Senior Sox overwhelm Benton with 22-hit attack at Zone tourney
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).
TEXARKANA — The Bryant Black Sox hammered out 22 hits including three each for Drew Tipton, Blake Patterson, Evan Lee, Trey Breeding, Jason Hastings and Dylan Hurt as they swamped Benton, 13-1, at the Zone 4 Senior American Legion Tournament at Joe Blagg Field Saturday.
The win moved the Sox within a win of returning to the Senior Legion State Tournament at Fort Smith, to defend their 2014 title. They were set to play host Texarkana, a longtime rival and fellow powerhouse in the state, on Sunday at 1 p.m., in the winners bracket final.
Right-hander Blake Patterson worked five scoreless innings allowing four hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Hurt pitched a scoreless sixth but ran into trouble in the seventh and gave way to Jason Hastings who induced a 1-2-3 doubleplay then ended the game on a groundout to Connor Tatum at second.
Bryant, which went undefeated in Zone 4 during the regular season, scored in each of the first five innings of Saturday’s contest. Patterson drove in four runs. Lee three, Breeding and Hastings two each.
Patterson worked around a lead-off single to Rookie McDade in the opening inning and, in the bottom half, the Sox grabbed a 2-0 lead. Tipton singled, stole second and scored on Patterson’s base hit to right. With two down, singles by Breeding and Hastings brought him around with the second run.
Jack Jumper singled for Benton in the second but the Sox turned a nifty 3-6-1 doubleplay. After a walk to Brandon Wilcox, Patterson fanned Cody Icenhower and the Sox came back to the plate for more damage.
With two down, Tipton walked, Brandan Warner singled then both scored when Patterson plugged the gap in right-center for a triple. Lee singled him in and it was 5-0.
Benton was retired in order in the top of the third and the Sox added one more. Hurt singled, Logan Allen sacrificed him to second then he took third on Tatum’s groundout. A passed ball allowed him to score as Tipton drew another walk.
Benton loaded the bases in the top of the fourth on a pair of walks and a single by Estavan Padilla. But Patterson escaped when he got Icenhower to bounce to short.
The Sox’ fourth began with a double by Patterson. Though he was caught trying to steal third, Lee reignited the inning with a double. Breeding singled him in and took second on the late throw to the plate. He scored, moments later, on a base hit by Hastings, bumping the lead to 8-0.
Benton’s Andy Swaim doubled to open the top of the fifth. McDade reached on an error but Patterson retired the next three, two on strikes, to preserve the shutout.
In turn, the Sox removed all doubt about the outcome with a five-run fifth. Tatum got things revved up with a single. Tipton doubled and, with one out, Patterson produced his fourth RBI with a grounder to first. Lee’s second double knocked in a run, starting a string of consecutive RBI doubles from Breeding, Hastings and Hurt.
Hurt relieved in the top of the sixth and worked around a walk, a singled and an error. In the seventh, a base hit, a hit batsman and a single loaded the bases.
Hastings relieved and got the two-ball but a run scored to set the final score.
