SHERIDAN — After beating the Sheridan Yellowjackets Junior American Legion team in the finals of a tournament at Lakeside on Sunday, 8-0, the Everett Black Sox Junior team of Bryant, traveled to Sheridan for a rematch on Tuesday.
And it was a different story.
Sheridan rallied for two runs to tie it 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth. In the sixth, the Jackets snapped the deadlock with a two-out, bases-loaded RBI single by Isaiah Quintanilla. The Sox appeared to be out of the inning when Nick Whitley held at third and Dustin Reid failed to realize it and ran three-fourths of the way to third.
Bryant made a play on Reid but when Whitley broke for the plate, a relay home to catcher Dylan Hurt was in time for the tag to apparently end the inning. But the field umpire called a Bryant defender for obstruction on Ried as he tried to retreat to second.
As a result Whitley was granted homeplate and the inning continued with Sheridan up 6-4. Lefty Beaux Bonvillain got the final out of the frame but the damage had been done.
Jackets’ starter Tyler Cleveland made it stand up as he completed a 122-pitch complete game, working around a pair of walks in the top of the seventh. He was also aided by a couple of nice catches in center by Cory Walker including a diving grab that robbed Bryant’s Garrett Misenheimer of a hit.
The Sox absorbed their first loss of the season. Now 5-1, they’re scheduled to play at North Little Rock tonight at 6.
Asked if playing Sheridan so soon after winning convincingly on Sunday, Everett manager Tyler Brown said, “Maybe, but I’m going to say no. It’s the game of baseball. It’s a privilege to get to come out. And the more games, the better; you’re getting reps in. We come out here every day knowing we’re going to win the game but today it just didn’t happen.
“In the end, there are no excuses,” he emphasized. “We didn’t really play very well the whole game. We squared a couple of balls up but, other than that, we didn’t really have a plan at the dish, didn’t execute, didn’t get the lead-off guy on except in a couple of innings. And when we did, we didn’t really do anything with it. We weren’t very focused.”
The Sox threatened to take a lead in the first when Logan Allen singled, took second on a passed ball and then swiped third. With one out, Jordan Gentry walked but Cleveland retired the next two on a pop to second and bouncer to first to escape.
In the home half, Bryant right-hander Jake East struggled a bit at first with the dimensions of the strike zone, issuing one-out walks to Chase Wallingsford and Whitley. David Vilches singled to left to make it 1-0 but East kept it to that.
The Sox tied it on a two-out solo homer by Weston Jones, on loan from the Bryant AA team. Jones wound up with two hits, driving in three of the Sox’ runs.
It stayed 1-1 until the top of the fourth when Cameron Coleman reached base on an error. Hurt chopped a single over the head of Quintanilla who was in on the grass looking for a sacrifice.
That came moments later from Aaron Orender, setting the stage for Jones’ two-run single to left. East doubled Jones to third and Allen delivered a sacrifice fly to make it a 4-1 Bryant lead.
Sheridan got a run back in the bottom of the fourth. Reid singled and reached second on a passed ball. With one out, Quintanilla walked and Cleveland blooped a single to left to load the bases.
Noah Easterling relieved for the Sox and retired Zach Glidden but a walk to Renner Smith forced in the run. Easterling regrouped and forced Sheridan to leave the sacks filled by inducing a grounder to Misenheimer at first to end the threat.
Misenheimer and Coleman each lashed one-out singles in the fifth and, with two down, Orender drew a walk to load the bases with Jones back up to the plate.
But it was a “Casey At The Bat” moments when Cleveland managed to strike him out to keep it 4-2.
Sheridan’s tying rally in the bottom of the inning began with Whitley being hit by a pitch and Vilches reaching on an error. Reid singled to make it 4-2 but Easterling got Walker to foul out on a bunt attempt. A walk to Quintanilla produced a pitching change.
Gentry got the second out but issued a walk to Glidden that forced in the tying run. Sheridan, again, left the bases loaded when Gentry struck out Smith to keep it 4-4.
Bryant’s sixth began with a walk to East and a nicely placed sacrifice bunt by Allen. But East was stranded setting up the game-turning home sixth.
Asked what he told his team after the game, Brown related, “I told them, tomorrow’s a new day. I’d like a lot more energy in the dugout. We were pretty lifeless out there, not a lot of people talking. We’ve got North Little Rock. I hope we come out focused, a new team.”
SHERIDAN 6, BRYANT EVERETT 4
Junior American Legion
Black Sox ab r h bi Yellowjackets ab r h bi
Allen, cf 2 0 1 1 Smith, 2b 3 0 1 1
Tatum, ss-2b 4 0 0 0 Wallingsford, lf 3 2 1 0
Gentry, 2b-p-3b 3 0 0 0 Whitley, ss 1 2 1 0
Misenheimer, 1b 4 0 1 0 Vilches, c 4 1 1 1
Coleman, rf 3 1 1 0 Reid, rf 3 1 2 1
Hurt, c 4 0 1 0 Walker, cf 4 0 0 0
Bonvillain, cr 0 1 0 0 Quintanilla, 3b 2 0 1 2
Orender, lf 1 0 0 0 Cleveland, p 4 0 1 1
Jones, 3b 3 2 2 3 Glidden, 1b 2 0 0 1
Bonvillain, p 1 0 0 0
East, p-ss 2 0 2 0
Easterling, p 0 0 0 0
Totals 27 4 8 4 Totals 26 6 8 5
Bryant 010 300 0 — 4
Sheridan 100 122 x — 6
E—Tatum, Cleveland, Jones, Bonvillain, East. LOB—Bryant 10, Sheridan 11. 2B—East. HR—Jones. SB—Allen. S—Orender, Allen. SF—Allen.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Bryant
East 3.1 2 2 4 3 0
Easterling (L) 1 4 3 1 1 0
Gentry 1 0 0 2 1 1
Bonvillain 0.2 0 0 1 0 0
Sheridan
Cleveland (W) 7 4 2 8 5 2
HBP—Whitley 2 (by East) (by Easterling), Reid (by Gentry). WP—Gentry 1. PB—Vilches, Hurt.
