Senior Sox walk past Benton in season debut
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BENTON — With pitchers taking the mound for the first time in a while — at least since the end of the high school and college seasons concluded — as the American Legion baseball season unfolds, an umpire’s tight (but consistent) strike zone can make for some long innings.
On Monday night, in the debut of the Bryant Black Sox Senior team, eight pitchers between the two teams issued a whopping 23 walks. Fifteen of those (along with two hit batsmen) came from the six hurlers for Benton McClendon’s Senior team. The Black Sox, when they had pitches to swing at, cracked eight hits on the way to an 18-4 win at Bill Perry Field.
Catcher Hayden Lessenberry, back after a spring season at Henderson State University, clubbed two hits including a three-run double. Chase Tucker and Dalton Holt added two hits and Evan Lee came off the bench to crack a two-run double. Holt drove home three.
“We had some 2-0 counts where guys got their pitch and some of our best gappers were on 2-0 pitches,” related Sox manager Darren Hurt. “I thought they did a good job at the plate. And they didn’t chase. That was the main thing because they saw a lot of balls too.”
The Sox batted around in three of the five innings.
Right-hander Nate Rutherford, returning after a season with the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys, picked up the win with relief help from Harrison Dale who was on the mound in a game for the first time since May 8. He only allowed one hit as he knocked the rust off but he walked six and allowed a pair of runs before closing out the game with his third strikeout.
“We got Nate 68 pitches and that’s kind of where we wanted to get him to, trying to get him back in that starter mentality,” noted Hurt. “He hasn’t started a game since the State Tournament last year for us. It’s all been one inning out of the pen (at Tech). They tell him he’s got a real shot to be in the rotation there next year so we’ve got to use this summer to get him back.”
Bryant grabbed a 4-0 lead in the first with just one hit, a lead-off single by Trevor Ezell. He stole second and, after one-out walks to Tucker and Lessenberry, trotted home when Blake Patterson drew a free pass. Holt hit a grounder to third to drive in a run. And he reached safely when the throw to first was errant.
RBI walks to Brandan Warner and Austin Caldwell forced in runs before Benton starter Zach Smiley could get out of the inning.
He would retire the side in order in the second but, in the third, struggled again after an infield hit by Holt with one out. Warner and Caldwell waited out walks to fill the bags and force a pitching change. But lefty reliever Brandon Wilcox fared no better. His wild pitch allowed Holt to score. Caldwell scored on a wild pitch and, after Korey Thompson drew a free pass, Ezell was struck by a delivery to force in a run.
When the count went to 2-0 on Drew Tipton, Bret Murdock was called in to pitch. He completed the walk to Tipton and issued another to Tucker before Lessenberry belted a shot to left-center to clear the bases.
Blake Patterson was hit by a pitch and another pitching change brought on Caleb Hughes who was greeted by Holt’s RBI single, which made it 11-0.
Rutherford, meanwhile, had issued a walk to open the bottom of the first but he was able to adjust to the tight zone and didn’t issue another pass until the fourth. Benton managed four hits against him but three of them never got beyond the infield grass. He struck out six along the way.
Hughes pitched a scoreless fourth and McClendon’s got on the board in the home half. Cole Southerland beat out a slow roller to second then Wesley Ramsey slapped a single into right. Hunter McDade walked and, with the bags juiced, Taylor Hamilton picked up an RBI with a groundout to Warner at third.
At his pitch limit, Rutherford gave way to Dale, who struck out the first batter he faced. Consecutive walks to Andrew Swain and Jack Jones forced in another run. A nice play by Thompson at second, ranging far to his left, retired Zac Caplinger to end the inning.
Bryant added seven more runs in the top of the fifth. Tucker singled and went to second when the ball was booted in left. Lessenberry followed with a base hit and Patterson walked to fill the bags. Holt hit a sharp grounder through the shortstop and two runs scored. With one out, Lee lashed a double into the left-field corner to chase in two.
Southerland took over on the mound at that point and managed to get the second out before issuing walks to Ezell and Tipton. With the sacks packed, Tucker’s infield hit to the hole at short drove in a run. Trey Breeding then walked to pick up an RBI. And when the count went to 2-0 on Justin Emmerling, Jordan Allred became the sixth Benton pitcher. He finished the walk forcing in the final tally.
McClendon’s picked up two runs in the bottom of the inning on a single by Southerland and four walks but Dale fanned James on three pitches to bring the game to a mercy-rule end.
The Sox are set to return to action tonight at Sheridan with four starters unavailable including Ezell, Thompson and Tucker who will be playing in the Central Arkansas All-Star game, which was rained out last week.
BRYANT 18, BENTON 4
Black Sox ab r h bi McClendon’s ab r h bi
Ezell, ss 3 3 1 1 James, 2b 2 0 0 1
Tipton, cf 3 2 0 0 Caplinger, c 3 0 0 0
Tucker, dh 3 3 2 1 Holicer, 3b 3 0 0 0
Lessenberry, c 3 2 2 3 Southerland, 1b-p 3 2 3 0
Breeding, c 0 0 0 1 Ramsey, rf 2 2 1 0
Patterson, 1b 1 2 0 1 McDade, cf 1 0 0 0
Emmerling, 1b 0 0 0 1 Hamilton, lf 3 0 0 1
Holt, rf 4 2 2 3 Allred, dh-1b-p 2 0 0 1
Warner, 3b 2 1 0 1 Swain, ss 1 0 1 1
Caldwell, lf 1 1 0 1 Smiley, p 0 0 0 0
Lee, lf 1 1 1 2 Wilcox, p 0 0 0 0
Thompson, 2b 3 0 0 0 Murdock, p 0 0 0 0
Rutherford, p 0 0 0 0 Hughes, p 0 0 0 0
Dale, p 0 0 0 0
Totals 25 18 8 15 Totals 20 4 5 4
Bryant 407 07 — 18
Benton 000 22 — 4
E—James, Holicer, Swain 2, Hamilton. LOB—Bryant 9, Benton 9. 2B—Lessenberry, Lee. SB—Ezell, James.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Bryant
Rutherford (W) 3.1 2 2 4 2 6
Dale 1.2 2 2 1 6 3
Benton
Smiley (L) 2.1 7 3 2 7 2
Wilcox 0.1 1 1 0 2 0
Murdock 0 3 3 1 1 0
Hughes 1.2 5 0 4 1 1
Southerland 0.1 2 2 1 4 0
Allred 0.1 0 0 0 0 0
Murdock faced three batters in the third.
HBP—Ezell (by Wilcox), Patterson (by Murdock). WP—Wilcox, Murdock.
