The Bryant Black Sox players and coaches during the National Anthem Tuesday night. (Photo by Rick Nation)
Senior Sox knock the rust off, surge past Cougars in opener
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Photos by Rick Nation
Though manager Darren Hurt didn’t have his full compliment of players on hand, Tuesday night’s 2016 Senior American Legion opener was a success in more ways that one. Not only did Hurt’s Bryant Black Sox pick up an 8-2 win in a nine-inning contest against the Conway Cougars but several players that hadn’t seen game action in a while got a chance to knock the rust off.
Beaux Bonvillain started on the mound for the Black Sox. (Photo by Rick Nation)
The Sox racked up 12 hits and stole nine bases while a quartet of pitchers got into the game.
“That’s a good thing,” Hurt said. “We got to see some things out of some guys that we’re going to need this year.”
The game was close through six innings. The Sox led just 3-2 but they scored three in the seventh and two more in the eighth to stretch it out.
Garrett Misenheimer led the way with three hits and a walk. Jake East, Cameron Coleman and Alex Shurtleff each had two hits.
“We haven’t been on the field,” Hurt noted. “We gave them some time off (after the high school season). We’ve been in the cages a little bit so I expected us to come out a little rusty and our timing was not good early. The second kid (Chad Cox) that came in (to pitch for Conway), it took us a little while but once we got it timed up, got three at-bats deep, we started figuring it out.”
Southpaw Beaux Bonvillain started on the mound and worked into the fifth. With the game tied 2-2 and two aboard with two down, side-winding right-hander Boston Heil relieved and got the third out on a fly to Sandidge in right.
He went on to retire six in a row, striking out the side in the sixth. Christian Harp worked a 1-2-3 eighth then Seth Tucker got through the ninth, ending the game with a strikeout with the bases loaded.
Shortstop Jake East throws to first past the field umpire. (Photo by Rick Nation)
“I liked our pitching,” Hurt said. “I thought Beaux threw well. I liked the way Heil came in. He was lights out. He hasn’t pitching in quite a while other than a bullpen. He looked real good.
“Tucker struggled a little bit there with his release point but he’ll be fine,” the coach added. “We were planning on Tucker in the ninth but we came up a little short there and we had Harp on standby to throw one if we didn’t get to the ninth. Heil hit his pitch count after the seventh so Harp came in and did a good job in the eighth.”
The Sox took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Coleman beat out an infield hit and stole second. Scott Schmidt walked and Alex Shurtleff beat out a bunt single when no one covered first.
Sandidge followed with a bloop to right that fell in at the last second. Though Shurtleff was forced at second after having to hold up, Coleman scored. Harp then singled into the hole at short to drive in Schmidt.
Tucker sacrificed to put runners at second and third then East was robbed of a hit by Conway third baseman Jake Ayers.
The Cougars got on the board in the top of the third. B.J. Hudson walked and scored on a long double to left by Chris Davis.
Catcher Jordan Gentry is greeted by Black Sox manager Darren Hurt after Conway was retired. (Photo by Rick Nation)
Bonvillain, who had pitched around a walk in the first and erased a lead-off single in the second with a pickoff, regained his groove and retired the next three batters as Davis was stranded. East, who made a trio of sparkling defensive plays at short, robbed Ayers of a hit to get the third out.
Cox managed a two-out hit in the fourth then Bonvillain retired the first two in the fifth. But singles by Scott Weaver, Cody McKnight and Ayers produced the tying run.
With the lefty at 80 pitches, Hurt turned to Heil to face clean-up hitter David Beck who flew out.
Bryant snapped the tie in the bottom of the fifth with a little gift. With one out, East singled and Misenheimer walked. They worked a double steal then Jordan Gentry drew a free pass to load the bases. With Coleman at the plate, the Conway catcher Matt Sweare and Cox missed connections on a throw back to the mound. The ball got far enough away that East sprinted home without a play to make it 3-2.
Misenheimer and Gentry worked a double steal but both were stranded as Cox worked out of the jam.
The Cougars threatened in the seventh. With two out, Weaver singled to center, the first hit allowed by Heil. McKnight singled to center as well but Tucker, who played second base all the way through the high school season, charged in from center and fired a strike to third, nailing Weaver to end the inning.
Christian Harp had an RBI single in the second inning. (Photo by Rick Nation)
Bryant’s seventh-inning uprising began with a one-out single to right by Misenheimer that was misplayed allowing him to get to second. Gentry walked then Coleman reached on an error. With the bags juiced, Schmidt yanked a single to left through the drawn-in infield, plating Misenheimer and Gentry. And when Alex Shurtleff lined a single to center, Coleman hustled home to make it 6-2.
Harp needed just 10 pitches to get through the top of the eighth, retiring the heart of the Conway batting order.
In turn, East started Bryant’s two-run burst with one out in the home half of the frame. Misenheimer sliced a single to right then, for the third time in the game, the Sox pulled off a double steal.
Gentry picked up an RBI with a tapper to third then Coleman laced a liner down the left-field line for an RBI double to cap off the scoring.
Aided by a nice defensive play at second by Schmidt, Tucker retired the first two in the top of the ninth. Hudson slapped a single to right then the Sox’ right-hander, another side-arm hurler, walked D.J. Harmon and Weaver.
After a visit from Hurt, however, Tucker fanned McKnight to end the game.
