Shurtleff, small ball combine to end Tupelo’s run
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).
CONWAY — It seemed reasonable to believe that, with temperatures in the triple digits (as much as 104) on Friday afternoon at Blow Torch Field at Blast Oven Stadium (AKA Warrior Field at Hendrix College), that the team that got an early lead would have a huge advantage when the Bryant Black Sox, champions of Arkansas, and the Tupelo 49ers, champions from Mississippi, played an elimination game in the 2015 Senior American Legion MidSouth Regional.
Both teams figured to wear down in that heat as the game went on so, while the players were fresh, gaining the upper hand early was imperative.
Bryant right-hander Alex Shurtleff and his devastating slider made sure it wasn’t Tupelo. Meanwhile, his teammates used small ball to demoralizing effect to take advantage of early opportunities, building the early lead on the way to a 7-1 win.
The Sox are now one of four teams left in the eight-team tournament. The host Conway Cougars ousted Texas champion League City earlier on Friday, 9-7. Later on Friday, the winners bracket finalists, Retif Oil of New Orleans and the Southwest Shockers of Lawton, Okla., were battling to determine which would play Conway at 2 p.m. (the loser) and which would play Bryant (the winner) at 6 p.m., on Saturday. New Orleans won 9-2 so the Sox will play them while Conway takes on Oklahoma.
Shurtleff, used mostly in relief in recent weeks, tossed seven shutout innings, holding the ‘Niners to five singles, while striking out seven with one walk and a hit batsman.
“He was awesome,” said Sox manager Darren Hurt. “It’s been a while since we’ve extended him. He gave us seven innings and did a great job. That’s what we expected out of him. He did exactly what we thought he’d do.
“His breaking pitch, he works off that and when it’s working, he’s tough,” he emphasized.
Trey Breeding added a scoreless eighth then Aaron Orender closed it out, surrendering the lone run but forcing Tupelo to strand runners at first and third.
At the plate, the Sox got a big lift from Seth Tucker, who stepped in at shortstop with Dylan Hurt behind the plate for Breeding. Tucker, seeing his first action of the tournament, made a couple of clutch plays in the field to end innings with Tupelo base-runners in scoring position. He also had two singles, both in the middle of scoring innings.
Logan Allen added two hits and was on base four times. He scored on three of those occasions. Jason Hastings and Blake Patterson added two hits apiece.
Bryant took a 2-0 lead in the second when Mississippi right-hander plunked Hastings with a pitch. Dylan Hurt sacrificed him to second and, after Hastings hustled to third on a passed ball, Allen place a bunt that not only got Hastings home but went for a single.
Tucker lashed a single to right and Allen sprinted to third before Connor Tatum, executed the “lost art” to squeeze in Allen.
With Tucker at second, Drew Tipton made a bid for extra bases with a long drive to left but he was robbed by Tupelo’s Trace Henry.
In the top of the third, Patterson yanked a triple into the right-field corner and Breeding delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
Meanwhile, Shurtleff was baffling the ‘Niners. He retired seven of the first eight, four on strikeouts. The lone base-runner came on a bunt that hugged the third-base line.
With two down in the bottom of the third, lead-off man Ben Seay singled to center and Henry reached on a throwing error, putting runners at second and third. Wesson hit a tapper to short that Tucker charged just as he had Henry’s grounder. This time, however, he fired a strike to Patterson at first to end the inning.
In the fourth, Allen walked and Tupelo made a pitching change. Sam Harrington relieved the weary Hurst. Tucker greeted him with a liner that was speared by Wesson at second. But when Wesson tried to double off Allen, his throw was errant and Allen hustled to second.
Allen made another big base-running play when Tatum struck out on a pitch in the dirt. Tupelo catcher Hunter White blocked the ball but when he picked it up and threw to first to retire Tatum, Allen was off like a shot, reaching third without a throw.
That proved significant. Tipton beat out a bunt single but Allen had to hold at third. After the first pitch to Brandan Warner, White threw behind Tipton at first and, as the 49ers ran him down, Allen scampered home to make it 4-0.
Shurtleff struck out two more and got defensive help from Warner at third, who made a sparkling play to rob J.D. Poss.
After the Sox were retired in the fifth, an error and a two-out single had runners at second and third for Tupelo but, again, Tucker made a nice play to retire Henry and end the inning with the shutout intact.
Bryant made the lead much more comfortable in the sixth, scratching out three more runs. A one-out single to left by Allen was followed by another knock by Tucker to right. With runners at the corners, Tatum came through with another splendid bunt up the first-base line. Allen scored and when Ty Wheeler, the Tupelo first baseman, couldn’t get a tag on Tatum, he was safe at first.
Tucker and Tatum then worked a double steal and, with two down, Warner came through with a clutch two-run hit to right-center to make it 7-0.
“We had a lot of good opportunities and we got it done,” said Darren Hurt of the small ball execution. “We put ourselves in some spots early to scratch some runs with small ball. I just don’t think we did a very good job late, offensively.”
A walk and a hit batsman started Tupelo’s half of the sixth but, after a visit from pitching coach Mike Lee, Shurtleff retired the next three batters on five pitches.
He would finish in the seventh, working around a one-out single and a two-out bunt hit. Wesson lined out to Hastings in right to end the threat.
The Sox had a chance to end the game early via run-rule when they loaded the bases in the eighth against William Robinson, the third Tupelo pitcher. Lefty Hayden Guin relieved to get the final out but then had to work around a pair of base-runners in the ninth when he hit Breeding and Hastings singled.
In Breeding’s inning of relief, he surrendered a lead-off single to Wheeler but induced a doubleplay ball to Tucker at short from Poss. Cody Pate beat out an infield hit but Guin grounded out to Warner to send it to the ninth.
Orender hit a batter with one out in the bottom of the ninth then a pair of pinch-hitters cracked singles to chase the run home. But Wesson flew out to Hastings in right and Wheeler bounced into a force at second to bring the game to a welcome end.
The scorching temperatures were impossible to escape except in the dugout. There was just no shade for anyone attending the game including the manager.
“It was tough on me,” Hurt acknowledged. “I’m hurting. I don’t know about (the players) but we hung in there.”
