser’s bracket to get to the finals to face the Sox. Bryant built a 5-1 lead through five innings then blew the game up against the arm-weary Motormen with a 10-run sixth.
Not a good memory — more like a nightmare for Paragould.
So, what happened when the two teams met again on Tuesday night at Bryant High School Field in a rematch of that final?
The Black Sox scored 10 runs in the very first inning. Slade Renfrow and Noah Davis combined to shut out Paragould on two hits over five innings on the way to a 12-0 win.
The shutout was the fifth by Sox pitchers during the nine-game run.
And behind the pitching of Coby Greiner and Tyler Bates, the Sox made it a doubleheader sweep with a 7-1 victory in five innings of a second game. The lone run for Paragould in the 10 innings was unearned.
Bryant, which started the season 2-9, ran its win streak to nine games in a row, improving to 11-9 going into a doubleheader in Mountain Home on Wednesday on their way to Springfield, Mo., for a Mid America Tournament, starting Thursday.
Bryant 12, Paragould 0
Lefty Sam Pierce, who pitched a gem for Paragould in eliminating Texarkana during the 2019 State tourney run, couldn’t get out of the first inning against the Sox on Tuesday. Noah Davis greeted him with a lead-off triple, one of two knocks for the Bryant infielder-turned-pitcher, who made his mound debut for 2020 to close out the game.
Ryan Riggs singled up the middle to bring him home. Logan Catton swatted a single to right, running his consecutive game hitting streak to 10. And when Cade Drennan’s grounder to short was kicked, the bases were loaded for Peyton Dillon. He shot a single to left to make it 2-0 then Greiner executed a perfect squeeze bunt to get Catton home.
At that point, Pierce began to struggle with his control. He walked Gage Stark to fill the bags again, then issued an RBI pass to Connor Martin.
After 35 pitches and just one out, Pierce gave way to right-hander Brady Stern. Lawson Speer walked to force in yet another run then Davis ripped a liner down the left-field line for a two-run double to make it 8-0.
Catton’s second hit of the inning plated Speer. Drennan singled in Davis and, after Dillon walked to load the bases once more, a passed ball allowed Catton to score the 10th run of the frame.
Renfrow, meanwhile, had pitched around a pair of errors and a two-out hit in the top of the first. Drennan helped take the starch out of the inning by throwing out lead-off man Dawson Hanner who tried to steal second. Renfrow fanned Seth Gage to end the threat.
In the second, walks to Sterns, Jarron Brantley and Hanner loaded the bases with two down but again Renfrow escaped when Cade Cancilla flew out to Greiner in center.
Bryant’s second started with a walk to Martin and a single to left by Speer. With one out, Riggs hit a comebacker to Sterns who turned to try to start a doubleplay at second. But his throw was errant. Riggs was safe and so was Speer who scampered over to third as Martin scored. Catton, who was 3 for 3 with a walk in the game, singled to right to drive in the 12th run.
The Sox turned a doubleplay in the top of the third to erase a lead-off single by Cody Miller. Gage was hit by a pitch but Renfrow struck out Hays Austin to keep the shutout going.
Davis struck out two as he retired the side in the fourth. In the fifth, he got another K while pitching around a two-out walk to close out the win.
Bryant 7, Paragould 1
Greiner allowed two hits while striking out six over his three-inning stint. One of those hits was a one-out double by Miller in the first. But Greiner fanned the next two batters.
He struck out two more in a 1-2-3 second and two more in the third when Blaine Wood walked, and Hanner beat out an infield hit. A liner by Cancilla back to Greiner ended the inning.
Bryant, meanwhile, broke out big early again. In the first, Davis reached on an error and Riggs beat out an infield hit. Catton got a sacrifice bunt down, which was fielded by Gage, the Paragould catcher. He fired past first and down into the right-field corner. Both Davis and Riggs scored while Catton wound up at third.
Paragould right-hander Trey Nicholson retired the next two Bryant batters with a nice assist by Gage who caught a foul pop at the net. But a four-pitch walk to Greiner kept the inning going. After Greiner stole second, Aaron Morgan, fending off an 0-2 pitch, sliced a single to right to drive in two, making it 4-0.
In the second, Riggs belted a two-out triple. He scored on a wild pitch. Moments later, Catton’s swinging bunt was misplayed by Nicholson and the barrage resumed as Drennan, Dillon and Greiner cracked consecutive singles to push the lead to 7-0.
Paragould’s lone run of the evening came in the top of the fourth with Bates relieving Greiner. Jackson Henfling opened the inning with a double. But when Gage hit a grounder to Drennan at third, he caught Henfling wandering too far off the second-base bag. The Sox got him in a rundown and Drennan wound up tagging him out.
A single by Pierce kept the inning going but Bates fanned Sterns to bring up Alex Harrell, who singled sharply to left. That would’ve loaded the bases as Gage was going to stop at third but the throw from the outfield was air-mailed over the head of Riggs, the catcher, and Gage scored.
Bates ended the uprising there by getting Wood to pop to second.
Ethan Andrews belted a double into the right-center gap with one out in the bottom of the third for Bryant. But when he tried to stretch it into a triple, a good relay got him at third. Speer singled and took second on a wild pitch but Davis’ lone fly to right was flagged down to end the inning.
Bates pitched around a lead-off single and a two-out walk to bring the game to a conclusion. He got the final out on strikes.
